Live
Work
Engagements, boards, time, approvals, reports and meetings.
Waitlist open · running every Jam engagement today
Make the Magic.Spell Minds the Rest.
Projects, clients, hours, contracts, hiring and invoices in one workspace—with Astra keeping count. Built by a studio, run on our own client work every day.
Rather talk now? Book a walkthrough.
LiveWorkClient PortalSignHireBill
Works withSlack · Dropbox · Google · Hubdoc
Built inside Jam—the studio behind work for
- Hilton
- Alpine Investors
- Rogo
- Daizy
- Incremental
- PeopleFirst
- Carson Tate
- Playbook
- Montis
The product
One Spine. Five Spells.
The same clients, people and hours run through every one of them, so nothing is typed twice and nothing falls between tools.
studio.getspell.app/
Work
HomeEngagementsTimeApprovalsReportsMeetingsFavouritesFernleaf · SubscriptionHalden · PackageOro · Fixed feeGood morning, Maya
Monday, Oct 5, 2026
Projected invoice · October
$48,250
+ CA$12,400 · 4 models
Hours this month
412:30
▲ 8% on September
Waiting for approval
18
entries · 46:15 hours
Needs attention
Halden Bank · Package92% used · expires Nov 30, 2026
Fernleaf · SubscriptionCrossed 80% of 80 hours
Oro Coffee · SOWContract ends Oct 31, 2026
The Studio at a Glance
The month’s projected invoice, the hours behind it, the approvals waiting and the retainers running hot—before your first coffee.
- Projected invoice in every currency
- One queue for every approval
- Overage and expiring contracts flagged
Why studios switch
Less Admin. More Alchemy.
We built Spell to give the business side of a studio back its hours—so the people who make things can get back to making them.
Everything in One Place
The spreadsheet, the PM tool, the e-sign app, the invoice template and the ATS, folded into one spine.
Hours That Bill Themselves
Log time on the task as you go. On the 1st, approved hours are already a draft invoice.
Clients Who Stop Asking
They see the work move in their own portal and approve it there—no status email required.
One spine, two views
Same Board. Two Depths.
Your team and your client look at the same tasks, the same hours, the same progress. What changes is how deep each of them sees.
studio.getspell.app/engagements/fernleaf-subscription/board?task=FRN-0042-0002
FRN-0042-0002
Brand guidelines v2
Shared with Fernleaf
MA
Maya · Jam
v2 is up — new type scale and the packaging pages. Over to you!
ApproveRequest changes
LV
Lena · Fernleaf
Love it. Approved ✨
Approved · Oct 5, 2026 · 10:42 Internal · Jam only
IR
Ines · Contractor
Exported the dielines — @Maya can you sanity-check the bleed?
MA
Maya
Looks right. Logging review time now.
0:45 loggedInternal stays internal
Notes for the team never reach the client, and Spell asks before a comment crosses over.
Contractors see their side
They work the board and log time without ever seeing the client conversation.
Approvals kept for good
Type /send-review; the client approves on the task, and who, what and when is permanent.
Measurable magic
Know the Next Invoice Before You Write It
Spell holds every contract’s terms and every approved hour, so the next invoice is always on screen—for every engagement, in every currency, without anybody adding it up.
Projected invoice · October 2026
$48,250+ CA$12,400, kept apart
- Subscription · 52%
- Package · 21%
- Hourly · 12%
- Fixed fee · 10%
- On-Demand · 5%
Plan usage
- Halden Bank · Package92%
- Fernleaf · Subscription81%
- Oro Coffee · Hourly40%
Alerts at the percentages each engagement picks.
Hourly
Every hour at the rate you agreed.
Subscription
A monthly fee, included hours and an overage rate.
Package
A block of hours with an expiry date.
Fixed fee
By milestone, instalments, 50/50 or on completion.
On-Demand
Hourly, no commitment, plus a PM fee.
Rules the database keeps, so nobody has to
- Rates freeze onto each hour when it’s logged. A new rate never rewrites old work.
- Terms lock at the first logged hour. Changes become amendments, not edits.
- Approved hours can’t be edited, and a closed month stays closed.
- Plan alerts fire at the percentages each engagement chooses.
- Margin per client and project, visible to admins and nobody else.
- Every currency kept apart. Nothing is ever summed across them.
Meet Astra
The Studio Mind That Never Forgets a Number
Ask about any client, hour, contract, candidate or cash flow. Astra summarizes meetings, sharpens briefs, drafts job posts and researches new clients—and tells you where every answer came from.
Answers as you
She reads Spell with your permissions, so she can never see more than you can.
Shows her working
Every step and every source, linked to the page where the figure lives.
Proposes, never presumes
Tasks, time, invoices, payables, candidates: nothing runs until you press Approve.
Makes the file
PDF, Excel, CSV or Markdown on request, and she reads whatever you attach.
Learns house rules
Rate her work and your feedback becomes standing rules, studio-wide or per client.
Lives in Slack
Type /spell, mention her or send a DM. The database answers, as you.
studio.getspell.app/?astra=open
How did Fernleaf’s subscription do in August?
Read contracts · 0.2sRead hours · Aug 2026 · 0.4s
Fernleaf used 71:30 of 80 hours in August — 89% of the plan, with no overage.
DisciplineHoursShare
Design38:0053%
Motion21:3030%
Development12:0017%
Total71:30100%
Proposed: share this summary with Lena on Fernleaf’s board.
ApproveNot now
Ask about any client, hour or invoice…
Our manifesto
For the studios that make things.
You started a studio to make beautiful work. Then came the timesheets, the retainers, the “quick question” emails, and the invoices rebuilt from memory at midnight.
That isn’t the job. It’s the tax on the job.
We’re a studio too, and we paid it for years. So we cast a spell that pays it for us: every hour on the task it was spent on, every client in the loop without a status email, every invoice written before anyone asks.
Big ideas. Bold design. A little magic.
And now, the books to match.
Spell. Made by a studio, for studios.
The waitlist
Be First Through the Door
- We open Spell to a few studios at a time, and set each one up by hand.
- One email when your spot opens. Nothing in between.
- Tell us your studio and size, and we’ll bring the walkthrough to what you run.
Join the waitlist
Can’t wait? Book a walkthrough and skip the line.
From handshake to payday
Sign It. Make It. Bill It.
- Sign01
Set the terms once
Billing model, rates and hours, in a contract Spell fills in for you. Your client signs from a link.
- Make02
Work in the open
Tasks on the board, hours on the task, approvals in the portal. The client sees progress as it happens.
- Bill03
Close the month in an afternoon
On the 1st, approved hours become draft invoices, contractor invoices are checked, and the result is ready.
Our difference
A Portal Is a Start. Spell Runs the Business.
Client portals keep clients in the loop. Spell does that too, then carries the same hours through to the contract, the invoice, the contractor payouts and the month’s result.
| What you need | Spell | Portal-first tools | The duct-tape stack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Client portal with approvals | Another app | ||
| Internal and client conversations kept apart on every task | Partly | ||
| Time tracking with an approval queue | On the roadmap | Another app | |
| Rates frozen onto every hour | A spreadsheet | ||
| Subscriptions, packages, fixed fees and On-Demand | A spreadsheet | ||
| Contracts and e-signature | On the roadmap | Another app | |
| Invoices drafted from approved hours | On the roadmap | By hand | |
| Contractor invoices checked against their hours | By hand | ||
| Hiring pipeline and careers site | Another app | ||
| An AI assistant that acts only with your approval | |||
| Margin, forecast and month close | A spreadsheet |
Portal-first tools: what the newest client-portal apps list as shipped on their own sites, October 2026.
Behind the curtain
Guarded Like a Spellbook
A studio’s numbers, contracts and candidates deserve more than a hidden tab. The rules live where nobody can route around them.
Locked at the database
Row-level security on every table, so access is enforced by Postgres, not by good intentions.
Roles are yours to shape
Seven roles out of the box, from Admin to Client Viewer, and new ones permission by permission.
Costs stay private
What people cost and what you make is visible to admins only, down to the column.
Every change on record
An audit log on every table, and “view as” to see Spell exactly as anyone else does.
Say what's real
What We’re Brewing Next
Five spells are live today. The rest are brewing, and they’ll say so here until they ship.
5 live4 brewing
Live
Client Portal
Each client at their own address, approving on the task.
Live
Sign
Contracts that fill themselves in, with a hash-chained audit trail.
Live
Hire
Jobs, pipelines, interviews, a talent pool and a careers site.
Live
Bill
Invoices drafted on the 1st, payables checked, months closed.
Brewing
Xero sync
Issue invoices in Xero and bring payments back on their own.
Brewing
Review
Feedback and approvals on live builds.
Brewing
Manage
People and operations, in the same spine.
Brewing
Sell
Pipeline and proposals, before the contract.
FAQs
Questions, Answered
Anything else, ask us on the walkthrough—or join the waitlist and ask then.
Who is Spell for?
Creative studios and agencies that run retainers, packages and project work with a mix of staff, contractors and clients. We built it for Jam first, so it fits a team that designs, animates and builds for other people.
Is it actually live?
Yes. Jam runs every client engagement on Spell today. Work, the client portal, Sign, Hire and Bill are all live. We’re opening it to other studios a few at a time, from the waitlist.
What happens when I join the waitlist?
Nothing noisy. We keep your address, and your studio and size if you add them, and write once when your spot opens to set up a walkthrough. If you’d rather not wait, book one now.
How much does it cost?
We’re setting plans with our first studios. Join the waitlist or book a walkthrough and we’ll talk it through straight—no slide about “custom pricing”.
Do my clients need to install anything?
No. Clients open their portal in the browser at their own address, and signers need no account at all—just the private link we send them.
Can Astra change things on her own?
No. She can propose creating a task, logging time, approving an invoice or moving a candidate, and nothing happens until a person presses Approve. She also sees only what the person asking can see.
What do contractors see?
The internal side of the projects they’re on, and nothing else. They log time and work the board, never see the client conversation, and upload their monthly invoice to be checked against their approved hours.
Which billing models does Spell handle?
Hourly, subscription with included hours and overage, packages of hours with an expiry, fixed fees by milestone or instalment, and On-Demand with a project-management fee. Each engagement keeps its own currency.
Does it replace my accounting software?
No. Spell works out what to invoice and what to pay, and keeps the month’s result. Your accountant’s system stays the record. Issuing invoices straight into Xero is brewing next.