Niche file guide

How it works

Every form has the same shape. First come the niche's own steps (for example "About the Trees"), then an optional photo step, then the shared contact step (name, phone, email, address with map pin, date, time and note), and finally the send buttons.

The niche file only describes its own steps and how things are worded. Saving requests, emails, WhatsApp messages, the quote page, the PDF and the dashboard all work the same for every niche.

Quick start

The easiest way to make a niche is to start from an existing one. Go to Niche library, open the ⋯ menu on a similar niche and choose Export file. Change the id, name and ref_prefix, edit the questions, then import it. This is a complete minimal niche:

{
  "format": "rfq-niche",
  "format_version": 1,
  "id": "window-cleaning",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "requires": "1.2",
  "name": "Window Cleaning",
  "category": "Home improvement",
  "description": "Window cleaning: property type, windows and frequency.",
  "ref_prefix": "WC",
  "icon": "home",
  "steps": [{
    "id": "windows",
    "title": "About Your Windows",
    "nav": "Windows",
    "intro": "A rough idea is enough.",
    "fields": [
      { "name": "property", "label": "Property type", "type": "segment", "required": true,
        "options": { "house": "House", "flat": "Flat", "office": "Office" } },
      { "name": "windows", "label": "Roughly how many windows?", "short": "Windows", "type": "segment", "required": true,
        "options": { "s": "Up to 10", "m": "11–25", "l": "More than 25" } },
      { "name": "frequency", "label": "How often?", "type": "segment",
        "options": { "once": "One-off", "monthly": "Monthly", "quarterly": "Every 3 months" } }
    ]
  }],
  "photos": null,
  "title": "{property} · {windows}",
  "assess": { "windows": { "label": "Size", "levels": { "s": "good", "m": "info", "l": "hot" } }, "@date": [], "@location": [] },
  "defaults": { "hero_title": "Get a {Free Window Cleaning Quote}" }
}

Top-level keys

Questions

Each step has an id (a lowercase word, not photos, contact or submit), a title, a short nav label for the progress bar, an intro line, and fields.

Modules

Instead of a question, a field can use a ready-made module that adds several linked questions:

Photos

"photos": {
  "title": "Photos of the Roof",
  "intro": "photos of the roof and any damage help us quote accurately.",
  "tip": "Tip: take a photo of the whole roof from the street…",
  "error": "Please add at least one photo of the roof.",
  "slots": {
    "roof":   { "label": "Whole roof",      "art": "<path d=\"…\"/>" },
    "damage": { "label": "Damage close-up", "art": "…" }
  }
}

Up to 6 named tiles, plus "Add more photos". The minimum number of photos is set by the business in Settings. The art outline is drawn on an 80×56 grid.

Contact step

Rename or adjust the shared fields. Allowed changes are label, short, placeholder, help, required, plus "_step": {"title", "intro", "nav"}:

"contact": {
  "_step":       { "intro": "We'll use this to send you our quote." },
  "location":    { "label": "Property Address" },
  "pickup_date": { "label": "Preferred Start Date", "short": "Start date" },
  "notes":       { "placeholder": "e.g. Access through the side gate…" }
}

Quick assessment

The coloured cards at the top of each request, in priority order (the first 6 are shown). Each entry is a question name, or one of the built-in cards @photos, @date, @location and @distance.

Texts & wording

words

How the system talks about this niche. Keys: customer, customers, offer ("offer" when you pay the customer, "quote" when they pay you), about (e.g. "your {title}"), details, visit (the date's name, e.g. "Delivery"), another, wa_heading, contact_heading, next_steps (list), chat, completed.

defaults

Starter texts loaded when a business chooses the niche. They can then change them in Settings. Keys: business_name tagline hero_title hero_text usps why_title why_points help_title help_text art_text consent_text offer_template legal_text mail_from_name. In hero_title, {curly} words are highlighted. usps is three lines of Title | subtitle.

landings

Extra landing pages with their own banner, for ads or another service name: {"vehicle-transport": {"label": "…", "hero_title": "…", "hero_text": "…"}} → index.php?lp=vehicle-transport.

Import & updates

1. Niche library → Import niche and choose the file. It is checked first. If something is wrong, you get a list like "step 1 › question 3 (gates): "options" must list the choices…" and nothing is changed.
2. A new niche appears in the library. Press Preview to try the real form without switching (only you can see a preview, and it can't send requests).
3. Press Use this niche to switch. Existing requests keep their original questions.
4. To update a niche, import the new file with Replace ticked. Keep the option keys the same so older requests still read correctly.

Safety rules

• Niche files are data only. Nothing in them is ever run as code, and every value is checked against the rules above.
• Illustrations are cleaned down to plain shapes (path circle rect ellipse line polyline polygon g and their drawing attributes). Scripts, links, styles, images and event handlers are removed.
• Files are limited to 400 KB, and imported files are stored in the private data/ folder.