Help & Documentation

Getting Started

Everything you need to go from zero to running your shop in the app.

On this page
01

Quick start — first 10 minutes

Complete these four steps and your shop will be fully configured.

1
Create your account — Sign up at app.covenantworks.app with your business email. You'll be walked through a setup wizard automatically.
2
Complete the onboarding wizard — Enter your business name, location, hourly rate, and sales tax rate. Select your machines from the list. Takes about 3 minutes.
3
Finish your profile — Go to My Business in the sidebar. Add your email, phone, website, owner name, and tagline. These appear on every invoice and COA you send.
4
Log your first job — Go to Jobs, click + New job, fill in the customer and item details, and save. Your dashboard will start showing real numbers immediately.
02

Setting up My Business

Your business profile is the foundation of everything in the app. Every invoice header, COA, AI prompt, and document pulls from this profile.

Where to find it

Sidebar → HomeMy Business tab

Fields and what they affect

03

Jobs & orders Free

Jobs are the core of the app. Everything else — invoices, expenses, P&L, dashboard metrics — ties back to jobs.

Creating a job

1
Go to Jobs in the sidebar
2
Click + New job
3
Fill in: customer name, item description, quantity, price per unit, and machine
4
Set status to In progress when you start, Done when complete

Job statuses

Order form

The Order Form tab is a customer-facing intake form. Share the link with customers to collect order details without back-and-forth messaging. Submitted orders flow into your jobs queue.

04

Invoices & payments Premium

Create professional invoices and collect payment via Stripe — no separate payment processor account needed.

Creating an invoice

1
Go to Invoices
2
Click + New invoice
3
Add line items, quantities, and prices
4
Click Save & generate payment link

A Stripe-powered payment page is created automatically. Share the link with your customer via text, email, or any messaging app. When they pay, you're notified and the invoice is marked paid.

Certificate of Authenticity (COA)

Generate a professional COA for any completed piece directly from the Invoices tab. Your business name, owner name, location, and any veteran-owned badge are pulled automatically from your business profile.

05

Machines & settings Free

The app is designed around your specific machines. Adding your equipment unlocks machine-specific dropdowns across maintenance logs, defect records, material library, and export buttons.

Adding machines

1
Go to Equipment in the sidebar
2
Click + Add equipment
3
Select your machine from the list or enter it manually

AI machine settings lookup

Go to Machine Ref → type your machine name and material → the AI returns recommended speed, power, passes, and setup notes. Results are cached for 7 days so repeat lookups are instant.

06

Products & platform sales Free

The Products tab is for catalog items you sell repeatedly — not custom one-off jobs. Add products once, log sales in seconds, and connect your platforms for automatic sync.

Adding products to your catalog

1
Go to Products → Catalog tab
2
Click + Add product → fill in name, SKU, price, type (Physical/Digital), and platform
3
Log sales from the Sales tab — pick a product, enter qty and actual price, platform, and date

Product revenue appears in your P&L as a separate "Product sales" line alongside job income and recurring revenue.

Connecting Shopify

1
Go to Products → Platforms → 🟢 Shopify
2
Click Generate webhook URL — copy the URL that appears
3
In Shopify Admin: Settings → Notifications → Webhooks → Create webhook → Event: Order creation → Format: JSON → paste your URL

New Shopify orders appear in Products → Sales automatically after your next cloud sync. Your store is untouched — Covenant Works only receives order data.

Stripe Revenue Sync

1
In Stripe Dashboard: Developers → API keys → Create restricted key → enable Charges: Read + Subscriptions: Read → copy the key (rk_live_...)
2
In Covenant Works: Products → Platforms → 💳 Stripe Revenue Sync → paste your key → click Sync revenue

Covenant Works pulls your subscription tiers (→ Recurring Revenue) and charges (→ Product Orders) read-only. Your payment flows and customer access grants are completely untouched. Your key is stored on your device only.

Recurring revenue streams

For subscriptions, retainers, or any income that repeats — go to Finance → P&L tab → Recurring Revenue Streams. Add a description, amount per interval, and subscriber/unit count. The monthly equivalent is calculated automatically and included in your P&L total income. Use the ⏸ button to pause a stream without deleting it.

Recurring expenses

When logging an expense, check Recurring and choose Monthly, Quarterly, or Annual. Recurring expenses are grouped at the top of your expense list with a monthly total — so you can see your subscription overhead at a glance.

07

Customizing your workspace

Hide the parts of the app you don't use so your sidebar stays focused on what matters to your business.

Where to find it

Home → My Business → scroll to Customize workspace

Hideable nav groups

Check a group → click Save changes → it disappears from the sidebar immediately. Uncheck and save to restore it any time.

App mode (Maker vs. Business)

Under App mode in My Business, select Business to hide all laser-specific tools at once (Materials, Machine Ref, Design Studio, Recipes, Settings Log, Maintenance, Defects, Timer, Etsy Builder, Social AI, Product Ideas). This is the right starting point for service operators, consultants, and non-maker businesses.

08

AI features Premium+

Every AI feature reads your business profile and AI context field to generate relevant, on-brand output.

Set your AI context first

Go to My Business → scroll to AI context → describe your specialties, customers, products, and tone. Every AI feature uses this. Better context = dramatically better output.

09

Firebase cloud sync

By default, all data is stored locally in your browser. Cloud sync backs your data up to Firebase (Google's cloud infrastructure) and lets you access it from any device.

Setting up sync

1
Click the ☁ Firebase button in the app header
2
Enter your Firebase Project ID and Web API Key
3
Click Test connection → then Save & connect

Once connected, all data syncs automatically every time you make a change. The sync status dot in the sidebar footer shows the current state.

Not sure how to get a Firebase Project ID? Go to Exports & Backup → Firebase setup guide inside the app for step-by-step instructions.

10

Subscription tiers

Free

Jobs, inventory, design tools (Image→Engrave, SVG Studio), machine reference, materials library, production timer. No payment required.

Premium ⭐

Everything in Free, plus: Invoices, Customers (CRM), Tax Center, Expenses, Mileage log, Quotes, Product Recipes, P&L, Forecast, Accounting, Exports & Backup, Etsy Builder, Social AI, Product Ideas.

Pro 🚀

Everything in Premium, plus: Equipment tracking, Maintenance logs, Defect tracking, Grants + AI writer, Military orders, Markets tracker, Bank import, Document vault, Chart of accounts, Atomm integration, Faith & Mission tools, Analytics.

To upgrade, click any locked tab and select Upgrade, or open the Billing tab in the app.

11

Exporting your data Premium

Go to Exports & Backup in the sidebar. You can export:

Automated daily backups run at 3 AM Eastern if Firebase sync is configured. The last 30 backups are retained and can be restored from the Exports panel.

12

Getting support

For the fastest bug response, use the feedback button inside the app — it attaches your account info automatically so we can reproduce the issue without asking follow-up questions.