# Projects

In professional services — whether you are a system integrator, digital agency, consulting firm, or managed services provider — the biggest source of lost context happens between the sales cycle and delivery. Customer requirements, meeting notes, proposals, and relationship knowledge live in scattered tools and inboxes, and delivery teams are left to start from scratch.

**DarcyIQ Projects solve this by giving every customer engagement a single, AI-powered workspace that carries context from the first discovery call through project completion.** During the sales cycle, capture customer needs, upload RFPs, record meetings, and build a knowledge base. When the deal closes, the same project becomes the delivery workspace — the team inherits every document, meeting transcript, and requirement automatically, then layers on specs, development tracking, discussion threads, and status reporting.

{% hint style="success" %}
**Sales to Delivery in action**: Your sales team creates an "Acme Corp Cloud Migration" project, uploads the RFP, and records three discovery calls. When the deal closes, the delivery lead opens the same project, clicks **Generate** to create an AI-powered definition from all that context, breaks it into specs, connects the GitHub repo, and enables a weekly status report — zero handoff friction.
{% endhint %}

## Who Is This For?

Projects are built for the services industry and any team that manages customer engagements:

* **System Integrators** — manage cloud migrations, ERP implementations, and custom development from scoping through go-live
* **Digital Marketing Agencies** — centralize campaign briefs, creative assets, and client feedback across the engagement lifecycle
* **Consulting Firms** — organize advisory engagements with research, deliverables, and client meeting history in one place
* **Managed Services Providers** — track onboarding, ongoing operations, and quarterly business reviews per client
* **Internal Delivery Teams** — coordinate cross-functional projects with shared context and AI-assisted reporting

## Key Benefits

| Benefit                     | Description                                                                      | Business Impact                               |
| --------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| **Seamless Handoff**        | Sales context — meetings, documents, requirements — flows directly into delivery | Eliminate the "starting from scratch" problem |
| **AI-Powered Definitions**  | Generate a project definition from uploaded context with one click               | Jump-start scoping and alignment in minutes   |
| **Specs with Lifecycle**    | Break definitions into detailed specs with Draft / In Review / Approved status   | Structured requirements management            |
| **Development Tracking**    | Connect GitHub repositories and review PRs with AI-generated citations           | Bridge the gap between planning and code      |
| **Team Discussion Threads** | Post updates, questions, feedback, and decisions in a shared timeline            | Replace scattered emails with a single source |
| **Unified Item Management** | Attach meetings, documents, artifacts, tasks, lists, and scoping estimates       | All deliverables organized in one place       |
| **Dashboard & Insights**    | Activity charts, definition freshness, quick actions, and getting-started guide  | Full visibility into project health           |
| **Built-in Automations**    | Auto-assign meetings and schedule weekly status reports                          | Eliminate repetitive project housekeeping     |
| **Darcy Chat Integration**  | Chat with full project context — definitions, specs, items, and knowledge base   | AI responses grounded in your project data    |

## The Project Lifecycle

Projects support the full engagement lifecycle, from the first sales conversation to project closeout:

{% @mermaid/diagram content="graph LR
A\["Sales &<br/>Discovery"] --> B\["Scoping &<br/>Proposal"]
B --> C\["Handoff to<br/>Delivery"]
C --> D\["Execution &<br/>Tracking"]
D --> E\["Review &<br/>Closeout"]" %}

| Phase                    | What Happens in the Project                                                                                     |
| ------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Sales & Discovery**    | Create the project, record discovery calls (auto-assigned via meeting automation), upload RFPs and requirements |
| **Scoping & Proposal**   | Generate a project definition from accumulated context, attach scoping estimates and proposals                  |
| **Handoff to Delivery**  | Share the project with the delivery team — they inherit every document, meeting, and requirement instantly      |
| **Execution & Tracking** | Break the definition into specs, connect GitHub repos, track PR progress, post status updates via threads       |
| **Review & Closeout**    | Use the Dashboard to review activity, generate final reports with Quick Actions, archive the project            |

## How Projects Work

### Project Architecture

| Component                  | Function                                                        | Value                                         |
| -------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| **Dashboard**              | Overview stats, activity chart, insights, and quick actions     | At-a-glance project health                    |
| **Definition & Specs**     | AI-generated or manual scope documents with feedback workflow   | Living requirements that stay current         |
| **Items**                  | Linked meetings, documents, artifacts, tasks, lists, and scopes | Centralized deliverable management            |
| **Thread**                 | Typed discussion feed (updates, questions, feedback, decisions) | Persistent team communication                 |
| **Development**            | GitHub connection, PR reviews, and Cursor Cloud Agents          | Code-level traceability to project scope      |
| **App**                    | Linked dashboard app with interactive widgets                   | Visual project reporting                      |
| **Project Knowledge Base** | Dedicated AI-searchable repository for uploaded files           | Instant, project-scoped information retrieval |

## Creating and Managing Projects

### Creating a New Project

{% stepper %}
{% step %}
**Navigate to Projects** Click **Projects** in the sidebar to open the project list.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
**Click "New Project"** Enter a project name (up to 100 characters) and an optional description (up to 500 characters).
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
**Configure the Sidebar** Once the project opens, use the sidebar to set the client, dates, assigned agent, automations, and external links.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
**Follow the Getting Started Checklist** The Dashboard tab walks you through key setup steps: add items, create a definition, write your first spec, and start a thread.
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}

### Project List

The **Projects** page displays all projects you own or have been shared with. From here you can:

* **Search** projects by name
* **Create** a new project
* **Share** or **delete** projects you own
* **Open** any project to view its detail page

***

## Configuring a Project

The left sidebar has two tabs — **Info** and **Links** — that let you configure project metadata and external references.

### Info Tab

| Field           | Description                                                                                                 |
| --------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Name**        | Project name displayed in the header and list. Click the pencil icon to edit.                               |
| **Description** | Brief summary of the project. Click the pencil icon to edit.                                                |
| **Client**      | CRM client name. If Salesforce is connected, search and link a Salesforce account directly.                 |
| **Start / End** | Project timeline dates stored in the project metadata.                                                      |
| **Agent**       | Assign a DarcyIQ agent to the project. This agent is used for scheduled automations and contextual actions. |

### Automations

Two built-in automations are available in the sidebar:

| Automation               | What It Does                                                                                                                                                                            |
| ------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Meeting Auto-assign**  | When a meeting completes whose name contains the client or project name **and** has external attendees, it is automatically added to the project.                                       |
| **Weekly Status Report** | Every Friday at 6 AM (your timezone), an agent generates a comprehensive 7-day status report covering accomplishments, decisions, risks, action items, and more — and emails it to you. |

Toggle each automation on or off with one click.

### MCP Integration

If you have public API key permissions, the sidebar also displays **MCP Install Actions** — pre-built configurations to install the project as an MCP server in Cursor, VS Code, or Kiro. This lets external coding tools access your project's knowledge base and context.

### Links Tab

Add external links (label + URL) to reference tools like Jira boards, Confluence spaces, shared drives, or any other resource your team needs quick access to.

***

## Sharing and Permissions

Click the **Share** button in the project header to invite team members and control access.

| Permission Level | Capabilities                                        | Use Case                           |
| ---------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------- |
| **Owner**        | Full control — edit, share, configure, delete       | Project lead or account owner      |
| **Editor**       | Edit content, manage items, post threads, configure | Core delivery team members         |
| **Viewer**       | Read-only access to all project content             | Stakeholders, reviewers, observers |

Share with individual users or with [Groups](https://docs.darcyiq.com/settings-and-configuration/groups) for bulk access management.

***

## Darcy Chat Integration

Every project has a **Darcy Chat** button in the header that opens a contextual AI chat panel. Chat is automatically scoped to the project's knowledge base, definition, specs, and items so that AI responses are grounded in your project data.

The Dashboard tab also provides **Quick Actions** — preset prompts that open Darcy Chat with a specific task:

* Create a sales-to-delivery handoff
* Write a project status update
* Draft a meeting agenda
* Summarize all meeting notes
* Identify risks and blockers
* Summarize the project scope
* Write a stakeholder email update
* Review and improve specs

When Darcy Chat executes tools that modify the definition or specs (via the `project_definition_spec` tool), the UI refreshes automatically.

***

## Integration with Other Features

### Meeting Integration

* **Auto-assign**: Enable the meeting automation to capture completed client meetings automatically
* **Manual assignment**: Assign any meeting from the Items tab
* **Full transcripts**: Meeting content is available in the project knowledge base

### Workflow Integration

* Route workflow outputs into project artifacts
* Use project knowledge base as context for workflow steps

### App Integration

* **Assign an existing app** to the project's App tab to display interactive dashboards and widgets
* **Create a new app** from the App tab

### Agent Integration

* Assign a default [Agent](https://docs.darcyiq.com/core-features/agents) to the project from the sidebar
* The assigned agent powers scheduled automations and contextual tasks
* Scheduled runs include the project's knowledge base and context

***

## Use Cases

### System Integrator — Cloud Migration

A cloud consulting firm wins a multi-phase AWS migration. The sales team creates the project during the sales cycle, uploading the RFP and recording three discovery calls. When the deal closes, the delivery lead opens the project, generates a definition from the accumulated context, breaks it into per-workload specs, connects the GitHub repo, and enables the weekly status report. The entire team — from solution architects to developers — works from the same project throughout the engagement.

### Digital Agency — Campaign Engagement

An agency creates a project for a new brand campaign. Creative briefs, competitive research, and client feedback are uploaded to the knowledge base. Meeting auto-assign captures every client call. As the campaign progresses, the team tracks deliverables in Items, discusses creative direction in Threads, and uses Quick Actions to generate client status emails before each check-in.

### Consulting Firm — Advisory Engagement

A management consulting team creates a project for a digital transformation assessment. Discovery meeting transcripts, industry reports, and the statement of work are added during sales. At kickoff, the delivery team generates a definition, creates specs for each assessment area, and uses the Dashboard to monitor progress. When the engagement wraps, they generate a final handoff document using Darcy Chat.

***

## Best Practices

### Project Organization

1. **Create projects at the start of the sales cycle** — not after the deal closes. This ensures discovery meetings, documents, and context are captured from day one and flow directly into delivery.
2. **Naming Convention**: Use a consistent format like "\[Client] - \[Engagement Type] - \[Year]"
3. **Client Field**: Set the client name early so meeting auto-assign matches correctly
4. **Initial Setup**: Upload background materials and set dates before inviting team members
5. **Regular Updates**: Keep the definition and specs current — the Dashboard tracks freshness over 30 days
6. **Access Reviews**: Periodically review shared users and permission levels

### Knowledge Base Management

| Practice              | Recommendation                                          |
| --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Upload Early**      | Add all reference materials before the team starts work |
| **Descriptive Names** | Use searchable file names for better AI comprehension   |
| **Version Control**   | Upload latest versions and remove outdated ones         |
| **Use Quick Upload**  | The KB upload button in Items supports drag-and-drop    |

### Smooth Handoffs

* **Share early**: Add delivery team members to the project before the formal handoff so they can review context at their own pace
* **Use the handoff Quick Action**: The Dashboard includes a "Create a Sales to Delivery Handoff" prompt that generates a structured handoff document from all project context
* **Thread the transition**: Post a Decision thread when the handoff is complete, summarizing key expectations and next steps

### Team Collaboration

* **Onboarding**: Share the project with new team members — they instantly gain access to all items, threads, and the knowledge base
* **Thread Types**: Use the correct thread type (Update, Question, Feedback, Decision) so the team can filter by category
* **Quick Actions**: Use Dashboard quick actions to generate recurring deliverables like status updates and meeting agendas

{% hint style="info" %}
**Pro Tip**: Create a project the moment a customer engagement begins — even during early discovery. Enable meeting auto-assign so every client conversation is captured automatically. When the deal closes and delivery starts, the team inherits a complete knowledge base with zero handoff friction.
{% endhint %}

## Next Steps

| Goal                                     | Documentation                                                                            |
| ---------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Create and manage project definitions    | [Definition & Specs](https://docs.darcyiq.com/workspace/projects/definition-and-specs)   |
| Attach and organize project resources    | [Project Items](https://docs.darcyiq.com/workspace/projects/project-items)               |
| Use the dashboard and discussion threads | [Dashboard & Threads](https://docs.darcyiq.com/workspace/projects/dashboard-and-threads) |
| Connect GitHub and track development     | [Development](https://docs.darcyiq.com/workspace/projects/development)                   |
| Learn about AI agents                    | [Agents](https://docs.darcyiq.com/core-features/agents)                                  |
| Configure knowledge bases                | [Knowledge Bases](https://docs.darcyiq.com/additional-features/knowledge-bases)          |