TCB in plain language
New to The Creators Base? Here is a quick reference for the key terms used across the platform and this Help Center.
The Base
The foundation that powers TCB. When you sign up, TCB builds a starting Base for you — a structured set of Service Types with benchmarked data tailored to your creative discipline. As you customize your Service Types, your Base becomes yours. Read What is The Base? for the full story.
Role
The creative discipline you select during onboarding (e.g., Graphic Designer, Social Media). Your Role determines which default Service Types are loaded into your Base at the start. You have one Role per account.
Service Type
A structured playbook for a specific type of work you offer — like Brand Identity or Social Media Management. Each Service Type holds your pricing, scope of work, deliverables, document structure, and project tasks. Service Types are what TCB pulls from when building your documents and projects.
Client
A customer or company you work with. Clients sit at the top of the TCB structure — Projects and Documents are organized under them. A Client can exist without a Project or Document. Clients are unlimited on all plans.
Project
A specific job or engagement linked to a Client and a Service Type. Projects hold all the documents and tasks generated for that work. Every Document must be linked to a Project, and every Project goes through a lifecycle of states. Read Understanding project states for the full picture.
Project states
Every project has a state that determines what you can do inside it and whether it counts toward your active project limit. The five states are:
Pipeline — You are negotiating or pitching. The project was created when you generated your first Proposal or Contract. Does not count as an active slot. Tasks are not loaded. Only Proposals and Contracts can be created.
Active — You are doing the work. Tasks are loaded, all document types are unlocked, financial data populates your dashboard. Counts toward your active project limit (3 on Free).
On Hold — The project is paused. Tasks are frozen, but you can still create documents. Still counts toward your limit.
Completed — The project is finished. Tasks are read-only. The project slot is freed. Financial data is preserved.
Archived — The project is inactive. Automatically applied after 90 days of inactivity in Pipeline, or done manually. Slot freed. Restorable anytime.
Task
A milestone or action item inside an Active project. Tasks load automatically from your Service Type when you activate a project, with dates calculated from the activation date. You can customize the task list in your Service Type settings. Read How do project tasks work? for details.
Document
A client-facing file generated by the Smart Document Builder — a Proposal, Contract, Welcome Letter, Invoice, Report, or Brand Manual. Every Document is linked to both a Project and a Client. Each document type has its own lifecycle and status properties.
Document Builder
The interface where you review, personalize, and export your documents. It features a live preview that updates in real time as you edit fields on the left side of the screen.
Live Preview
The real-time view of your document in the Document Builder. What you see in the preview is exactly what gets exported as a PDF.
Electronic Signature
A legally binding digital signature that can be requested from a client directly from TCB. Signatures are compliant with ESIGN, UETA (US), and eIDAS (EU), and come with a full audit trail and certificate of completion. Free plan includes 3 per month; Plus plan includes unlimited.
Audit Trail
A tamper-evident, timestamped record of the entire signing process embedded in every signed document. It includes who signed, when, from what device, and via which email.
Certificate of Completion
A document generated automatically after every successful signing, confirming the parties involved, the document signed, and the date and time of signing.
Activation Nudge
A banner that appears inside a Pipeline project after a key event — like a contract being signed or a proposal being accepted. It suggests activating the project to unlock tasks, invoicing, and progress tracking. You can dismiss the nudge; it is never mandatory.
Active project limit
The Free plan allows up to 3 active projects at a time. "Active" means projects in the Active or On Hold state. Pipeline, Completed, and Archived projects do not count. Upgrading to Plus removes the limit entirely.