Core Concepts
Understand workspaces, boards, posts, statuses, and user roles.
Here's how the pieces fit together. Understanding these five concepts is enough to get started.
Workspaces
A workspace is your Quackback instance: the container for all your boards, posts, team members, and settings. Each self-hosted deployment is a single workspace.
Boards
Boards keep different types of feedback organized. Common examples: "Feature Requests", "Bug Reports", "Integrations".
Each board has a name, URL slug (e.g., /b/feature-requests), and a public/private visibility toggle.
Tip: Start with 2-3 boards. You can always add more later, but too many boards confuse users about where to post.
Posts
A post is a single piece of feedback: an idea, request, or bug report. Posts belong to a board and include a title, description, status, tags, votes, and comments.
Posts move through your workflow as your team triages them:
Open → Under Review → Planned → In Progress → Complete
│
└──→ ClosedWhen a post's status changes, subscribed users are notified automatically.
Statuses
Statuses show users what's happening with their feedback. They're organized into three categories:
Category | Default Statuses | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
Active | Open, Under Review, Planned, In Progress | Posts that need attention or are being worked on |
Complete | Complete | Posts that have been addressed |
Closed | Closed | Posts that won't be implemented |
You can create custom statuses like "In Design", "In Beta", or "Blocked" to match your workflow.
Users & Roles
Quackback has two types of accounts with three roles:
Capability | Portal User | Member | Admin |
|---|---|---|---|
Submit feedback, vote, comment | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
View admin dashboard | ✓ | ✓ | |
Manage feedback & statuses | ✓ | ✓ | |
Workspace settings & integrations | ✓ |
Portal users are your customers. They sign up through the public portal. Team members are invited by admins and access the admin dashboard.
Note: Team members can also use the public portal like regular users.
More to Explore
Once you're up and running, these features help you get more out of Quackback:
- Tags: Label posts across boards by platform, priority, or team
- Roadmaps: Show users what's planned, in progress, and shipped
- Voting: Let users prioritize what matters most
- Comments: Threaded discussions with official team responses
- Changelog: Announce shipped features and close the feedback loop
- API & Webhooks: Automate workflows and build custom integrations
- Integrations: Connect to Slack, Linear, and more
Next Steps
- Quick Start: Get Quackback running
- Organize feedback with boards: Set up your first boards
- Deploy with Docker: Production deployment
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