Concepts
Understand how Toolblocks is organized—workspace, relationships, pursuit work, delivery work, and research.
Overview
Toolblocks is built around how AEC firms actually win and deliver work: relationships first, pursuit upstream of proposals, and evidence-backed research when you need to prepare. This page explains the main objects in the product and how they connect so you can navigate the workspace without memorizing every sidebar item.
If you are brand new, read What is Toolblocks? first, then come back here before diving into feature guides.
Basic concepts
Workspace
A workspace is your firm's container in Toolblocks—contacts, accounts, projects, tasks, research, and settings all live inside one workspace. When you sign in, you are signing into a specific workspace. If you belong to more than one firm, switch workspaces from the menu in the top-left of the app.
Each workspace has its own members, billing, integrations, and data. Nothing is shared across workspaces unless you export or import it manually.
Members, roles, and seat types
People join a workspace as members. Each member has:
| Layer | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Organization role | Admin actions—inviting people, billing, workspace settings |
| Seat type | Which product surfaces you can use day to day |
Seat types map to how firms actually divide work:
| Seat type | Typical user | What they use most |
|---|---|---|
| Core | Project managers, delivery leads | Projects, pipeline, tasks |
| Network | Marketers, coordinators | Contacts, prospects, events |
| Revenue | BD leads, principals, seller-doers | Accounts, signals, research, competitors |
See Seats: Core, Network, Revenue and Workspace and people.
Tasks
The smallest unit of tracked work in Toolblocks is a task. Tasks have a title, status, assignee, due date, and optional links to a project, contact, or research output. Most daily follow-through—call prep, send intro, review research—shows up as tasks on the Dashboard or My tasks.
Tasks can stand alone or roll up into projects and pipeline stages. You do not need a project to capture a follow-up reminder.
The relationship graph
Toolblocks models the built environment the way BD teams think: people belong to organizations, and strategic pursuits often target a firm even when outreach is person-level.
Organizations and people
- Organization — A company, studio, agency, or public owner. Holds firmographics, enrichment, and linked people.
- Person (contact) — An individual you know or want to know. Linked to their current organization for filters and roll-ups.
Not every contact becomes an account. Keep casual ties in Contacts until a firm earns strategic pursuit overhead. See Organizations and people.
Connection strength and categories
Connection strength and contact categories (client, prospect, referral, and so on) help you prioritize who to touch and when. They feed filters, BD review, and follow-up reminders—not just static labels.
Win work (pursuit)
Win work answers: Who should we pursue, why now, and what is our next BD action? These surfaces sit upstream of proposals—before a formal RFP.
| Concept | What it is | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Prospects | Search and discovery for net-new firms and people | You need targets beyond referrals |
| Contacts | Your relationship graph—everyday people and orgs | Daily network maintenance |
| Accounts | Strategic target firms with warmth, coverage, and next steps | Named pursuits for the year (Team plan) |
| Events | Conferences and industry gatherings | Before and after high-cost travel |
| Shortlists | Curated people to meet at an event | Event prep and post-event follow-up |
| Signals | Timely reasons to engage—job changes, activity, event hooks | When you want "why now" prompts |
| Competitors | Firms you meet competitively | Team plan with a Revenue seat |
These surfaces share the same underlying contacts and organizations but optimize for different jobs. See Win work overview.
Accounts vs contacts: Contacts is the full graph. Accounts is the pursuit layer for firms that matter strategically—coverage, warmth, scheduled next steps, and account reviews. Free workspaces preview accounts; full access requires Team or trial.
Run projects (delivery)
Run projects answers: How do we deliver work we already won? This loop is separate from win work but lives in the same workspace.
| Concept | What it is | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Pipeline | Deal stages for opportunities moving toward signed work | BD handoff into delivery, pursuit tracking |
| Projects | Containers for delivery work—phases, tasks, context | Active or proposed engagements |
| Project tasks | Work inside a project—kanban, list, gantt views | Day-to-day delivery coordination |
| Task templates | Reusable task bundles with optional automation | Repeatable project kickoffs and milestones |
Many firms use both loops: win work for relationships and pursuit intelligence, run projects for execution after a win. See Navigate the workspace for where each view lives in the sidebar.
Research and intelligence
Research is evidence-backed AI work—municipality and address research, custom research tasks, and contact-level briefs. Outputs are drafts for review with sources, citations, and optional screenshots.
Research runs attach to tasks or contacts when relevant. Human corrections can be saved as overrides so the next run is more accurate. See Research overview and Sources and citations.
The sidebar Research view (chat icon) is where open research conversations live; structured research tasks also appear on projects and contacts.
How the sidebar is grouped
The workspace sidebar clusters views by job, not by database table:
| Group | Views | Job |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | Dashboard | Today's tasks and momentum |
| Analytics | BD review | Weekly relationship hygiene |
| Operations | Pipeline, Projects, My tasks | Delivery and deal flow |
| Relationships | Accounts, Contacts, Prospects, Shortlists | Network and pursuit targets |
| Intelligence | Events, Signals, Competitors, Research | Timing, context, and evidence |
Some views depend on plan and seat type. If a item is missing or shows an upgrade prompt, check Plans and pricing.
Taking actions
Toolblocks is designed so you can do the same thing in more than one way—buttons, context menus, the command menu, or keyboard shortcuts.
Command menu
Press Cmd + K (Mac) or Ctrl + K (Windows) from the workspace to jump to a view, open a contact, or start common actions. See Command menu.
Keyboard shortcuts
Shortcuts follow patterns so they are easy to learn. The command menu is the fastest way to discover what is available today; we expand the shortcut list as views mature. See Keyboard shortcuts.
Bulk updates
Many tables support multi-select for batch actions—labels, categories, or export—so coordinators can clean up imports without editing row by row.
Two loops, one workspace
| Loop | Question | Primary surfaces |
|---|---|---|
| Win work | Who matters, why now, what next for BD? | Contacts, accounts, prospects, events, signals |
| Run projects | How do we deliver what we sold? | Pipeline, projects, tasks, templates |
| Both | What should I do today? | Dashboard, BD review, tasks, research |
You do not need the whole firm on Toolblocks on day one. A single Revenue seat champion can start with contacts and research; delivery teammates join later with Core seats for projects and tasks.