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+# Phase 3: Agent Portal Shell - Context
+
+**Gathered:** 2026-03-19
+**Status:** Ready for planning
+
+<domain>
+## Phase Boundary
+
+Private authenticated area where Teressa manages clients (create, list, view profiles, edit, delete) and monitors all documents with their current status from a central dashboard. This phase builds the shell and client data model. Real documents are added in Phase 4 — placeholder data is seeded in this phase so the UI looks populated.
+
+</domain>
+
+<decisions>
+## Implementation Decisions
+
+### Portal Navigation
+- Top nav (horizontal nav bar) — not sidebar
+- Agent lands on Dashboard after login
+- All portal routes live under a `/portal` prefix (e.g., `/portal/dashboard`, `/portal/clients`, `/portal/clients/[id]`)
+- Visual feel: same brand as marketing site (shared colors/fonts) but cleaner and more utilitarian — clearly a logged-in app, not a marketing page
+
+### Client List Design
+- Card grid layout (not table/list)
+- Each card shows: client name, email, document count, last activity date
+- New client created via modal/dialog triggered from the client list page (not a separate page)
+- Empty state: friendly message ("No clients yet") with a prominent "+ Add your first client" CTA button
+
+### Dashboard Document View
+- Table layout with color-coded status badges: Draft=gray, Sent=blue, Viewed=amber/yellow, Signed=green
+- Columns: Document name, Client, Status badge, Date sent
+- Controls: filter by status (dropdown) + sort by date (most recent first)
+- Phase 3 seeds a few placeholder document rows (real documents arrive in Phase 4)
+- Empty state not needed since data is seeded
+
+### Client Profile Page
+- Two-section layout: client details header (name, email, edit button) above a documents table
+- Back link to Clients list
+- Edit client: modal/dialog (consistent with create pattern) — no inline editing
+- Documents section: same table style as dashboard (doc name, status badge, date)
+- Delete client: delete button on profile with confirmation dialog before removing
+
+### Claude's Discretion
+- Exact card dimensions and spacing on client grid
+- Color palette values for status badges (within brand colors)
+- Skeleton/loading states
+- Exact wording for empty states and confirmation dialogs
+- Mobile responsiveness details
+
+</decisions>
+
+<specifics>
+## Specific Ideas
+
+- Portal nav should feel like a real web app (not the marketing site) — utilitarian, clean
+- Consistent modal pattern for both create and edit client (same component, different mode)
+- Dashboard is the post-login landing page — it should feel like "command central"
+
+</specifics>
+
+<deferred>
+## Deferred Ideas
+
+- None — discussion stayed within phase scope
+
+</deferred>
+
+---
+
+*Phase: 03-agent-portal-shell*
+*Context gathered: 2026-03-19*