People → Clients (pet owners)

Purpose

Manage the pet owners your clinic serves — individuals, farms, rescues, or any other entity that owns one or more patients. The client record is the human side of the patient → client → transaction audit chain.

See Clients vs. patients first if the terminology isn't familiar.

Regulatory basis: DEA rules require dispensing records to allow identification of the recipient. The client record is the chain that runs through the patient to the transaction.

When to use it

First-time visit: a new owner brings their pet in; create the client record
Updating contact info: address change, new phone number, etc.
Soft-deleting an inactive client: hide owners who haven't been to your clinic in years (history preserved)
Restoring a previously deleted client: an old client returns after a long absence

Walkthrough

Step 1 — Open the clients list

Navigate to /home/<your-clinic>/clients.

The list shows every active client with name, email, phone, and patient count. Use the search input to filter by name. Toggle the status filter to show inactive clients.

Clients list — empty state with the Add Client button visible top-right

Step 2 — Click "Add client"

You're taken to the New Client page (/clients/new) with empty fields ready for entry. A ‹ Back to clients link returns you to the list without saving.

New Client page — empty form with required fields marked

Step 3 — Fill in client details

Required:

First name (1-100 chars)
Last name (1-100 chars)
Address line 1 (1-255 chars)
City (1-100 chars)
State (2-letter code, e.g., CA)
Postal code (1-10 chars)

Recommended:

Email (valid format if provided)
Phone (max 20 chars; format flexible — e.g., (555) 123-4567, +1-555-123-4567)
Address line 2 — apartment, suite, etc.
Date of birth — optional; included in the ASAP export layout when present
Status — Active (default) / Inactive
Notes — anything else worth recording (e.g., "Always pays in cash; prefers email reminders")

Filled client form with first name, last name, email, phone, and address

Click Save. The client appears in the list and is now selectable when creating patients or filing dispensed transactions.

Clients list with the newly created client visible as a row

Step 4 — Edit a client

Use the row's Actions menu → Edit to open the Edit Client page (/clients/<id>/edit). (Clicking the client name instead opens the read-only detail page.) Every field is editable except the audit trail (created_by, created_at).

Step 5 — Soft-delete or restore

Click Actions → Delete to soft-delete (the client is hidden from active lists but their patients and transaction history are preserved). The button is Restore for already-soft-deleted clients.

Hard-delete is not available through the UI — DEA records prohibit purging clients with linked transactions.

Step 6 — View patients owned by this client

Click into a client; the patient list appears as a section in the client detail view. Each row links to the patient detail page.

Client detail page showing the linked Patients card with an owned patient row

Field reference

Client form

Field	Label	Type	Required	Validation
`first_name`	First name	text	✓	1-100 chars
`last_name`	Last name	text	✓	1-100 chars
`date_of_birth`	Date of birth	date	optional	format `YYYY-MM-DD`; carried in the ASAP export layout when present
`email`	Email	text	optional	valid email format, max 320 chars
`phone`	Phone	text	optional	max 20 chars; flexible format
`address_line1`	Address line 1	text	✓	1-255 chars
`address_line2`	Address line 2	text	optional	max 255 chars
`city`	City	text	✓	1-100 chars
`state`	State	text	✓	exactly 2 chars (US state code)
`postal_code`	Postal code	text	✓	1-10 chars
`is_active`	Status	select	✓	Active / Inactive; default Active
`notes`	Notes	textarea	optional	no length limit enforced

Hidden / system fields: accountId, id, created_by, created_at, updated_at, deleted_at, deleted_by, preferences (JSON).

Edge cases

Soft-delete with active patients

If you soft-delete a client, their patients are not automatically soft-deleted — they remain visible (an "orphaned" patient with a deleted owner). Best practice:

Transfer all patients to a different active client first (if applicable — e.g., the original owner's child takes over care)
Then soft-delete the original client

Or:

Soft-delete each patient first (they're no longer in active care)
Then soft-delete the client

This keeps the active patient list clean.

Restoring a soft-deleted client with deleted patients

When you restore a client, their soft-deleted patients are not auto-restored. You'll need to restore each patient separately if you want them back in the active list. This is intentional — restoration is opt-in per record.

Email uniqueness

The form does not enforce email uniqueness across clients (two family members may share one email). If duplicate emails cause confusion, use the email as a search field — it'll show all matches.

Address PII

Pet-owner addresses are Personal Information protected by state veterinary practice acts (animal-record confidentiality) and state consumer-privacy law (CCPA/CPRA and equivalents) — not HIPAA, which does not apply to veterinary practices (see ADR-007). CS Logbook stores this data with access RLS-gated to your clinic. Don't share client lists outside your clinic without consent.

Date of birth and exports

The ASAP export layout carries a client date-of-birth field, so if you capture DOB it travels with the export and if you don't the field exports blank. The form keeps it optional and CS Logbook never blocks on it.

Whether any program you deal with needs that field is yours to confirm with the program or your own counsel. CS Logbook does not track per-state requirements and makes no claim about what any program expects.

Common mistakes

Using a single placeholder client like "Walk-in". Don't aggregate clients. Every owner should be their own record so the audit chain is meaningful. If a true walk-in (cash payer, no follow-up) requires recordkeeping, capture their actual name and a way to contact them.
Skipping the address. Address is required for a reason — it's part of the dispensing record per DEA rules. Don't put a placeholder like "n/a"; ask the owner.
Confusing client and patient. The client is the human (Jane Smith). The patient is the animal (Bella). See Clients vs. patients.
Hard-deleting via direct DB access. Don't. Use soft-delete. Hard-deleting clients with linked transactions corrupts your audit trail.

Clients vs. patients — domain model
Patients — animals owned by clients
Inventory → Transactions — how dispensed transactions trace through patients to clients
Glossary § Client