Buyer workflow

Velcio is the managed handoff layer between you and your developer. You fund the project, own production secrets, and test the hosted delivery during review (Worker process or Web app). When you accept delivery, you receive full ownership of the delivered source code.

Steps

1. Find a developer on the Developers marketplace, assign someone you already know, or post an open listing (see Open marketplace listings below). Use their username if they already use Velcio (developer mode must be enabled). Use their email to invite someone new; Velcio emails an invite link (valid 14 days). On the project page you can resend, fix a typo (change email), cancel a pending invite, or assign a different developer after cancel. For directed hires, choose Set opening offer to propose a price, or Request a quote to let the developer submit the first price.
2. Agree on price in the project Pricing section for directed hires (accept or counter until both sides agree). Open-listing work locks price when you accept a proposal. Use Discussion on the project page to clarify scope at any stage. You can cancel a draft project before funding if you no longer want to proceed (see Cancelling a project).
3. Fund the project with Stripe Checkout once price is agreed (or after you accept a proposal on an open listing). Funds are authorised but not captured until you accept delivery.
4. Set production secrets for every env var the developer declared on the project page before they submit delivery. Discord Worker apps often need DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN (see Discord Worker apps below), but only keys on the developer's required list block deploy. Saving a secret redeploys the app automatically when it is already running.
5. Wait for developer acceptance within 48 hours of payment authorisation.
6. Wait while the developer builds and verifies the delivery (ZIP upload or GitHub snapshot). Velcio deploys that artifact, but buyer review does not start until the developer confirms. The Managed deployment section stays hidden until then so early build/retry noise does not appear as something you need to act on.
7. Review the delivery during review after delivery is confirmed. Managed deployment controls and logs appear here. If preview runtime expires, the app pauses; use Restart preview to continue testing. Accept requires deployment status running. You can dispute during review even if the preview is not running (see Disputes).
8. Accept or dispute during the review window. Accepting requires a running deploy, captures payment, and completes handoff. The developer is paid after a short hold (7–45 days depending on project price).
9. Hosting (optional at accept): Choose Accept delivery (app stops) or Accept and start hosting during review. Hosting at accept includes a trial (default 14 days). If you accept without hosting, the app stops and no trial is available later. For Web apps, the accept screen notes that you can rename the *.velcio.app subdomain after accept.
10. Start hosting later: On a completed project, use Start hosting on the project page or the Apps tab. Billing begins immediately (no trial). Until hosting is active, restart and redeploy cannot run the app.
11. Operate the managed deployment when hosting is active. You control secrets; stop/restart follows your hosting subscription. For Web apps, you can rename the *.velcio.app subdomain from the hosting panel after accept; previous URLs keep working as forever aliases for webhooks.
12. Download the delivery ZIP from the Managed deployment section after the project is completed. Source download is unavailable during review so ownership and payment stay tied to accept (or auto-accept). You own the delivered code after acceptance and may modify or host it elsewhere.
13. Rate your developer (optional): After a project is completed, use the review form on the project page. Reviews are anonymous on the developer's public profile (Verified buyer). You can update your rating or comment later from the same project page; updating replaces your previous review.

Open marketplace listings

Post work for developers to discover instead of (or before) assigning someone directly.

1. Create a project at /projects/new and choose Post to the open projects marketplace → Post open listing.
2. Provide title, description, at least one skill, runtime (python / nodejs / either), budget (fixed, range, or quote), and optional timeline, tags, and up to five proposal questions.
3. The listing appears on public Open projects while it is open, still a draft, unassigned, and marketplace-listed.
4. On the project page, use Open marketplace listing to edit, close, or republish, and Proposals to review submissions.
5. Accept a proposal to assign that developer and lock the price. The listing unpublishes and other pending proposals are superseded. Then fund with Stripe as usual; the developer still must accept the assignment after funding (48 hours).
6. Reject declines one proposal. You can still accept an existing proposal after closing a listing; republish if the project is still unassigned.

Directed hire by username or email invite is unchanged. Open listing is the third way to find a developer.

Code ownership

When you accept delivery, you receive full ownership of the delivered source code and related work product, to the extent the developer had rights to assign. The developer may not reuse that code for other clients or projects unless you agree separately outside Velcio.

The same applies to revisions: when you accept a funded revision, you own the updated delivery and the developer assigns rights to that revision work on acceptance.

Revisions

After a project is completed, you can create a paid revision job to grant the developer temporary scoped access for follow-up work. The developer submits a corrected ZIP or GitHub snapshot, which builds a separate revision preview. You test that preview with its own secrets (for Discord Workers, use a new token so your original app can keep running). When you accept, preview secrets and the new build are promoted to your live app. Acceptance transfers ownership of the revision delivery on the same terms as the original handoff.

Review-period runtime is free but capped per continuous run (default 120 minutes). The same cap applies during developer verification before review. Confirming delivery starts a fresh buyer review window. If preview pauses, restart begins a new session window. If the review deadline passes without accept or dispute, Velcio auto-captures developer payment and stops the app; you can subscribe to hosting later.

Hosting plans: see Hosting (Starter £3.99/mo, Standard £5.99, Pro £9.99, Scale custom via support).

Discord Worker apps

Use this when your delivery is a Discord Worker (long-running process with no public URL). You create and own the Discord application. Velcio injects secrets at runtime; developers never read plaintext tokens.

1. Open the Discord Developer Portal and create an application.
2. Add a bot user and copy the bot token.
3. Enable required Privileged Gateway Intents for your bot (for example message content if needed).
4. In Velcio, set DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN and any other keys the developer declared under Production secrets before delivery deploy.
5. Invite the bot to your test server using OAuth2 URL Generator (scopes: bot, permissions as needed).

Most Discord bots need DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN; the developer adds it to the required list when their code reads it. Deploy is blocked until every declared required key has a value. After handoff you remain responsible for token rotation in the Discord portal and updating the secret in Velcio if the token changes.

Disputes

Open a dispute after the developer accepts (in_progress / submitted, when the cancellation fee applies) or while the project is in review. A non-empty reason is required. During review, dispute does not require the deployment to be running (accept still does).

Use a pre-review dispute when the developer is not performing and you do not want to pay the cancellation fee.

When you open a dispute:

• The project moves to disputed. Auto-accept does not run while a dispute is open. Kill-fee cancel is also blocked while disputed.
• Capture and developer payout stay frozen until an admin resolves the case.
• The preview app can keep running under the same continuous review runtime cap when a deployment exists; you can stop or restart preview as usual.
• Source download stays unavailable until the project is completed.
• Velcio emails the developer and admins.

Admin outcomes (plain language):

• Buyer wins: uncaptured hold is cancelled (fee waived), or a captured payment is refunded; project cancelled; developer access revoked.
• Closed: dispute cleared and the project returns to the previous stage (in_progress, submitted, or review) with no capture yet.
• Developer wins (review disputes only): handoff completes (payment captured, project completed, you own the delivery).

Cancelling a project

Stage	Fee
draft or funded (before the developer accepts)	Free. Any payment hold is released.
in_progress or submitted (after accept, before review)	25% cancellation fee (kill fee) captured from the hold; the rest of the hold is released. Velcio keeps its platform fee share of that 25% (default 10% of the fee); the developer receives the remainder of the fee after the usual payout hold. Or open a dispute instead of paying the fee if the developer is not performing.
review or disputed	Cancel is not available. Accept or dispute instead.

If the developer does not accept the assignment within 48 hours of funding, the project cancels and the hold is released (no fee).

Payment wording

• Authorised / held: Stripe has a hold on your card; funds are not captured yet.
• Captured: You accepted delivery (or auto-accept applied); funds moved to the platform. Developer payout is scheduled after a hold based on project size.
• Cancelled hold: Developer did not accept in time or you cancelled while draft / funded. This is not a refund because capture never happened.
• Cancellation fee: See Cancelling a project above.

Your data

In Account settings → Your data you can download a copy of your Velcio personal data, or schedule account deletion (30-day cancellable grace period). Active projects, open disputes, hosting subscriptions, and unpaid developer payouts (pending or failed) block deletion until resolved.

Common problems: Troubleshooting.