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This guide walks through building a KYC (Know Your Customer) Workspace, a focused interface where your compliance team can review company applications, check submitted documents, and approve or reject applicants without switching between multiple views. What operators will be able to do:
  • See all companies in “Signed up” status at a glance
  • View the documents submitted by a specific company
  • Upload missing documents on behalf of the company
  • Approve or reject applications directly from the workspace

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1. Create the workspace

In your Forest project (start in a staging environment), click the 🧩 icon in the left sidebar, then click “Create your first Workspace”. Rename it by clicking the edit icon next to “My Workspace”. Choose a clear name like “KYC Review”, operators will see this label every day.

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2. Add a title with templating

Drag a Text component onto the canvas. Add a title like: 
KYC Review - Welcome, {{currentUser.firstName}}
Type {{ to see the available template variables. Dynamic text makes the workspace feel personalized and lets you reference selected record data as you build more components.

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3. Add a summary chart

Drag a Chart component from the sidebar. Configure it:
  • Chart type: Single value
  • Collection: Company
  • Metric: Count
  • Filter: status = "Signed up"
This gives operators a live count of pending applications, useful context before they dive into the queue.

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4. Add the Companies Collection

Drag a Collection component onto the canvas. In the sidebar:
  • Collection: Company
  • Segment: Select or create a “Signed up” segment that filters status = "Signed up"
  • On row click: “Select a record”
Setting “Select a record” on click is what makes the workspace dynamic, other components will react to whichever company the operator clicks. Add a Text component above the collection as a label: “Companies awaiting review”

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5. Display company details with Field components

Create a new section to the right of the companies list. Add a Text component: 
Reviewing: {{collection1.selectedRecord.name}}
Then drag Field components from the “Data” section in the sidebar. For each field you want to display (e.g. registration number, risk level, country):
  1. Drag a Field component onto the canvas
  2. Set Source to the Company collection
  3. Set Field to the relevant field
  4. Choose the appropriate display widget (text, badge, image, etc.)
For document fields (e.g. passport scan, proof of address), use the File viewer widget to show an inline preview. Drag a Link component and configure it:
  • URL type: Redirect to record
  • Source: Collection 1 (Company)
The link dynamically points to the currently selected company’s detail view, useful when the operator needs to see the full record. Drag a second Collection component. Configure it:
  • Collection: Document
  • Filter: company_id = {{collection1.selectedRecord.id}}
This filter uses Templating to automatically show only the documents that belong to the selected company. As the operator clicks different rows in the companies list, this collection updates instantly.

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8. Add action buttons

Drag a Button component onto the canvas. Configure it:
  • Source: Collection 1 (Company)
  • Action: “Upload Legal Docs” (an action defined in your back-end)
Repeat for other actions:
  • “Approve Application”
  • “Reject Application”
  • “Request More Documents”
The buttons appear next to the selected company’s details, so operators can review and act in one motion.

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9. Add a Dropdown for document filtering

To let operators filter documents by type, drag a Dropdown component:
  • Type: Dynamic
  • Collection: Document
  • Field: type
Then add a filter to the Documents collection: type = {{dropdown1.value}} Now operators can select “Passport” from the dropdown and the document list filters automatically.

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10. Test the workspace

Click “Exit builder” to switch to the operator view. Test the full workflow:
  1. Click a company row, details and documents should update
  2. Trigger an action, the action form should appear
  3. Submit the form, the collection should refresh and show the updated status

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The result

When fully built, operators get a single-screen workflow:
  • Left panel: List of companies awaiting KYC review
  • Right panel: Details, documents, and action buttons for the selected company
  • Top: Count of pending applications for context
Companies move out of the queue automatically once their status changes, operators never need to navigate elsewhere.