> ## 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.

# Automate your billing

> Set up hands-off billing: charges accrue on their own, and invoices go out on each account's cycle.

By the end of this setup, billing runs itself: lessons charge when you mark attendance, standing fees charge on schedule, and each account gets one invoice per cycle, drafted for your review or sent outright. Marking attendance is the main thing you still do by hand. The model behind it is in [Automated billing](/billing/automated-billing).

## 1. Pick your defaults

In **Settings → Invoicing**, set the **Default billing cycle** (how often each account's invoice cuts: daily, weekly, or monthly) and your payment **terms**. Leave **Billing automation** on **Draft for review** for now: Harness assembles each bill and waits for you to send it. [Invoicing defaults](/settings/invoicing-defaults) covers every setting on the page.

## 2. Price your lessons

A lesson charges its **rate**, set on the calendar event. Save the prices you reuse as [rate presets](/settings/rate-presets), then pick one when you [create an event](/calendar/create-an-event). From there, [marking attendance](/lessons/operate-a-lesson) creates each charge; no other setup.

## 3. Add standing fees

Tuition, rentals, registration fees: define each one once and attach it to the accounts that pay it. See [Set up recurring charges](/billing/recurring-charges).

## 4. Check who gets the bills

Invoices email the account's **Billing recipients**. Open each account in **Finances → Accounts** and make sure at least one recipient has an email; Harness warns on the account when none does. This is also where you override the billing cycle for one account. See [Manage billing accounts](/billing/manage-accounts).

## 5. Watch the first cycle

The **Upcoming** tab of **Finances → Invoices** shows what each account's next bill will contain and when it cuts. Nothing there is sent yet; it's the preview. See [Upcoming bills](/billing/upcoming-bills).

## 6. Review and send the drafts

At each account's cycle close, a draft appears in the **Draft** tab, marked with a robot icon. Open it, check it, send it. [Manage invoices](/billing/manage-invoices) covers the rest of the lifecycle, and [Record a payment](/billing/record-a-payment) covers logging the money as it arrives. While a bill sits unpaid, [automatic reminders](/billing/invoice-reminders) can chase it.

## 7. Graduate to full auto

Once a few cycles of drafts have gone out unedited, switch **Billing automation** to **Full auto** in **Settings → Invoicing**. From then on Harness sends each account's invoice at the close, with a pay link when [Stripe is connected](/billing/connect-stripe). You'll still see everything coming on the Upcoming tab.