Manage contracts

Contracts live right next to the booking — attach them, track signing, and keep the status visible, rather than burying the policy in a message thread.

Turn contracts on

Go to Settings → Bookings → Legal & Contracts. From here you can:

Turn on Enable booking contracts.
Set the Contract Consent Label shown on the public signing page.
Preview the consent wording before you save.

Create and manage templates

Templates live in Contracts in the main navigation. Write the wording once, then control how each template behaves:

Create a template — give it a title and write the content in the markdown editor.
Turn a template on or off — use Enable template to control whether it's available for new bookings.
Set default attach behaviour — use Attach by default when booking is created to auto-attach on new bookings.
Preview — Barkway renders a live preview so you can spot layout issues before saving.
Use merge tags — pull in booking, client, pet, and business details (see System tags).

What happens when I edit a template?

Editing creates a new version:

New bookings use the latest saved version.
Older booking contracts keep their own saved snapshot.
Signed contracts don't change just because the template was updated later.

That's the point — no moving goalposts after a client has signed. Archiving a template takes it out of active workflow but keeps history; existing attached contracts stay exactly where they are.

Attach a contract to a booking

Two ways:

Automatically — a template with Attach by default when booking is created attaches itself to new bookings.
Manually — use Attach Contract from the booking to add one on demand.

Once attached, Barkway generates the signing link and starts tracking the record.

Track signing on the booking

On supported bookings, look for the Contracts panel. From there you can:

See how many attached contracts are still waiting on a signature.
Open the saved contract record.
Copy the signing link.
Void a contract.
See when the whole booking is Fully signed.

Statuses

Pending — attached, waiting to be signed.
Viewed — the signing link has been opened at least once.
Link expired — the latest signing link is no longer valid.
Signed — the client has completed signing.
Voided — cancelled but kept for audit history.
Fully signed — every attached contract on that booking is signed.

Signed contract records

Each attached contract gets its own saved record — the exact wording that was shown and signed, not a live template. The record shows the rendered content, status, signed name and time, any unknown tags, content/hash details, signing audit history, and a signed PDF link when available.

If the template used a tag Barkway didn't recognise at attach time, that tag is kept on the record and flagged as unknown — the record still reflects what was actually attached, and the template may need fixing before reuse.

Exclusions

Contracts are unavailable for system/unavailable bookings.
If booking contracts are turned off in Settings, the contract controls don't appear.

Tips

Use default attach for policies that apply to _most_ bookings, not just "quite a lot" of them.
If a client says they never got the link, copy it again from the booking rather than building a workaround.
Watch Viewed vs Pending — a clue about whether the issue is the wording or the follow-up.