Customer Portal

The Customer Portal is the pet owner-facing interface of VetCarePress for viewing health records, communicating with staff, and managing their account — without needing a WordPress user account.

Customer Portal Dashboard

How It Works

The Customer Portal is rendered by the [vetcarepress_customer_profile] shortcode. A dedicated WordPress page containing this shortcode is automatically created when VetCarePress is activated. No additional setup is required beyond activation.

Authentication

Customers authenticate using one of the following methods — no WordPress account is needed:

OTP (One-Time Password) — Sent via email or SMS to the customer’s registered contact information
PIN — A numeric code the customer sets after their first login

For detailed authentication configuration, see Customer Authentication.

Dashboard

After logging in, customers land on their dashboard, which displays:

Pet list — All patients linked to the customer’s record, with photos and basic details
Messages tab — Access to conversations with the clinic (if messaging is enabled)
Unread message count — A badge indicating the number of unread messages

What Customers Can Do

View their pets’ profiles and all associated medical records (read-only)
Browse clinical notes, diagnoses, imaging, lab results, treatments, vaccinations, weight history, and temperature history
Send and receive messages with clinic staff (when messaging mode is set to "full")
View messages from the clinic (when messaging mode is set to "read_only")
Set, change, or delete their PIN for future logins
Edit their own contact information (if enabled via the vcp_allow_customer_edit_contact setting)
Change a patient’s photo (if enabled via the vcp_allow_customer_edit_patient_image setting)
Generate share links for patient profiles or records (if enabled via the vcp_allow_customer_share setting)

What Customers Cannot Do

Create, edit, or delete medical records
Create new patients
Access other customers’ data
Access the WordPress Admin area
View admin-only features or staff-only controls

Viewing Pets

After logging in to the Customer Portal, pet owners can browse their pets’ profiles and review all associated medical records. The interface uses the same patient-view template as the Staff Dashboard, but with administrative controls removed.

Pet List

The customer dashboard displays a list of all patients linked to the customer’s record. Each entry shows:

Patient photo (or a default placeholder)
Patient name
Species
Basic identifying details

Clicking a pet opens its full profile page.

Patient Profile

The patient profile page displays a header section and a tabbed record view.

Patient Header

The header area shows:

Patient photo
Patient name
Species
Sex
Calculated age

What Is Not Visible to Customers

The administrative banner that staff members see is hidden for customers. This means customers do not have access to:

Add Record button
Add Weight button
Add Temperature button
Any record editing or deletion controls

Available Tabs

The following tabs are available to customers, depending on which record types are enabled in the plugin settings:

Tab	Content
Overview	Summary of the patient’s profile and recent activity
Clinical Notes	Clinical examination notes and findings
Diagnoses	Recorded diagnoses with status (Tentative/Final)
Imaging	Imaging records with inline DICOM viewer support
Laboratory	Lab test results with panel and marker data
Treatments	Treatment records by type
Vaccinations	Vaccination history and upcoming due dates
Weight History	Weight entries displayed as a timeline or chart
Temperature History	Temperature entries displayed as a timeline or chart
Messages	Conversations with clinic staff about this patient

Record Display

Each record within a tab shows:

Type badge — A colored badge indicating the record type or subtype
Date — When the record was created or the event occurred
Content — The full record details

Only published records are visible to customers. Draft or private records are not displayed.

Imaging and DICOM Viewer

Imaging records that include DICOM files can be viewed directly in the browser using the built-in DICOM viewer. This viewer is fully functional for customers — no additional software is required.

DICOM file downloads are controlled by the vcp_allow_dicom_download setting. When disabled, customers can view DICOM images in the browser but cannot download the original files.

Patient Photo

If the vcp_allow_customer_edit_patient_image setting is enabled, customers can upload or change their pet’s profile photo directly from the patient profile page. When this setting is disabled, the photo is read-only.

Share Links

If the vcp_allow_customer_share setting is enabled, customers can generate share links for individual records or the entire patient profile. Share links allow third parties (e.g., another veterinarian, a pet sitter) to view the shared content without logging in.

For more details on sharing configuration, see Sharing and Privacy.

Customer Messaging

The Customer Portal includes a messaging system that allows pet owners to communicate with clinic staff. Messaging availability and capabilities depend on the clinic’s configuration.

Prerequisites

Messaging must be enabled in Settings > Features > Messaging Mode. The available modes are:

Mode	Customer Can View	Customer Can Send
Disabled	No	No
Read Only	Yes	No
Full	Yes	Yes

When messaging is disabled, the Messages tab does not appear in the Customer Portal.

Accessing Messages

Customers can access messages from two locations:

Dashboard Messages tab — Shows all conversations across all patients, plus general (non-patient-specific) messages
Patient profile Messages tab — Shows only conversations associated with a specific patient

Viewing Messages

Messages are displayed in a threaded conversation view:

Customer messages appear on one side of the conversation
Staff messages appear on the opposite side
Each message shows a timestamp
Read status is tracked, indicating whether a message has been seen

Sending Messages (Full Mode Only)

When messaging mode is set to "full", customers can compose and send messages:

A text input field and submit button are available at the bottom of the conversation thread
Messages can be associated with a specific patient (when sent from a patient’s Messages tab) or be general inquiries (when sent from the dashboard Messages tab)

In "read_only" mode, the message input is hidden and customers can only view messages sent by clinic staff.

Notifications

Customer Notifications

When staff members send a message to a customer, the staff member can choose to trigger an email and/or SMS notification at send time. The customer receives the notification with a link back to the Customer Portal.

Admin Notifications

When a customer sends a message, an email notification can be sent to the clinic administrator. This is controlled by the vcp_messaging_admin_notify_enabled setting.

Unread Count Badge

The Messages tab displays a badge with the count of unread messages. This badge updates when the customer navigates to the Messages tab and marks messages as read.

REST API Endpoints

The messaging system is powered by the following REST API endpoints:

Endpoint	Method	Description
`/wp-json/vcp/v1/messages/my`	GET	Retrieve the authenticated customer’s messages
`/wp-json/vcp/v1/messages`	POST	Send a new message (full mode only)
`/wp-json/vcp/v1/messages/my/unread-count`	GET	Get the count of unread messages