Draftroom
Creative project management for marketing agencies managing content, feedback, approvals, and delivery.
A competent coding agent can rebuild Draftroom's core agency workflow in a weekend: clients, projects, tasks, file versions, contextual feedback, review queues, approvals, client review links, delivery tracking, and workspace permissions. The gap is not the CRUD screens; it is production-grade collaboration, notification reliability, permission edge cases, file handling, mobile review polish, and the accumulated project history that makes a shared agency system dependable every day.
Build verification: not recorded. How we judge buildability
What you give up
- Production-hardened real-time and notification behavior across many simultaneous users
- Years of edge-case handling around client permissions, review links, files, revisions, and approvals
- Polished mobile review and collaboration behavior that non-technical clients can use without training
- Operational history, project context, and team habits already accumulated inside an existing Draftroom workspace
- Enterprise features such as SSO, advanced reporting, white-labeling, onboarding, and support
Why people still pay
The basic mechanics are straightforward to recreate, but an agency does not pay for a Kanban board in isolation. It pays for a shared workflow that designers, account managers, founders, freelancers, and clients can trust every day. Reliable permissions, version history, review links, approval state, notifications, mobile behavior, file handling, and the cost of moving active client work make the hosted product more valuable than a weekend clone once the whole team depends on it.
Your build guide
The stack, security requirements, and agent rules for a focused replacement.
Before you start
- A supported Node release, PostgreSQL, HTTPS for a shared deployment, and a backup destination. Begin with one workspace and explicit owner/member permissions.
- Implementation components: Next.js App Router and TypeScript for server-rendered pages and validated mutations. PostgreSQL with Drizzle migrations; Better Auth sessions for a small private workspace.
- Scope boundary: Production-hardened real-time and notification behavior across many simultaneous users; Years of edge-case handling around client permissions, review links, files, revisions, and approvals
Use these project rules and optional skill references alongside the prompt. Review each skill before adding it to your agent; the AGENTS.md export includes the same guidance.
Optional external skill: vercel-react-best-practices — Improve React and Next.js data fetching, rendering, bundle size and server performance. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission.
Optional external skill: supabase-postgres-best-practices — Review PostgreSQL schemas, queries, indexes, pooling, concurrency and row-level security. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission.
Optional external skill: web-design-guidelines — Review web interfaces for accessibility, keyboard focus, forms, navigation and interaction quality. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission.
Project rule — data model: clients, projects, tasks, immutable asset versions, audience-scoped comments, approvals and guest review tokens
Project rule — preserve this invariant: Uploading a new version never inherits approval; guest tokens authorize only the chosen client/version and cannot reveal internal comments.
Project rule — acceptance evidence: Approve version two, upload version three and see approval reset; a revoked review link can no longer load the asset or its comments.
Implementation plan
Phase 1
Scope and fixtures. Implement this bounded workflow: Assign creative work, upload versioned assets and request a client review through a limited link. Display internal and client-visible comments separately and tie approval to an exact asset version. Record prerequisites, select representative user-owned fixtures and document the unsupported features: Production-hardened real-time and notification behavior across many simultaneous users; Years of edge-case handling around client permissions, review links, files, revisions, and approvals
Phase 2
Durable model. Model clients, projects, tasks, immutable asset versions, audience-scoped comments, approvals and guest review tokens Add migrations or a versioned document format, explicit validation, stable IDs and a visible import-error report. Preserve this rule: Uploading a new version never inherits approval; guest tokens authorize only the chosen client/version and cannot reveal internal comments.
Phase 3
Complete the first useful path. Implement the workflow's input, review and output interface, with clear controls and explicit empty/error states. Commit related database changes in one transaction. Use version checks for competing edits and an outbox for external notifications; retry delivery independently of saving the record.
Phase 4
Permissions and integration failure. Authorize every record read and mutation on the server using its workspace membership; validate payloads, protect mutations against CSRF, and escape user-authored HTML. Request integration credentials and permissions only for the enabled feature; show a disconnected state instead of mock results.
Phase 5
Portable handoff. Export versioned JSON plus attachments and a readable CSV summary. Restore into a separate database and compare record IDs and attachment checksums before switching. Include setup, operating limits, fixture walkthrough and shutdown/restart instructions in the README.
Phase 6
Acceptance scenarios. Approve version two, upload version three and see approval reset; a revoked review link can no longer load the asset or its comments. Repeat the workflow after restart and with a denied permission or unavailable dependency; show recoverable failure rather than a success placeholder.
WORKING SLICE Assign creative work, upload versioned assets and request a client review through a limited link. Display internal and client-visible comments separately and tie approval to an exact asset version. Build this scoped Draftroom-inspired workflow with a documented data model and visible failure states. Architecture - Next.js App Router and TypeScript for server-rendered pages and validated mutations. - PostgreSQL with Drizzle migrations; Better Auth sessions for a small private workspace. Prerequisites and limits A supported Node release, PostgreSQL, HTTPS for a shared deployment, and a backup destination. Begin with one workspace and explicit owner/member permissions. Outside this release: Production-hardened real-time and notification behavior across many simultaneous users; Years of edge-case handling around client permissions, review links, files, revisions, and approvals Data model and correctness clients, projects, tasks, immutable asset versions, audience-scoped comments, approvals and guest review tokens Invariant: Uploading a new version never inherits approval; guest tokens authorize only the chosen client/version and cannot reveal internal comments. Commit related database changes in one transaction. Use version checks for competing edits and an outbox for external notifications; retry delivery independently of saving the record. Security and privacy Authorize every record read and mutation on the server using its workspace membership; validate payloads, protect mutations against CSRF, and escape user-authored HTML. Recovery and export Export versioned JSON plus attachments and a readable CSV summary. Restore into a separate database and compare record IDs and attachment checksums before switching. Implementation order 1. Phase 1 — Scope and fixtures. Implement this bounded workflow: Assign creative work, upload versioned assets and request a client review through a limited link. Display internal and client-visible comments separately and tie approval to an exact asset version. Record prerequisites, select representative user-owned fixtures and document the unsupported features: Production-hardened real-time and notification behavior across many simultaneous users; Years of edge-case handling around client permissions, review links, files, revisions, and approvals 2. Phase 2 — Durable model. Model clients, projects, tasks, immutable asset versions, audience-scoped comments, approvals and guest review tokens Add migrations or a versioned document format, explicit validation, stable IDs and a visible import-error report. Preserve this rule: Uploading a new version never inherits approval; guest tokens authorize only the chosen client/version and cannot reveal internal comments. 3. Phase 3 — Complete the first useful path. Implement the workflow's input, review and output interface, with clear controls and explicit empty/error states. Commit related database changes in one transaction. Use version checks for competing edits and an outbox for external notifications; retry delivery independently of saving the record. 4. Phase 4 — Permissions and integration failure. Authorize every record read and mutation on the server using its workspace membership; validate payloads, protect mutations against CSRF, and escape user-authored HTML. Request integration credentials and permissions only for the enabled feature; show a disconnected state instead of mock results. 5. Phase 5 — Portable handoff. Export versioned JSON plus attachments and a readable CSV summary. Restore into a separate database and compare record IDs and attachment checksums before switching. Include setup, operating limits, fixture walkthrough and shutdown/restart instructions in the README. 6. Phase 6 — Acceptance scenarios. Approve version two, upload version three and see approval reset; a revoked review link can no longer load the asset or its comments. Repeat the workflow after restart and with a denied permission or unavailable dependency; show recoverable failure rather than a success placeholder. Acceptance Approve version two, upload version three and see approval reset; a revoked review link can no longer load the asset or its comments. Use real source data or clearly labeled fixtures. Explain unsupported input and provider failures; do not fabricate analytics, delivery receipts, accuracy claims or security guarantees. Optional agent guidance Optional external skill: [vercel-react-best-practices](https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/react-best-practices/SKILL.md) — Improve React and Next.js data fetching, rendering, bundle size and server performance. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission. Optional external skill: [supabase-postgres-best-practices](https://github.com/supabase/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/supabase-postgres-best-practices/SKILL.md) — Review PostgreSQL schemas, queries, indexes, pooling, concurrency and row-level security. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission. Optional external skill: [web-design-guidelines](https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/web-design-guidelines/SKILL.md) — Review web interfaces for accessibility, keyboard focus, forms, navigation and interaction quality. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission. Project rule — data model: clients, projects, tasks, immutable asset versions, audience-scoped comments, approvals and guest review tokens Project rule — preserve this invariant: Uploading a new version never inherits approval; guest tokens authorize only the chosen client/version and cannot reveal internal comments. Project rule — acceptance evidence: Approve version two, upload version three and see approval reset; a revoked review link can no longer load the asset or its comments.
$ open in your agent (prompt prefilled, you press enter), copy the prompt or copy or download AGENTS.md
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No prior-art project is listed yet. Compare the scoped build with the paid product before choosing.
Draftroom pricing
| plan | monthly | annual (per mo) | what you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| starter | $99/workspace | — | Up to 20 active clients or brand projects; unlimited internal team members; 100GB storageIncludes content calendar, tasks, uploads, comments, reviews, and basic approvals. |
| growth | $149/workspace | — | Up to 50 active clients or brand projects; unlimited team members; 1TB storageAdds more storage, client portals, approval history, activity log, reports, and better permissions. |
| scale | $299/workspace | — | Unlimited active clients or brand projects; unlimited team members; 2TB storageAdds more storage, advanced reports, priority support, onboarding help, and white-label capabilities. |
| enterprise | — | — | Custom limits.Custom workflows, SSO, onboarding, security/compliance needs, SLA, and advanced support. |
free tierno public free tier
billingMonthly prices are published; annual pricing is not publicly specified.
pricing sources checked 2026-08-15 · pricing source ↗
Questions about Draftroom
Can you build your own Draftroom with AI?
Partly. A competent coding agent can rebuild Draftroom's core agency workflow in a weekend: clients, projects, tasks, file versions, contextual feedback, review queues, approvals, client review links, delivery tracking, and workspace permissions. The gap is not the CRUD screens; it is production-grade collaboration, notification reliability, permission edge cases, file handling, mobile review polish, and the accumulated project history that makes a shared agency system dependable every day.
What does the Draftroom build prompt cover?
The prompt starts with this scope: Assign creative work, upload versioned assets and request a client review through a limited link. Display internal and client-visible comments separately and tie approval to an exact asset version. Full-product capabilities excluded from the comparison include: Production-hardened real-time and notification behavior across many simultaneous users; Years of edge-case handling around client permissions, review links, files, revisions, and approvals; Polished mobile review and collaboration behavior that non-technical clients can use without training. Follow the implementation plan and its prerequisites before expanding the build.
How do I use the prompt, AGENTS.md and agent skills?
Start with the Draftroom prerequisites and stack, then copy the prompt into your coding agent. Save the project rules as AGENTS.md in the project root. Linked skills are optional packages or source instructions for specific tasks; review their current contents and install only those matching the chosen stack. A skill does not supply API credentials or verify the finished app.
How long will this Draftroom project take?
The catalogue estimate is multi-day for the limited scope. Setup, integration approvals, debugging, deployment and ongoing maintenance can add time. This is an estimate, not a delivery guarantee.
What would I give up by replacing Draftroom?
Production-hardened real-time and notification behavior across many simultaneous users; Years of edge-case handling around client permissions, review links, files, revisions, and approvals; Polished mobile review and collaboration behavior that non-technical clients can use without training; Operational history, project context, and team habits already accumulated inside an existing Draftroom workspace; Enterprise features such as SSO, advanced reporting, white-labeling, onboarding, and support. The basic mechanics are straightforward to recreate, but an agency does not pay for a Kanban board in isolation. It pays for a shared workflow that designers, account managers, founders, freelancers, and clients can trust every day. Reliable permissions, version history, review links, approval state, notifications, mobile behavior, file handling, and the cost of moving active client work make the hosted product more valuable than a weekend clone once the whole team depends on it.
What price is this guide comparing against?
The recorded Starter plan is $99/mo (monthly per workspace), checked 2026-08-15. Check the linked pricing source before buying. Building your own also has hosting, API and maintenance costs; the recorded amount is not a guaranteed saving.
What can I use instead of building Draftroom?
No alternative is listed in this entry yet. That is a gap in this catalogue, not proof that no suitable product exists. Compare the paid product and the proposed scope before committing to a build.