Submify's Client Portal: Sharing Form Submissions Without Handing Out Logins

Introduction

A single Submify instance supports exactly one dashboard account — by design, not as a limitation to route around. Once that account is created, /register locks and the API rejects any further registration attempts. That's a deliberate security default for a form backend that's often exposed on the public internet: no invite chain, no forgotten second admin account sitting around as an attack surface.

It does raise an obvious question, though. If you run Submify for several client sites, how does the client see their own submissions without you handing over the one login that has access to every project in the database? That's what the client portal is for.

What the portal actually gives a client

Every project gets its own public, password-protected URL — https://your-host:2512/<slug>, with the slug generated from the project name and renameable from Projects. Opening it prompts for a password and shows exactly one project's submissions: viewable and exportable, nothing else. No dashboard account, no API key, no delete button, and critically, no visibility into any of your other projects.

Creating a project mints a strong random portal password automatically, shown once so you can copy and hand it to the client — only its Argon2id hash is stored afterward, so if you lose it, you regenerate a fresh one rather than recover the old one. The portal can be enabled or disabled per project at any time, and the password rotated or replaced with one you choose, all from the project card in Projects. If you're signed in to the dashboard yourself, opening your own project's portal skips the password prompt entirely.

Exports without engineering time

Whether it's you or a client viewing submissions, they export as XLSX or PDF directly from the interface — no CSV wrangling, no asking a developer to pull records from the database. For an agency managing contact forms across a dozen client sites from one Submify instance, this is usually the entire deliverable: a client gets a portal link and a password, and from that point on, pulling their own leads is self-service.

Where it fits in the bigger picture

The portal sits on top of the same project-isolated architecture that makes multi-project Submify work at all: each project has its own pk_live_... public key for accepting submissions, and now its own portal slug and password for viewing them — two separate, independently rotatable credentials per project, neither one exposing anything outside that project.

Submify is open source under the MIT license, built by Nodedr Infotech Private Limited. Source, install instructions, and the full feature list are at github.com/Raktim94/Submify and on the marketing site.

FAQ

Does a client need a Submify account to use the client portal?

No. The portal is a public, password-protected URL scoped to one project — no dashboard account, API key, or registration required.

Can a client see submissions from my other projects through the portal?

No. Each project's portal only shows that project's submissions. There's no cross-project visibility from a portal link.

What happens if I lose a project's portal password?

Only the Argon2id hash is stored, so the original password can't be recovered — regenerate a new one from the project card, or set your own.

Can I turn the portal off for a project later?

Yes, per project, from Projects in the dashboard — enable, disable, rotate the password, or change the slug at any time.