Retainers & time tracking

Retainer projects organize monthly work and manual time entries. Cycles, retained hours, and time entries are internal provider information; clients do not see them.

Start a monthly cycle

You must be a provider admin or provider team member with access to an active, writable Retainer project.

1. Create a project with Engagement type set to Retainer, or open an existing one.
2. Open its Retainer tab or find it in the sidebar’s Retainers page.
3. Select New monthly cycle.
4. In Start a monthly cycle, choose Month and enter Retained hours.
5. Select Save.

Only one cycle is allowed for each project and month. Retained hours can be between 0 and 10,000. Cycles are created manually; a new calendar month does not create one automatically.

Log time

1. Select the intended Monthly cycle.
2. Choose Log time.
3. Enter Hours and, optionally, What did you work on?.
4. Select Save.
5. Check the entry and RETAINED, USED, and REMAINING or OVER ALLOCATION totals.

The form uses quarter-hour increments, from 0.25 to 24 hours per entry. Verify the selected month before saving. There is no current time-entry edit/delete UI, so contact support if an entry needs correction.

This is manual time tracking, not a running timer, payroll calculation, or automatic client invoice generator. Going over the retained allocation is displayed as usage; it does not independently create a charge.

Repeat work in a new cycle

On an eligible original retainer task, select Repeat in new monthly cycles. Creating a later monthly cycle copies eligible recurring tasks once into that cycle.

The copies begin Open, use the first and last dates of the chosen month, carry unchecked checklist items, and have cleared dependencies. The copies are not themselves marked to repeat again. Original tasks are preserved.

Accepted recurring work can be copied. Pending and declined requests are excluded. Review each new cycle’s task dates, owners, checklists, and dependency needs before delivery begins.

Retention still applies

A new monthly cycle does not restart the project’s lifetime. Retainer projects and their cycles, time entries, files, and tasks are permanently deleted 90 days after original project creation, even on a paid plan. Export the project before that deadline.

If controls are missing

Confirm the project is a Retainer, you are on the provider side, and the workspace and project are writable. Client admin status does not grant access to internal retainer hours.