From account creation to on-chain payout.

Client accounts (/login) and Freelancer accounts (/freelancer/login) use separate authentication guards and workspaces so you can keep buying and selling organized. If you register both with the same email address, Smart Gig displays a convenient Account Dock at the bottom of the screen to switch workspaces, though self-rating between accounts sharing the same email is disabled to preserve marketplace integrity.

Smart Gig is 100% non-custodial. We never store or have access to your secret keys. Freighter is a battle-tested Stellar browser wallet that stays in your browser: during onboarding, you sign a free challenge message to prove you own your public G... wallet address. Later, when deploying escrow, funding milestones, or releasing payouts, Freighter pops up so you can review and sign the exact Stellar transaction.

You can verify a new Stellar wallet address in your Profile Settings at any time for future contracts. However, once a contract’s escrow has been deployed on-chain, the client, freelancer, and dispute resolver addresses are immutably bound to that smart contract for the life of that engagement.

Catalog Services (/catalog) are pre-scoped, fixed-price packages created by freelancers with upfront pricing, turnaround days, included revisions, and mandatory buyer onboarding questions—ideal when you want to buy a well-defined outcome immediately. Custom Briefs (/client/start-project) let you post your own requirements and budget, receive proposals from multiple freelancers, and structure either single-release or multi-release milestone schedules.

When a client orders a catalog service, they must submit the freelancer’s required onboarding answers within 48 hours (if unfunded and unanswered after 48 hours, the order auto-cancels). Once escrow is funded and requirements are submitted, the freelancer has 48 hours to formally accept the order, plus a 24-hour pre-work cancellation window if the submitted requirements don’t match the service scope.

Both the Client Contracts Hub (/client/contracts) and Freelancer Contracts Hub (/freelancer/contracts) let you segment engagements by All Contracts, Project Contracts (custom briefs), and Service Contracts (catalog orders). You can search by keyword or filter by contract status (Pending Approval, In Progress, Completed, Cancelled) and Stellar escrow status (Unfunded, Funded, Disputed) before clicking "Open workroom →" on any card.

Your Messages inbox (/client/messages or /freelancer/messages) unifies pre-hire Application Conversations (for negotiating custom brief proposals) and active Contract Conversations in one place. Inside any conversation thread, you can insert emojis and attach up to 5 files (up to 10 MB per file) per message. All attachments are stored on encrypted private storage and served exclusively to authorized contract participants and the platform Dispute Resolver.

Inside any Contract Workroom (/client/contracts/{project} or /freelancer/contracts/{project}), click the "Deliverables" pill in the top section navigation bar to jump to the "ACTIVE DELIVERABLES · Work submissions" panel. It archives every milestone submission summary, preview link, timestamp, and downloadable file attachment across the entire life of the contract.

Clients are protected because funds are locked in an auditable Stellar smart contract rather than paid upfront to an unknown counterparty—USDC is only released when the client approves the submitted milestone (or via Dispute Resolver arbitration). Freelancers are protected because they can verify on-chain that 100% of the agreed funds are locked in escrow before writing a single line of code or designing a single asset.

Single-Release escrow locks the entire contract amount and releases it in one payout once all contract deliverables are approved—this is the default for fixed-price catalog services and short engagements. Multi-Release escrow divides the contract into sequential milestones, allowing the client to approve and release USDC milestone by milestone as each phase of work is delivered.

All escrow distributions happen on-chain on the Stellar network. Any refunded USDC is sent directly back to the client’s verified Stellar (G...) wallet address—never to a credit card or bank account. Standard protocol and network fees may affect the net received amount.

When a freelancer submits a milestone, the client can click "Reject milestone" and provide specific revision notes. The milestone status changes to Revision Requested while the USDC remains safely locked in escrow. The freelancer then uploads the revised files and resubmits the milestone for approval.

Yes! Inside the Contract Workroom, either the client or the freelancer can submit a Milestone Change Request proposing updated titles, descriptions, due dates, or allocations. The proposed schedule takes effect only if the other participant explicitly approves it.

Before work starts on a service contract, a cancellation proposes a 100% client refund. After work has started, either participant can open the cancellation panel in the Contract Conversation view and propose a custom refund percentage (0%–100% client refund). The other participant can accept the proposal, send a counteroffer with an explanation, or click "Escalate to resolver" so Smart Gig’s Dispute Resolver reviews the workroom audit log and co-signs the final on-chain distribution.

Once a contract is Completed (all milestones released and no cancellation request), both the client and the freelancer can submit a 1–5 star rating and written review. To ensure honest, unretaliated feedback, your review remains completely private until the other participant also submits their review—or until 14 days pass, at which point submitted feedback is automatically revealed.