Create a deal room without an opportunity
Create a Deal Room straight from the Library at any stage — early discovery, ABM, or post-close handoff — with no CRM opportunity required and an optional deal association at creation.
Create a deal room without an opportunity
About This Feature
Deal Rooms used to start from a CRM Deal or Opportunity, which meant they could not exist in the moments before one existed — early discovery, ABM outreach, or a post-close handoff to onboarding.
You can now create a Deal Room directly from the Walnut Library at any time, with no CRM opportunity required. If a deal does exist, you can still associate the room with it during creation.
Why this matters: The most valuable buyer conversations often happen before a deal record exists, and continue after it closes. Removing the CRM prerequisite makes Deal Rooms usable across the full lifecycle rather than only the middle of it.
Snapshot 📸
Feature Status: Add-On Feature. Deal Rooms remain an add-on — this change removes the CRM requirement, not the entitlement.
Role Access: Deal Room Templates: Admin, Editor New Deal Rooms: Admin, Editor, Presenter
CRM integration: Not required. Salesforce or HubSpot is still needed to associate a room with a Deal or Opportunity, and for Deal Room Automation.
Location: Walnut Library
What Changed
Create from the Library, any time. The Deal room option in the Library New menu is no longer gated on having a CRM connection. Pick a template or start from scratch, name it, and go.
Attach a deal if you have one. An optional Associate with a Deal picker appears during creation. Skip it and you get a gentle heads-up, then the room is created unassociated.
Rooms you can actually find. Regular Deal Rooms — not just Deal Room templates — now appear in Library filters and in the Chrome extension picker.
Insights still work. Engagement data is captured for these Deal Rooms the same way it is for CRM-linked ones. See Deal room insights and analytics.
Quick Start Guide
Click the New button in the Walnut Library and select Deal room.
Choose a deal room template as a starting point, or create from scratch.
Name the Deal Room.
Optionally, use the Associate with a Deal picker to link it to a Salesforce Opportunity or HubSpot Deal. Leave it blank if there is no deal yet.
Add your content, then click Create.
Continue building and click Save as you go. Add pages with the plus icon in the tab navigation bar if the room needs more than one.
When to Use an Unassociated Deal Room
1. Early Discovery
Send a Deal Room before an opportunity exists. Bring the first demo, a relevant case study, and an agenda into one link, and use the engagement signals to shape the first real call.
2. Account-Based Marketing
Build a room per target account rather than per deal. ABM programs run months ahead of any CRM opportunity, and now the room can too.
3. Post-Close Handoff
Hand the buying team over to onboarding without letting the context evaporate. A handoff room can carry the demos they saw, the Mutual Action Plan they agreed to, and the onboarding steps that come next — see Build a Mutual Action Plan in a Deal Room.
4. Workspaces Without a CRM Integration
Teams whose Salesforce or HubSpot integration is not connected — or not connected yet — can now use Deal Rooms without waiting on that setup.
FAQs
Do I still need Salesforce or HubSpot to use Deal Rooms?
No. A CRM integration is no longer required to create a Deal Room. You do still need one to associate a room with a Deal or Opportunity, and to use Deal Room Automation.
Does this mean Deal Rooms are available to everyone now?
No. Deal Rooms remain an add-on feature. This change removes the CRM prerequisite for workspaces that already have the add-on enabled.
Can I associate a deal after the room has been created?
Not at this time. The association is made during the creation flow using the Associate with a Deal picker.
Will I still get insights on a Deal Room with no deal attached?
Yes. All Deal Room activity is captured in Insights regardless of whether a CRM record is linked. Data surfaces in Salesforce or HubSpot only when the room is associated with a Deal or Opportunity.
Where do unassociated Deal Rooms show up?
In the Walnut Library, including Library filters, and in the Chrome extension picker.
Related Resources
Automate deal rooms with the rule engine
Deal room insights and analytics
Summary
Deal Rooms are no longer tied to the existence of a CRM opportunity. You can create one from the Library at any point in the relationship, associate it with a deal only if there is one, and find it afterward through Library filters and the Chrome extension.
That makes the same collaborative workspace usable in discovery, in ABM, in the deal itself, and in the handoff after it closes.
Final Takeaway: Buyer relationships do not start when a CRM record is created, and they do not end when it closes. Deal Rooms now cover the whole span.