Getting Started
PromiseBoard is a behavioral accountability platform. You create promises (commitments with criteria and a timeline), invite supporters to hold you accountable, and track progress with milestones and verification. The platform uses reminders, check-ins, and a strength score to help you design promises that stick.
Visit the homepage and click Register. Enter your name, email, and password. If your instance uses invite codes, you’ll need to enter a valid 8-character invite code first at the Invite page, then complete registration.
You’ll see an onboarding welcome page. Click Get Started to finish onboarding and go to your Dashboard. From there you can create your first promise, browse templates, or explore your feed and network.
From the dashboard, click New Promise. You can also go to Templates to start from a pre-built template (e.g. fitness, habits, work goals), then customize and save it as your promise.
Each promise has a strength score (0–100) that reflects how well it’s set up for success. It combines: clarity and criteria (quality), number and roles of supporters (social), your past completion rates (historical), and use of video accountability (video). You can open the Strength view on a promise to see the breakdown and get suggestions to improve it.
Promises
A promise is a commitment you make in PromiseBoard. It has a title, description, start and end dates, success criteria, tracking type (e.g. binary or percentage), visibility (who can see it), and optional milestones and reminder settings. Supporters can view it, comment, and (if you allow) verify completion.
Yes. On the promise page, use Edit to change any details; your strength score is recalculated after you save. You can also update the video URL or status (e.g. pause, complete) separately. To remove it entirely, use Delete (from the promise page); this is permanent.
Milestones are sub-goals inside a promise. You add them from the promise’s milestones section. Each has a title, optional description and due date. You can mark them complete as you go; completing milestones helps your strength score and gives you and your supporters a clear view of progress.
- Public – Anyone can see it (including people not logged in).
- Community – Any logged-in user can see it.
- Network – Only your connections (people you’re connected with) can see it.
- Limited – Only specific connections or circles you choose can see it.
- Private – Only you can see it.
Templates are ready-made promise structures (e.g. “Run 3 times per week”, “Read 1 book per month”). Go to Templates, pick one, then Use This Template to create a new promise with the template’s fields pre-filled. You can then adjust dates, criteria, and supporters.
Use Share on the promise page. You get a shareable link, QR code, and embed code. You can post the link anywhere; recipients can view the embedded promise without an account. To have them as supporters, they’ll need to sign up (or log in) and accept your invitation.
Supporters
A supporter is someone you invite to a promise to help hold you accountable. They can view the promise, post comments, and (depending on role) verify completion or send private/group messages. You invite them by email (or other methods if your instance supports it).
- Witness – Can verify completion and view the promise.
- Mentor – Can verify, send messages, and give guidance.
- Cheerleader – Can send messages; focused on encouragement.
- Accountability Partner – Can verify and send messages; two-way accountability.
- Silent Observer – Can only view; no comments or verification.
Choose the role that matches how you want that person to support you.
Yes. When you invite by email, they receive a link. If they don’t have an account, the link takes them to register; once they sign up, they’re added as a supporter. If they already have an account, the link lets them accept or decline the invitation.
From the promise page, open Manage Supporters, find the person, and use the option to remove them. They will no longer see the promise or receive check-ins for it.
Supporters can set preferences for how they’re contacted (e.g. notifications, check-in frequency) for each promise they support. As the promise owner, you can open a supporter’s Preferences from the supporters list to see or adjust what’s available.
Only supporters whose role allows verification: Witness, Mentor, or Accountability Partner. You can also grant “can verify” to other roles when inviting. The verifier submits a verification (e.g. approved, needs evidence, rejected); the first approval marks the promise as completed.
If you support other people’s promises, go to Supporting (or Supporter dashboard). There you see all promises you support, your effectiveness metrics, and quick links to comment, verify, or respond to check-ins.
Connections & Circles
A connection is a friend/network link between you and another user. You send a connection request (from Connections or Network); they accept or reject. Once connected, you can see each other’s network-visibility promises and invite each other as supporters.
Go to Connections and use Add Connection or Search. Search by name or email, then Send Request. They get a notification and can accept or reject. You can also visit Network for an overview of how connections work.
A circle is a group you create (e.g. “Family”, “Work team”). You add connections to a circle. When you create a promise, you can set visibility to Limited and choose which circles (or individual connections) can see it. Circles help you manage who sees which promises without inviting everyone as supporters.
Yes. From Connections, you can remove a connection (they’ll no longer see your network-visible promises). For circles, you can edit the circle and remove members, or delete the circle if you no longer need it.
Reminders & Check-ins
If you set reminder settings when creating or editing a promise, the system can send you reminders (e.g. before a due date or when overdue). Reminders are sent by a scheduled process; you’ll receive an email with a link to the promise and, in some cases, to respond to the reminder.
Click the link in the reminder email. You can indicate: still planning, broke promise, abandoning, need support, need supporters, or need motivation. Your response is saved and can trigger follow-up (e.g. redirect to add supporters or view motivation). Responding also updates your promise’s strength score.
Check-ins are prompts sent to your supporters when a promise has gone quiet (e.g. no activity for a while) or is overdue. Supporters receive an email and can respond (e.g. “How’s it going?”) from the link. Their response is recorded and visible in the promise’s activity.
Reminders are set per promise (in the promise’s reminder settings). Check-ins are sent by the system to supporters; supporters can adjust how they’re contacted in their Supporter preferences for that promise.
Forgiveness & Fresh Start
If a promise fails, you can request forgiveness from a Mentor or Accountability Partner supporter. You write a reflection and optional lessons learned; they review and can grant forgiveness. Once granted, the promise is marked forgiven and you can create a fresh start promise (a new promise linked to the forgiven one) without losing the history.
Only supporters in the Mentor or Accountability Partner role for that promise. You choose one of them when you submit the forgiveness request.
After forgiveness is granted, you can create a fresh start promise: a new promise with its own dates and details, linked to the forgiven one. It appears in the lineage view so you and your supporters can see the chain (forgiven → fresh start).
Yes. On a promise that was forgiven or created as a fresh start, use Lineage to see the full chain of previous attempts and fresh starts.
Profile & Account
Go to Profile (from the user menu). Update your name or email and save; if you change your email, you may need to verify it again. Use Update profile image to upload a new photo (max 5MB); the old one is replaced.
From Profile, use the Delete account option. You’ll be asked to confirm. Deletion is permanent and removes your account and associated data according to the application’s policy.
Use the in-app Feedback option (e.g. feedback button or form) to send a message to the team. Submissions are rate-limited (e.g. 5 per hour). The team reviews feedback and may follow up.
Other
The Feed shows promises from other users that you’re allowed to see (public, community, or network-visible to you). It excludes your own promises. Use it to discover others’ goals and get ideas.
Analytics (from the main menu) shows your personal stats: how many promises you’ve made, completed, failed, or have active; completion rates by category or difficulty; and patterns (e.g. best days). Use it to spot what works for you.
The app exposes some API endpoints (e.g. analytics summary, supporter stats, embed code, risk detection for supporters). Full API documentation depends on your deployment.
If your instance requires an invite code to register, you must obtain one from an existing user or administrator. Logged-in users with permission can generate invite codes from Invite Codes in their menu (subject to limits). Contact your organization or the site owner if you don’t have access.
Still need help? Check out the User Guide for detailed instructions.