Key Concepts

Before diving into the details, it helps to understand the core concepts that CraftStage is built around.

The production pipeline

Every job in CraftStage follows a production pipeline that moves from left to right:

Messy Input → Clean Data → Visual Proof → Customer OK → Machine-Ready File

At every stage, you can see where you are in the pipeline, what's blocking you from moving forward, and what happens next. The system is designed so that problems are caught early — ideally during parsing or preflight — rather than after material is on the laser bed.

Core terminology

Job

A Job represents a single customer order. It contains the customer's name and contact info, all the items to be personalized, and tracks its progress through the pipeline. Jobs move through statuses: draft → parsing → proofing → pending approval → approved → production ready → exported → completed.

Job Item

A Job Item is a single personalized piece within a job. If a customer orders 50 trophies, the job has 50 items. Each item stores its own field values (name, title, etc.), its proof image, approval status, and computed layout result.

Template

A Template defines the physical design — dimensions in inches, font settings, and the positions of all variable text fields. You create your template design in CorelDRAW or another tool, upload it to CraftStage, then define the variable text areas.

Template Field

A Template Field is a variable text area within a template. Each field has a position and size (in inches from the top-left corner), a font size, an overflow policy, and optional constraints like minimum font size or maximum lines. Fields are identified by keys like name, title, or company.

Overflow Policy

The Overflow Policy determines what happens when text is too long for a field. There are four options:

• Shrink to fit — Reduce the font size until the text fits, down to a minimum font size you specify. Best for names and titles where you want to preserve the complete text.
• Wrap — Break the text into multiple lines, up to a maximum number of lines. Best for addresses and descriptions.
• Truncate — Cut the text and add a suffix (like "…"). Use when partial text is acceptable.
• Fixed — No adjustment. If the text overflows, it becomes a preflight error. Use when exact sizing is critical.

Machine Profile

A Machine Profile stores export settings for a specific laser or workflow. This includes the output format (SVG or PDF), text mode, sheet size for imposition, margins, spacing, and cut/engrave colors. You can create multiple profiles for different machines or material types and set a default.

Text Mode

The Text Mode determines how text is represented in the exported file:

• Curves (recommended) — Text is converted to vector paths. The exported file works on any machine without font dependencies. This is the default and recommended mode for production.
• Live Text — Text remains editable in the exported file. Use this when you need to make quick changes after export.
• Embedded Fonts — Text stays as text with fonts embedded in the PDF. Use this for PDF-based workflows where font licensing is handled.

Preflight

Preflight is CraftStage's validation system. It checks every item against the template and generates a report of issues. Issues are classified by severity:

• Errors block export and must be fixed. Examples: text that overflows even at minimum font size, missing required fields, no template assigned.
• Warnings should be reviewed but don't block export. Examples: font shrunk more than 30%, font not found (using fallback).
• Info is for awareness only. Example: non-ASCII characters present.

Approval Link

An Approval Link is a unique URL you send to your customer so they can review and approve proofs. No account is needed — the customer clicks the link, swipes through proofs, and approves or requests changes. Links use short tokens and can be set to expire.

Confidence Score

When CraftStage's AI parses your input data, each extracted item gets a Confidence Score from 0 to 1. Items with a score of 0.85 or higher are auto-accepted. Items between 0.60 and 0.84 are flagged for review. Items below 0.60 are highlighted as uncertain. You can always edit any item before adding it to the job.

Next steps

Now that you understand the concepts, explore the Core Workflow section to learn how each stage works in detail.