Setting up a client's business, as a partner

Who this is for: a partner's staff member (an agency, an implementation consultant, a 3PL, a bookkeeper) who sets Manifold up for a client, and wants an agent to do the work.

What to know first: how an agent reaches a client

An agent acts as one person, in one organization, with what that person may do there. When it connects, the consent screen offers only organizations the person is a member of.

Partner staff are not members of their clients. They reach a client through the partner's link, under its role ceiling. So today, a partner's staff cannot connect an agent into a client's organization: the consent is refused (NotAMember). There are two ways round it:

The client connects the agent. Someone at the client (its owner, or a member with the roles the work needs) connects the agent themselves. The agent then acts as that person, on the client's own activity trail. This suits a client who is at hand.
The client invites you as a member. The client's owner invites your email at Settings › Users with the roles the setup needs. Accepting makes you a member. Your agent connects to the client's organization as you, within those roles. Ask them to remove you, or narrow your roles, when the setup is done.

Do not create a second account to get round the rule, and never ask the client for their password.

What you need ready

The partner account, if the client is yours to create.
The client's decision on who owns the organization. It is their business; the owner must be an active, email-verified person at the client.
The client's starting point: Shopify, Cin7, spreadsheets, or nothing. It decides the case below.
The Manifold connector in this client of yours (Claude, ChatGPT …), connected by whoever is the member (see above).

Never

Never ask for, read out or type a password, an API key, a card number or any other credential, the client's or yours.
Never connect an agent with someone else's account, or ask the client to share theirs.
Never decide the client's billing, go-live or team. The client pays for itself: a partner cannot start Checkout or the billing portal for them (PartnerCannotManageBilling). Going live, and who joins their team, are the client owner's.

1. The client's organization

Two ways, both done by people in the admin:

The partner creates it in the Partners area: the client organization starts linked to the partner with every role, and its owner is invited by email to take it over. Until the handover the client has no member of its own, so no agent can be connected to it yet. Ask for the handover first, then use one of the ways above.
The client signs up (https://admin.getmanifold.io/signup?source=agent) and invites the partner by its handle, with a roles ceiling, at Settings › Partners.

2. Connect the agent

Whoever is the member (the client's person, or you once invited) connects the connector and picks the client's organization on the consent screen, with "Everything I can do". Then:

onboarding_get_status in that organization. No journey: onboarding_start with source: "agent".
Confirm the organization is the client's: the profile's business name, once set, is the client's. If the agent lands in the partner's own business or its sandbox, the wrong organization was picked: reconnect.

3. Follow the client's case

Pick the skill by where the client is coming from, and follow it from its §1, step 2:

a Shopify store: manifold-from-shopify;
Cin7: manifold-from-cin7;
Cin7 and Shopify both: manifold-shopify-and-cin7;
spreadsheets or another ERP: manifold-from-spreadsheets;
nothing yet: manifold-greenfield.

Wherever a step is "the merchant's", it is the client's, not yours: the install, the Cin7 key, the plan, the cut-over and go-live. Ask the client, and say which screen.

4. Hand over

When onboarding_get_status shows every applying step done or skipped on the client's word:

go through with the client owner what is set up, what is still read-only, and what going live will do;
if you were invited as a member for the setup, ask them to set your roles to what you need from here, or remove you;
your partner link keeps the access the client gave the partner; that is separate from your membership.

Done looks like

The client's organization has an owner of its own, verified and active.
The case skill's own "done" holds.
The agent's access is under a person the client chose, and the client knows how to disconnect it (Agents, in the admin).

When it goes wrong

| What you see | What it means | Next |
|---|---|---|
| The consent screen does not offer the client | You are partner staff, not a member | The client connects the agent, or invites you as a member |
| The consent is refused, NotAMember | The same, called directly | As above |
| PartnerCannotManageBilling | Billing is the client's | The client owner starts the trial at Settings › Billing |
| The agent sees the partner's sandbox | The wrong organization was picked at consent | Disconnect it (Agents) and reconnect to the client |