# Vendor Portal (Beta)
URL: https://docs.clearly-ai.com/docs/vendor-portal
Description: Invite an external vendor to answer a review and upload evidence, without giving them access to your workspace.
**Vendor Portal (Beta)** lets you invite an external vendor to answer one of your reviews directly.

The vendor gets their own portal, where they upload supporting documents and, if you want them to, answer the review's questions. What they send back lands on the review and on the project, so their evidence sits alongside everything else you collected.

<Note>
  Vendor Portal is in beta. It has to be enabled for your organization, and then turned on per review template with **Allow vendor invites**. If you do not see **Review vendor access** on a review, ask Clearly AI to enable the portal, then check the template setting below.
</Note>

## Allow vendor invites on a template [#allow-vendor-invites-on-a-template]

Vendor collaboration is set per review template, so you decide which reviews can bring in vendors. Open the review template, find the **Vendor Portal** section, and turn on **Allow vendor invites**. Reviews created from that template can then invite vendors; reviews from templates with the setting off cannot, and they do not show **Review vendor access**.

<Note>
  The **Vendor Portal** section only appears when the portal is enabled for your organization. If you do not see it on the template, ask Clearly AI to enable the portal.
</Note>

The setting saves as `allow_vendor_invites` in the template metadata, so it round-trips through YAML export and import and through the MCP review template tools. Changing it creates a new template version; reviews already running keep the version they were created with.

## Invite a vendor [#invite-a-vendor]

Open the review and select **Review vendor access** in the toolbar. The count next to it is how many vendors currently have access.

<Steps>
  <Step>
    ### Enter the vendor's email [#enter-the-vendors-email]

    Type an address under **Invite a vendor**, or pick someone from the list of vendors you have invited before.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    ### Send the invitation [#send-the-invitation]

    Select **Invite**. The vendor receives an email with a link to this review.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    ### Share the link yourself, if you prefer [#share-the-link-yourself-if-you-prefer]

    Each vendor row has a **Copy invite link** action, so you can send the link through your own channel instead.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Invitations last 30 days by default. You can invite several vendors to the same review and compare what each one sends back.

[Image: The Review vendor access popover on a review, with the Invite a vendor field]

## Track what each vendor has sent [#track-what-each-vendor-has-sent]

Each vendor appears as a row under **Review vendor access** showing their email, their current status, how many questions they have answered, and how many documents they have uploaded.

To take access away, select **Withdraw** on their row. The vendor keeps no access to the review afterwards.

### Request statuses [#request-statuses]

| Status          | Meaning                                                    |
| --------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Setting up**  | The invitation is still being provisioned                  |
| **Not started** | The vendor has been invited but has not opened the request |
| **In progress** | The vendor has started uploading or answering              |
| **Submitted**   | The vendor has sent their response and it is now locked    |
| **Withdrawn**   | You revoked access                                         |
| **Expired**     | The invitation ran out before the vendor submitted         |

A request that expires before it is finished reads as **Expired** rather than **Not started**, because the vendor can no longer act on it.

## What the vendor sees [#what-the-vendor-sees]

Vendors sign in to their own portal and see a list of requests, not your workspace. Opening a request shows:

* **Supporting documents**, the main panel. The portal asks for trust center documents and anything else relevant to a vendor review, such as SOC 2 reports, security, privacy and governance policies, and penetration test results.
* The review's questions, tucked behind **See the questions or answer them manually**, with a count of how many are answered.

Answers save automatically as the vendor works. Uploading documents is the primary path, and Clearly AI can use those documents to help answer the review, so answering the questions directly is optional.

When the vendor selects **Submit response**, their response locks. They can still open the request to see what they sent. Clearly AI blocks submission while document uploads are still running.

A vendor who works with more than one Clearly AI customer can switch between organizations from their sidebar. They only ever see the requests assigned to them in the organization they are viewing.

## What happens when a vendor submits [#what-happens-when-a-vendor-submits]

Their uploaded documents are copied onto the project as sources, in a category described as **Submitted through the vendor portal**, so you can tell vendor-supplied evidence apart from your own. Their answers land on the review, where your team reviews and edits them like any other answer.

## What vendors cannot reach [#what-vendors-cannot-reach]

A vendor only ever has access to the request assigned to them. They cannot see your other projects, your internal answers and evidence, your teammates, your settings, or Chat. Access is scoped to the single review they were invited to, and it is enforced on the server rather than only hidden in the interface.

Vendors are not internal seats. They hold a separate Vendor role that grants nothing beyond their assigned request. See [Members and roles](https://docs.clearly-ai.com/docs/members-and-roles) for the roles your own team uses.

## FAQs [#faqs]

<Accordions>
  <Accordion title="Does the vendor need a Clearly AI account?">
    They sign in to the vendor portal, but they are not given a seat in your workspace. Their access covers only the request you invited them to.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I invite more than one vendor to the same review?">
    Yes. Each vendor works independently and you can compare what each one submits.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do vendors have to answer the questions?">
    No. Uploading documents is enough, and Clearly AI can use those documents to help answer the review. Answering directly is optional.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What happens if an invitation expires?">
    The request shows as **Expired** and the vendor can no longer act on it. Invite them again to reopen access.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can a vendor change their response after submitting?">
    No. Submitting locks the response. They can still open the request to see what they sent.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why does a review not show Review vendor access?">
    Vendor collaboration is set per review template. If the review's template does not have **Allow vendor invites** turned on, the control does not appear on that review. It is also hidden if the portal is not enabled for your organization.
  </Accordion>
</Accordions>