Portal

Create a Portal

Build a portal that displays data from the workspace database. Portals are config-driven JSON files with tabs and typed sections. They render at https://.mug.work/.

Full API reference (all config fields, section types, formats, badge colors, action conditions): .mug/docs/portals.md

Input

Portal name or description: $ARGUMENTS

If no argument provided, ask the user what they need. Clarify:

• What data should it show? (tables, metrics, charts, text)
• Who sees it? (public, verified identity, or restricted)
• Multiple concerns? (suggest tabs — e.g., "Time Off" + "Company")
• Any action buttons? (e.g., approve/deny — trigger workflows)

Step 1 — Name and plan

Pick a kebab-case name (e.g., employee-portal, approvals, inventory).

Present a brief plan:

• Tab structure (single tab = no tab bar shown)
• Section layout per tab (stats at top, then table, etc.)
• Data sources (tables, queries)
• Access mode
• Action buttons (if any)

Wait for user confirmation.

Step 2 — Discover table schemas

Before writing queries, discover what tables and columns exist in the workspace database:

mug tables --schema

This shows every synced table with column names, types, and row counts. Add --sample to see sample rows:

mug tables --sample

Requires mug dev to be running. Use the column names from this output to write accurate portal queries.

If you need to explore a specific table further:

mug query _workspace "SELECT * FROM  LIMIT 5"

Step 3 — Scaffold the portal config

mug portal init 

Creates surfaces/.json with a template config. Then edit to match the plan.

Step 4 — Write the portal config

Portal configs are JSON files in surfaces/. The structure is:

{
  "type": "portal",
  "title": "Employee Portal",
  "access": { "mode": "auth", "method": "email", "table": "employees", "matchColumn": "email", "sessionDuration": "7d" },
  "sections": [
    { "type": "stats", "query": "...", "items": [...] }
  ],
  "tabs": [
    {
      "id": "main",
      "label": "Dashboard",
      "color": "#3b82f6",
      "countQuery": "SELECT count(*) FROM items WHERE owner = :user",
      "sections": [
        { "type": "table", "query": "...", "columns": [...], "detail": {...}, "actions": [...] }
      ],
      "links": [{ "label": "Submit Request", "href": "/request-form?from=/request-form-portal&fromLabel=Back to Portal" }]
    }
  ]
}

• No database field needed — portals query the unified workspace database by default. Cross-source JOINs work in any section query. Table names auto-resolve when unique across sources; use prefixed names (airtable_contacts) when ambiguous.
• Top-level sections render above the tab bar and stay visible across all tabs. Use for summary stats or announcements that apply globally.
• Tab color sets the tab's text + underline color (e.g., amber for "Pending", green for "Approved").
• Tab countQuery shows a dynamic count badge: "Pending (3)". Query must return one row, one numeric column.

Section type catalog

| Type | Query returns | Renders as | |------|-------------|------------| | table | rows | Paginated table → clickable rows → detail pages → action buttons | | stats | single row | Row of metric cards (label + big number) | | progress | multiple rows | Row of progress bars (label + bar + subtitle) | | text | none | Markdown block (headings, bold, italic, lists) | | chart | rows | Inline SVG bar or donut chart | | gallery | rows | Image card grid with title + metadata | | accordion | none | Collapsible container wrapping child sections |

Stats section

{
  "type": "stats",
  "query": "SELECT count(*) as total, sum(case when status='pending' then 1 else 0 end) as pending FROM requests WHERE email = :user",
  "items": [
    { "label": "Total", "column": "total", "valueColor": "neutral" },
    { "label": "Pending", "column": "pending", "format": "number", "color": "#f59e0b", "href": "?tab=pending" }
  ]
}

Formats: number (comma-separated), currency ($X,XXX.XX), currency-whole ($X,XXX — no cents), currency-short ($12.5K / $1.2M), percent (XX%). Stats default to whole dollars for currency. Values that overflow stat cards auto-abbreviate to K/M.

color sets the top border; valueColor controls the number color: "match" (inherit border color — default when color is set), "neutral" (dark text), or a hex string. Omitting both uses workspace accentColor.

href makes the stat card a clickable link — use "?tab=" to navigate to a tab, or any URL.

Progress section

{
  "type": "progress",
  "query": "SELECT type, used, annual, (annual - used) as remaining FROM pto_balances WHERE email = :user",
  "labelColumn": "type",
  "valueColumn": "used",
  "maxColumn": "annual",
  "subtitleTemplate": "{{remaining}} hrs remaining"
}

Text section

{
  "type": "text",
  "content": "## Welcome\nLatest updates from the team.\n\n- **Policy update**: new PTO rules effective June 1\n- Holiday schedule posted"
}

Supports: # ## ### headings, **bold**, *italic*, - lists, blank-line paragraph breaks.

Chart section

{
  "type": "chart",
  "query": "SELECT status as label, count(*) as value FROM runs GROUP BY status",
  "chartType": "donut",
  "title": "Status Breakdown",
  "colors": { "complete": "#16a34a", "error": "#ef4444" }
}

chartType: "bar" (horizontal bars, max 20) or "donut" (circle segments, max 8). labelColumn and valueColumn default to "label" and "value" — alias your SQL columns to match. colors maps label values to hex colors (unmatched labels use the default palette).

Gallery section

{
  "type": "gallery",
  "query": "SELECT id, photo_url, name, role FROM team ORDER BY name",
  "imageColumn": "photo_url",
  "titleColumn": "name",
  "fields": [{ "key": "role", "label": "Role" }],
  "columns": 4
}

Accordion section

{
  "type": "accordion",
  "label": "Historical Requests",
  "open": false,
  "sections": [
    { "type": "table", "query": "...", "columns": [...] }
  ]
}

Wraps child sections in a collapsible `` element. Sections inside accordions work identically — they can be any type including nested accordions.

Table section (full)

{
  "type": "table",
  "query": "SELECT id, title, status, created_at FROM requests WHERE email = :user ORDER BY created_at DESC",
  "primaryKey": "id",
  "pageSize": 25,
  "columns": [
    { "key": "title", "label": "Title" },
    { "key": "status", "label": "Status", "badge": true },
    { "key": "created_at", "label": "Created", "format": "datetime", "dateFormat": "short" }
  ],
  "detail": {
    "title": "{{title}}",
    "fields": [
      { "key": "title", "label": "Title" },
      { "key": "status", "label": "Status", "badge": true },
      { "key": "created_at", "label": "Submitted", "format": "datetime" }
    ]
  },
  "actions": [
    {
      "name": "approve",
      "label": "Approve",
      "workflow": "handle-approval",
      "style": "success",
      "showWhen": { "field": "status", "op": "eq", "value": "pending" },
      "afterMessage": "Approved on {{timestamp}}",
      "afterActions": [
        { "label": "Revoke", "action": "revoke", "style": "danger" }
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "deny",
      "label": "Deny",
      "workflow": "handle-approval",
      "style": "danger",
      "showWhen": { "field": "status", "op": "eq", "value": "pending" },
      "confirm": "Are you sure you want to deny this request?"
    }
  ],
  "emptyMessage": "No records found."
}

Action button styles: "success" (green), "danger" (red), "warning" (amber), "primary" (accent), "default" (gray). Add "color": "#hex" for a custom color with working hover. Use "success"/"danger" for approve/deny instead of "primary" to avoid both buttons inheriting accentColor.

After-action behavior: Actions are optimistic — the button is replaced immediately with a status message. Configure with:

• "afterMessage" — custom status text. Use {{timestamp}} for the date/time. Default: "✓ {label} · {timestamp}".
• "afterColor" — color for the status message text (hex). Default: workspace accent color. Use "#16a34a" for approve, "#dc2626" for deny.
• "afterActions" — follow-up buttons shown after the action fires. Each has label, action (sent as ctx.params.action), and optional style. Fires the same workflow. Omit for no follow-up buttons.
• "confirm" — shows a confirmation dialog before firing. Good for destructive actions.

Badge colors: "badge": true uses built-in status colors (pending=yellow, approved=green, etc.). For non-status values, add "badgeColors": { "PTO": "#3b82f6", "Sick": "#ef4444" } — custom map checked first, then built-in fallback.

Timeline playback: Action buttons can trigger scripted visual sequences instead of workflows — use "timeline" (array) instead of "workflow" (string). Purely client-side, no server round-trips. Great for client demos and presentations.

{
  "name": "send-reminder",
  "label": "Send Reminder",
  "style": "primary",
  "timeline": [
    { "delay": 1, "event": "toast", "message": "AI drafting reminder email..." },
    { "delay": 3, "event": "preview", "channel": "email", "to": "Mr. Davis", "subject": "Payment Reminder", "body": "Hi Mr. Davis,\n\nThis is a friendly reminder..." },
    { "delay": 5, "event": "toast", "message": "Email sent to Mr. Davis" },
    { "delay": 7, "event": "update", "row": "inv-001", "field": "status", "value": "reminded" }
  ]
}

Timeline event types:

• toast — notification popup (top-right, auto-dismiss 4s, stacks). Fields: message.
• preview — email/SMS preview card (slides in from right). Fields: channel (email/sms), to, subject, body.
• stream — character-by-character text reveal into a target element. Fields: target (CSS selector), text.
• update — change a table cell value with highlight flash. Fields: row (data-row-id), field (column header text), value.
• highlight — pulse-highlight a table row or action button with a badge. Fields: row (data-row-id) for rows, action (action name) for buttons, message (badge text). Row highlights use gold; button highlights inherit the button's color. Commonly used with autoplay to guide users on page load.

Each event has delay in seconds from the trigger moment (not cumulative). Button is disabled during playback.

Autoplay: Add "autoplay" to the portal config (same event array) — fires once on page load. Use for AI summary streams on dashboards:

{
  "type": "portal",
  "title": "Weekly Report",
  "autoplay": [
    { "delay": 1, "event": "stream", "target": "#ai-summary", "text": "This week: revenue up 12%..." },
    { "delay": 10, "event": "toast", "message": "Report auto-delivered Monday at 7am" }
  ],
  "tabs": [...]
}

Per-surface branding: Add "branding": { "logoSquare": "files/logo.png", "accentColor": "#hex" } to override workspace branding for this portal. Surface values take precedence; workspace branding from mug.json is the fallback.

Embed mode: Append ?embed=true to any surface URL to strip header chrome (logo, session info, logout, breadcrumbs) for iframe embedding. Content (title, tabs, sections, actions) remains. CSP allows framing from mug.work and *.mug.work.

Step 5 — Write action handler workflows (if needed)

Actions trigger workflows. The workflow receives { action, ...rowData, _verified_email, _surface, _workspace }.

import { workflow } from "@mugwork/mug";

workflow("handle-approval", async (ctx) => {
  const params = ctx.params as Record;
  const status = params.action === "approve" ? "approved" : "denied";
  await ctx.exec("UPDATE requests SET status = ? WHERE id = ?", [status, params.id]);
  return { id: params.id, status };
});

Workflows in workflows/ are auto-discovered by mug deploy — no import needed.

Step 6 — Test locally

New portals are picked up automatically by the running dev server — no restart needed.

mug dev                                    # start dev server (if not already running)
open http://localhost:8787/

Use the "View As" banner to test as different users. Tab switching works via ?tab=.

Step 7 — Validate

mug portal list              # show portal surfaces and URLs

---

Design guidance

Tab structure: Use tabs when a portal serves multiple concerns (time off + pay + company news). Single-concern portals use one tab (tab bar hidden).

Section ordering: Put summary sections (stats, progress) above detail sections (table). Text sections work as headers or announcements. Charts provide visual context.

Accordion usage: Wrap historical or secondary data in accordions to keep the main view clean. Good for "past requests" below "current requests".

Access modes:

• public — anyone can view (dashboards, leaderboards)
• identify — anyone can access after verifying email (customer self-service)
• auth — only users in a database table (employee portals, manager tools)

Query binding: use :user for the session email/phone. With auth mode, use :auth.column for any column from the user's auth table row (e.g., :auth.department, :auth.id, :auth.role).

Breadcrumbs: When portal links point to other surfaces (forms, other portals), add ?from= and ?fromLabel= query params so the target surface shows a "Back" breadcrumb link. Example: "/request-form?from=/employee-portal&fromLabel=Back to Portal". When the target surface is opened directly (no ?from=), no breadcrumb appears.

Home screen: The workspace home screen (subdomain.mug.work/) is configured via surfaces/_home.json — not a portal, but uses a similar JSON config with groups, buttons, and cards. See .mug/docs/api.md for the full schema.

Debugging: Portal query errors appear in the browser console (console.error("[mug]", ...)). If a section shows empty when it shouldn't, open Chrome DevTools → Console and look for [mug] errors. Common causes: missing table (redeploy to auto-create), typo in column name, or SQL syntax error. The portal renders empty sections gracefully instead of failing — the console is where you find out why.

For form creation, see the /form skill. For complex workflows, see the /workflow skill. For email notifications, see the /notify skill.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: mugwork
• Source: mugwork/mug
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://mug.work

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.