Automated Billing
Set up a daily cron to generate invoices, send overdue reminders, and auto-suspend delinquent services.
How it works
A single GET request to /api/cron/billing (protected by a bearer token) runs three tasks in sequence:
- Invoice generation — creates UNPAID invoices for services due within 3 days
- Overdue marking — flips UNPAID invoices to OVERDUE once past their due date, and sends a reminder email
- Auto-suspension — suspends services whose invoice has been OVERDUE for 7+ days, and notifies the client
Setup
Add a secret token to .env:
CRON_SECRET="a-long-random-secret"Cron endpoint
Schedule the following command to run once a day (e.g. at 02:00 UTC) on your VPS:
0 2 * * * curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $CRON_SECRET" https://your-domain.com/api/cron/billingThe endpoint returns JSON with counts: { generated, markedOverdue, suspended }.
After payment
When a payment is received via Stripe, the webhook automatically:
- Marks the invoice PAID
- Records the payment with the Stripe transaction ID
- Advances the service nextDueDate by one billing cycle
- Reactivates the service if it was SUSPENDED