Key concepts
White-label mobile app
Customers see your brand: your business name, logo, colors, and menu. The app is a native iOS experience (menu, locations, cart, checkout, loyalty, order status). You don’t host or build the app yourself; Layout runs the platform and keeps it in sync with your Square account and your settings.Square as the source of truth
- Catalog — Items and categories sync from Square. Edits in Square flow into the app via our sync and webhooks.
- Locations — Your Square locations are synced; you choose which are available for mobile ordering.
- Payments — Checkout uses Square (card, Apple Pay). Funds and reporting stay in your Square account.
- Loyalty — When you use Square Loyalty, we can surface balance and enrollment in the app and keep it in sync.
Multi-location by design
Everything is company-first, then location. One merchant account (company) has many locations. The app shows your locations; the customer picks one, then orders. Orders and kitchen display are scoped to that location. The dashboard and panel let you manage and view by location.Kitchen display (KDS)
Layout supports two modes:- Layout KDS — Our kitchen panel shows orders and status (e.g. accepted → making → ready → completed). Status updates can drive customer-facing order status and optional notifications.
- Square KDS — You keep using Square’s kitchen display; we don’t push status from our side. The app can show an estimated pickup time instead of live status.
What’s in scope
| Layer | What Layout provides |
|---|---|
| Customer app | Branded iOS app: menu, locations, cart, Square checkout, loyalty, order status (and optional Live Activity). |
| Merchant dashboard | Branding, menu/location settings (synced from Square), order and pickup settings, loyalty config, analytics, and operations. |
| Kitchen panel | Location picker, order list, status flow, optional sound and layout; works alongside or instead of Square KDS. |
| Backend | Secure APIs and sync: Square OAuth, catalog/location webhooks, order creation and payment, loyalty sync, idempotent payment handling. |
What stays in your control
- Square — All payment processing, settlement, and Square reporting.
- Catalog and locations — Managed in Square; we sync and respect your choices (e.g. which locations are enabled).
- Branding and behavior — Logo, CTA color, app name, and ordering rules (e.g. pickup time estimates) are set in the dashboard.
Out of scope (for this doc)
We don’t document internal implementation, database schemas, secrets, or low-level APIs. This site focuses on concepts, integration flow, reliability, and security so you can evaluate the platform and explain it to stakeholders.Next steps
- Architecture overview — How the system is structured at a high level.
- Integration flow — How data moves from Square and through the app and kitchen.
- Square integration — What we sync and how we connect.