Everything you need to master AgenciesWP.

Installing AgenciesWP

Getting up and running takes less than 10 minutes. Here’s how to install the plugin on your WordPress site and activate your license.

System requirements

• WordPress: 5.8 or higher
• PHP: 7.4 or higher (PHP 8.0+ recommended)
• MySQL: 5.6+ or MariaDB 10.1+
• HTTPS: Strongly recommended for client portal security

Installation steps

1. After purchasing AgenciesWP, you’ll receive an email with your license key and a download link to the agencieswp.zip file.
2. Log in to your WordPress admin and go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
3. Click Choose File, select agencieswp.zip, and click Install Now.
4. Once installed, click Activate Plugin. The plugin will automatically create all database tables and the Client Portal page.
5. You’ll see a new Agencies WP item in your WordPress admin sidebar. Click it to begin setup.

Initial setup & company branding

Before adding clients, take 5 minutes to configure your company details. This information appears on every invoice and inside the client portal.

Step-by-step

1. Go to Agencies WP → Settings → Company.
2. Upload your company logo (PNG or SVG, max 300×100px recommended). This appears at the top of every invoice.
3. Fill in Company Name, Email, Phone, and Address.
4. Click Save Company Settings.
5. Switch to the Invoice & Billing tab and set your currency, currency symbol, invoice prefix, and default tax rate.
6. Optionally toggle email notifications under the Notifications tab.

Connecting Stripe payments

Enable Stripe to let clients pay invoices and payment requests directly from their portal in one click. Setup takes about 2 minutes.

Get your Stripe API keys

1. Log in to your Stripe Dashboard at dashboard.stripe.com.
2. In the left sidebar, go to Developers → API keys.
3. Copy your Publishable key (starts with pk_live_ for live or pk_test_ for sandbox).
4. Click Reveal live key next to the Secret key and copy it (starts with sk_live_ or sk_test_).

Add the keys to AgenciesWP

1. Go to Agencies WP → Settings → Stripe.
2. Check Enable Stripe.
3. Paste your Publishable Key and Secret Key into the corresponding fields.
4. Click Save Stripe Settings. The Status field will show “Live mode” or “Test / Sandbox mode” automatically.

What clients see

Once Stripe is enabled, every invoice and payment request in the client portal automatically displays a green Pay with Stripe button. Clients click → enter card → done. The invoice status updates to Paid automatically.

Time tracking & hourly billing

AgenciesWP makes hourly billing painless. Every logged minute auto-updates the project budget. When you invoice, logged time imports as line items with one click.

Set up an hourly project

1. Go to Agencies WP → Projects → Add New.
2. Fill in title, description, and select the client.
3. Under Budget Type, choose Hourly.
4. The project’s hourly rate field will appear. Set the default rate (you can override per team member).
5. Save the project.

Log time entries

1. Open the project and click the Time Log tab.
2. Click + Log Time.
3. Choose the date, staff member, hours, hourly rate, and description.
4. Click Save. The project budget updates instantly.

Convert logged time into an invoice

1. Click + Invoice from the project page.
2. The Time Log — Import Hourly Entries panel appears with all logged entries listed.
3. Check the entries you want to bill (use Select All for everything unbilled).
4. Click Import Selected as Line Items. Each entry becomes an Hourly line item with rate × hours pre-calculated.
5. Add tax/discount if needed, then click Create Invoice.

The white-label client portal

AgenciesWP auto-creates a “Client Portal” page on activation with the shortcode pre-installed. Here’s how to customize it and what your clients see.

The shortcode

If you ever need to add the portal to a different page (custom URL, landing page, etc.), just paste:

[agencieswp_client_portal]

How clients log in

Clients log in with their email + unique Client ID (auto-generated, like CL393866). No WordPress account, no password reset emails, no friction.

The 8 portal sections

• Dashboard — Overview stats: Projects, Active, Total Paid, Invoice Balance Due
• Projects — Full list of their projects with milestones, files, and progress
• Invoices — Past invoices with status (Paid, Overdue, Sent)
• Payments — Open payment requests with Pay-with-Stripe buttons
• Approvals — Items waiting for their approval/decline with feedback
• Discussions — Threaded conversations for feature/change requests
• Contracts — Contracts to view and sign
• New Request — Form to submit new project ideas, feature requests, etc.

Backup & restore your data

AgenciesWP includes a built-in backup system. Create downloadable JSON snapshots of everything — clients, projects, invoices, contracts, time logs, settings — and restore from any backup with one click.

Create a backup

1. Go to Settings → Backup & Restore.
2. Click Create Backup Now.
3. A new backup is saved to wp-content/uploads/agencieswp-backups/ and a Download link appears.
4. Click Download to save the JSON file locally.

Restore from backup

1. Go to Settings → Backup & Restore.
2. Under Restore From Backup, click Choose File and select your .json backup.
3. Choose what to restore: All data (clients, projects, invoices, etc.) and/or Plugin settings.
4. Click Restore Now.

The plugin automatically keeps the last 10 backups on disk. Older ones are pruned to save space. You can also see the full backup history with download and delete buttons.

Team roles & permissions

AgenciesWP supports unlimited team members with smart role-based access — at zero per-seat cost.

Three plugin-level roles

• Admin — Full access. Sees all clients, projects, invoices, settings.
• Developer — Sees only the projects they’re assigned to. Can log time and update milestones. Cannot see other clients’ financial data.
• Accountant — Sees only invoices, payments, reports, and the financial side. Cannot access project details or settings.

Three per-project roles

Within each project, team members get one of three colored badge roles:

• Lead (purple) — Primary owner of the project. Shown first to the client in the portal.
• Member (gray) — Standard contributor. Can log time and update milestones.
• Reviewer (amber) — View-only access. Perfect for senior reviewers or QA staff.

Assign a role

1. Open the project, click the Team tab.
2. Use the dropdown to pick a staff member and choose their per-project role.
3. Click Add to Team. The team member now sees this project in their dashboard.