Manual

We are onboarding a small group of pilot studios now and help personally with the setup. Sign up via the waitlist; once your account is ready, you log in and start setting up your studio below.

Prefer the short version? Check out the interactive demo or the frequently asked questions.

We get that switching feels like a hurdle. A few things that make it easier:

• Bring your customer list over. Import by pasting or a CSV file under Customers › People › Import — no manual retyping needed. You see what will happen on each line first; nothing changes until you press Import.
• Pick your moment. Preferably switch between course blocks or in a quiet period, not in the middle of a running course or firing cycle.
• Nothing gets lost if you're unsure. If you downgrade later, only features above your tier freeze — customers, pieces and history simply stay put.
• Your data stays yours. Full CSV export is available any time — no lock-in the other way either.
• Personal help. Email support@getwerkbank.app — we'll think along about moving over from your current tool or spreadsheet.

At Get started you choose: set up your studio, or look around a sample studio first. Setting up takes five short screens. You can skip anything and change it later, and "Continue later" lets you pick up where you left off.

1. Your studio. Your studio name is already filled in. Choose what you offer: ongoing courses, one-off workshops, drop-in, paint-your-own-pottery, kids' parties or firing service — multiple answers allowed. This decides which kinds of offering you can pick later.
2. Your kilns. Pick a known model from the list or enter your own. One kiln is enough to start.
3. How do you work? Do you track work by batch (the whole Tuesday class goes into the kiln together) or by individual piece (mix & match, for drop-in/PYOP)? Who glazes: the studio, the customers themselves, or a mix? Do you pass on firing costs? And how do you fire: bisque + glaze, single-fire, bisque only, or something else? If you're not sure, choose "Don't know, choose for me". You set the firing-cost amounts later under Manage › Firing costs.
4. First offering. Opens the offering form (name, type, price and schedule). "Continue setting up" brings you back.
5. Share and pay. Your booking link, the code to put on your own website, a QR code to print, and a test spot so you can book yourself. You switch on payment reminders here; online payments you connect in the Payments step with your own account at the payment provider.

After that you fine-tune everything under Manage, on the page where it belongs: what you offer and how people book (Studio), the firing order with drying days (Process), how you track and recognise work and who glazes (Finishing), pickup, storage and fixed opening hours (Policy), and who may do what (Permissions). Firing costs and VAT are not part of those questions: you find them under Manage › Firing costs and Manage › Studio › Invoices and VAT. None of this is set in stone.

Four short actions follow the setup. The "Still to set up" card on Today keeps track of what's still open; you can skip everything and do it later.

1. Add a kiln (Manage › Kilns). Pick a known model from the list (fills in temperature/power use automatically) or enter your own. One kiln is enough to start; temperature and costs can be added later. If you already did this at Get started, this step is done.
2. Add customers. Via + New › Add person, or under Customers › People (where you can also import an existing list). A name is enough; an email address is needed if you want someone notified automatically. Every customer's card has a unique tracking link — copy it or share it directly via WhatsApp.
3. Create your first offering and batch. Plan your offering via + New › Plan an offering or under Planning › Offerings: give it a recognisable name (e.g. "Tuesday evening"), a type and a price. You collect a group's work in a batch; Werkbank creates it automatically with your offering and you find it in the Work area.
4. Plan your first firing. Via + New › Plan a firing, pick the kiln and the type (bisque/glaze). As soon as you mark the firing "done", all linked work automatically moves up a step.

The main navigation has five areas. You find Manage at the bottom of the sidebar (cog ⚙) or in the studio menu; on mobile under "More".

• Today. Your home screen: what's happening today and what needs attention, plus the "Still to set up" card until your setup is finished.
• Planning. Three tabs: Calendar (your classes and firings), Offerings (create new offerings with name, type and price, and see your bookings) and Rooms.
• Work. Tabs Workboard, Kilns (once you have a kiln) and Materials. The Workboard shows your batches and pieces per step of your route, with filters and actions for several pieces at once. Open a batch for the detail screen: a progress bar (Upcoming → In progress → In the kiln → Ready for collection → Completed) and the participants in that batch. Under Kilns you plan firings and see how far along they are.
• Customers. Tabs Front desk (payments, handing over work, till and end-of-day count), People (your customers, with their card and tracking link) and Messages (what has been sent and who you need to phone because an email didn't arrive).
• Money. Tabs Outstanding, Sales, Credits, Invoices and Figures (turnover, costs and profit; owner and admins only). With firing costs switched on, you see an amount owed per customer under Outstanding. These overviews are for the owner and admins only. A staff member with the Outstanding permission sees at the front desk what a customer still owes and can settle there.

Any customer with a tracking link (with or without an email address) can open a page without logging in: the studio's name, a checklist of steps the work has already passed, and — if the studio switches it on — house rules to accept once. If the customer has an email address, they're automatically notified when work is "done" and "ready for pickup", with the pickup info from Manage › Policy & pickup worked in.

All settings are under Manage, the cog (⚙) at the bottom of the sidebar (or in the studio menu). Your own details and password are under Account in the studio menu (your studio name at the top left; on mobile your avatar at the top right); the language picker is also directly in that menu. Manage is arranged like this:

• Studio. What you offer, how people book, your notes, time zone, privacy and retention, contact address, invoices and VAT. Locations and Spaces sit right next to it.
• Kilns, Route, Firing costs, Closing days. Kiln management, the route editor, the firing-cost method with amounts, and the days you're closed.
• Policy, Email templates. House rules (customers accept once), the pickup info and the wording of your emails.
• Team and Who can do what. Invite additional team members and teachers, and decide how much they may do: pick a level (Practical work only, Day-to-day work, Everything except money or Everything staff can have) or set each permission individually. Settings, refunds, invoices and the team itself always stay with the owner and admins.
• Payment options, Connections. Connect online payments with your own account at the payment provider, and connections with your website or other systems.

A few choices during setup have consequences further on — good to know before you make them:

• Firing order (Manage › Process) decides the steps you'll see everywhere — on the batch, the piece and the customer status page. Change it later and existing pieces simply carry on at their current step.
• How you track work (Manage › Finishing) decides whether the Workboard groups by batch or by person by default — you can always use both, this is only the default view.
• Firing-cost method (Manage › Firing costs) decides whether an amount ever appears automatically under Money › Outstanding. Set it to "Off" and that stays empty until you turn it on. Firing costs are part of the Werkbank subscription, not Start.
• Booking method (Manage › Studio) decides whether you enter every booking yourselves, or people book via a Werkbank booking page or a code on your own site. You also find the link, the code and the QR code at Get started › Share.
• Pickup info (Manage › Policy › Pickup info) needs to be filled in separately: the pickup questions under Manage › Policy only ask how pickup works (fixed hours, by appointment or during classes), not the address or instructions themselves. Without that text, customers won't know where to go.
• Who can do what (Manage › Who can do what) decides what staff and teachers see and do. If a colleague can't see something you can, such as Outstanding or the Manage overview, look here.

I didn't get a login email or reset link

Check your spam filter. Still stuck? Email support@getwerkbank.app — we'll help you manually.

A customer says their link doesn't work

Tracking links are personal and stay valid as long as the customer is in your studio. If someone was removed by accident, add them again — a new link is generated.

I want to save a setting but it won't let me

Some features (like house rules and firing costs) sit behind an upgrade; you'll see a message with a link to the plans. The base features (tracking pieces, kiln scheduling, done emails) are in every tier, including Start, within your tier's limits. A button missing, or a "no access" message? Then your role doesn't allow it: ask the owner or an admin (Manage › Who can do what).

Firing costs look wrong / aren't switched on

Firing costs are off by default. Turn them on under Manage › Firing costs and pick a method (flat fee or kWh × rate). Can't save? Then this feature is part of the Werkbank subscription, not Start. Double-check a test amount the first time before relying on it.

Work doesn't move on automatically after a firing

Automatic progression only happens if the work was linked to that firing when you planned it. Work added after planning needs to be added to the firing by hand, or have its step adjusted manually on the Workboard.

I want to switch languages

On the website, click "NL"/"EN" in the top right; in the app you switch language in the studio menu (your studio name at the top left; on mobile your avatar at the top right).

Solution not here? Email support@getwerkbank.app