First login

You reach the app at your workshop's subdomain followed by /login — for example bianchi-cycles.crankpal.com/login — with the email and password you chose when signing up. If you registered the workshop yourself there are no temporary credentials to change: you just go in.

Before the dashboard, though, the app may stop you on one or two screens. They aren't decorative: until you clear them, the rest of the app doesn't open.

The screens that can come before the dashboard#

They always come in this order, and most workshops see none or one of them.

1. Welcome and password change

   This is for staff, not for the person who registered the workshop. When the administrator creates a user, the app generates a temporary password that the administrator passes on to that person. At their first login that person sees a welcome screen that, in two or three steps, has them accept the documents that concern them (rules for using the app, privacy notice), choose a new password — the temporary one is also known to whoever created the account — and, if the workshop requires it, turn on two-factor verification.

2. Two-factor enrolment

   If the workshop has made a second factor mandatory, anyone without one is stopped here until they set one up. You can choose between an authenticator app, a code by email, or a passkey.

3. Registering a payment method

   Only in countries where a card is required at sign-up, and only if you chose a paid plan. This screen always has three ways out: register the card and the trial begins, or continue on the Free plan — without spending your trial period — or log out. The card form is the payment provider's own: the details don't pass through CrankPal.

4. Workshop suspended

   If the workshop is suspended, a screen appears instead of the app explaining why and what to do to reactivate it. The pages you need to put things right — subscription, support, account — stay reachable.

The setup checklist#

At the top of the dashboard there's a card with five steps. There's nothing to tick by hand: each step marks itself done when the matching data actually exists in the app.

1. Set your opening hours — without them the calendar has no slots to offer. See Workshop profile and hours.
2. Connect a messaging channel — WhatsApp, SMS, social or email, depending on your plan. See Integrations and channels.
3. Add a team member — needs the manage_users permission. If you work alone this step stays open, and that's fine.
4. Create your first customer — see Customers.
5. Open your first work order — see Work orders.

You can hide the card: it comes back at your next login, unless the setup has been completed in the meantime. When you reach five out of five it disappears for good.

The banners at the top of the page#

Notices can appear under the top bar. They're all actions to take, not advertising.

• Fiscal data to complete. It appears until your VAT number and an e-invoicing address are on file. It blocks nothing and you can dismiss it for the session, but it comes back. If your paid plan is about to start, a window with the form ready to fill in replaces the banner: see Fiscal data verification.
• Legal documents to accept. When we publish a new version of the Terms or the privacy notice, the notice asks you to read and accept it.
• Suspension or payment reminder. In the milder cases — holiday mode, a first reminder — a fixed banner stays put and the app keeps working.

Where to start setting up#

The order that saves the most time is the checklist order, with one clarification: opening hours and service catalog before anything else. They're the two things bookings, quotes and work orders depend on; doing them later means redoing by hand what you've already entered.

Common problems#