> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://harnesscalendar.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Automated billing

> How Harness turns charges into invoices on its own, and how much of that you let it do.

**Charges accrue → the account's billing cycle closes → one invoice per account.** You choose where the pipeline stops: never, at a draft, or all the way to a sent invoice.

## Billing cycles

Every account bills on a cycle. Set the studio default under **Settings → Invoicing → Default billing cycle**; override it per account in the account's edit form (see [Manage billing accounts](/billing/manage-accounts)).

| Cycle       | The invoice cuts |
| ----------- | ---------------- |
| **Daily**   | Every day        |
| **Weekly**  | Every Monday     |
| **Monthly** | On the 1st       |

At each close, Harness gathers every uninvoiced charge on the account, whatever its source (lessons, [recurring charges](/billing/recurring-charges), manual charges), into a single invoice.

## Automation levels

One studio-wide setting, **Settings → Invoicing → Billing automation**, decides how far each invoice goes on its own. Charges are created regardless of the level; the level only moves the stopping point.

| Level                          | At each cycle close                                                                               |
| ------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Manual**                     | Nothing. Charges accrue; you invoice by hand.                                                     |
| **Draft for review** (default) | One draft per account lands in the invoice list's **Draft** tab. Nothing sends until you send it. |
| **Full auto**                  | The invoice is assembled and sent, with a pay link when Stripe is connected.                      |

Draft for review and Full auto are on the Professional plan. On the Hobby plan charges still accrue and [Upcoming bills](/billing/upcoming-bills) still works; you invoice by hand.

## What runs, and when

Once a day, shortly after midnight in your studio timezone, Harness:

1. Creates any recurring charges due that day.
2. On each account's close day, collects the account's uninvoiced charges into one invoice (Draft for review and Full auto).
3. On Full auto, sends it. Recipients come from the account's **Billing recipients**; the due date and payment instructions come from [your invoicing defaults](/settings/invoicing-defaults); [automatic reminders](/billing/invoice-reminders) follow your reminder settings.

Lesson charges are created the moment you mark attendance, not by the daily run. See [Run a lesson](/lessons/operate-a-lesson).

## Drafts Harness assembles

An automatic draft is marked with a robot icon (**Managed by automatic billing**) in the invoice list. It behaves like any draft: open it, edit it, send it. Two things make it different:

* While it stays unsent, it absorbs newly ready charges at each following close, so an account never collects a pile of drafts. There is only ever one open automatic draft per account.
* Its recipients and dates refresh at each close, so fixing an account's billing recipients also fixes its waiting draft.

An invoice you create yourself is never touched by automation.

## When a send fails

A failed send is never silent. The invoice moves to the **Failed** tab of **Finances → Invoices** with the error, Harness retries it daily, and the account shows an **Invoice failing to send** warning. Fix the cause (usually a missing or bad recipient email) and retry from the invoice's actions menu.

## Switching to Full auto

Moving from Draft for review to Full auto asks you to confirm, and tells you how many open automatic drafts you have. Those drafts are due bills: each one sends at its account's next cycle close. Nothing sends the instant you flip the switch.

<Info>
  The **Upcoming** tab shows exactly what the next close will do for each
  account, before it happens. See [Upcoming bills](/billing/upcoming-bills).
</Info>