Invoices Overview
The Invoices feature is ClientCove's built-in billing system — line-item invoices with tax and discount, branded PDF generation, automated email delivery, Stripe-powered card payments, recurring billing schedules, and an audit trail of every status change.
The Invoices list with status badges and Stripe-backed payment state.
What Invoices Is
A complete invoice workflow that handles:
- Creating invoices with line items, quantities, unit prices, taxable flags, tax rate, discounts, and currency
- Generating PDFs with your company branding, logo, payment instructions
- Sending emails with the invoice HTML inline + PDF attached
- Collecting payments via Stripe (one-off card payments or recurring subscriptions)
- Tracking status through Draft → Sent → Viewed → Paid (or Overdue / Cancelled)
- Automating recurrence — set monthly / quarterly / annual schedules, ClientCove generates the next invoice automatically
- Linking to portal records — orders, projects, contracts, products
Quick Glossary
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Invoice | A invoice custom post type — line items + totals + status |
| Line Item | One row on the invoice — description, details, quantity, unit price, taxable flag |
| Subtotal | Sum of line items before tax and discount |
| Tax Rate | Percentage applied to taxable line items |
| Tax Amount | Calculated tax (auto-derived from rate + taxable subtotal) |
| Discount | Fixed dollar amount subtracted from subtotal |
| Total Amount | Subtotal + Tax − Discount |
| Balance Due | Total Amount − payments received |
| Issue Date | When the invoice was issued |
| Due Date | When payment is expected |
| Status | Lifecycle state (Draft / Sent / Viewed / Paid / Overdue / Cancelled) |
| Recurring | Auto-generates invoices on a schedule (monthly / quarterly / annual) |
| Payment Intent | Stripe object representing a payment in progress |
| Webhook | Endpoint Stripe calls to notify ClientCove of payment events |
The Invoices Page
Open Invoices from the left sidebar (/invoices/). The page is a Vue.js app with these regions:
Top toolbar
- Page title with receipt icon
- Breadcrumb (Home → Invoices)
- Export CSV button (admin/editor) — exports the current filtered list
- Create Invoice button (admin/editor) — opens the create modal
Filters card
- Search — matches invoice number, client name, line-item description
- Status filter — All / Draft / Sent / Viewed / Paid / Overdue / Cancelled
- Client filter (admin only) — dropdown of clients
- Date range filter (issue date / due date)
- Sort — by invoice number, date, amount, due date, status
Table
Columns: Invoice #, Client, Issue Date, Due Date, Total, Status, Actions
Each row links to the single-invoice view. Bulk actions (mark paid, send, delete) appear when rows are selected.
Stats summary (admin)
At the top, summary cards show:
- Total invoiced this month
- Total paid this month
- Total outstanding
- Overdue count
Invoice Statuses
Statuses describe where an invoice is in its lifecycle:
| Status | Color | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Gray | Created but not sent. Private to staff — the client can't see, open, or pay it |
| Sent | Blue | Email sent to client |
| Viewed | Light blue | Client opened the invoice page (auto-detected) |
| Paid | Green | Full payment received |
| Overdue | Red | Past due date, unpaid |
| Cancelled | Dark | Voided — no longer collectible |
Status changes are logged with timestamp + actor.
Drafts are private. A Draft invoice is visible only to staff who can edit invoices. Clients don't see drafts in their invoice list, in search, or on their dashboard; opening a draft's link, downloading its PDF, or using a payment link for it doesn't work until the invoice is sent. This includes invoices converted from an estimate, which start as drafts.
Which invoices can be paid online. Clients can pay invoices that are Sent, Viewed, or Overdue and have a balance due. Drafts, cancelled, and refunded invoices can't be paid online. Copy payment link isn't offered for them.
Auto-detection
Two transitions happen automatically:
- Sent → Viewed when the client first opens the invoice URL
- Sent → Overdue when the due date passes (via daily cron)
Other transitions (Draft → Sent, Sent → Paid, any → Cancelled) are explicit actions taken by admin/editor or triggered by Stripe webhook events.
The Invoice Lifecycle
Most invoices move through these stages:
- Create — admin builds the invoice: client, line items, tax, discount, due date, notes
- (Optional) Save as Draft — flag for revisions before sending
- Generate PDF — server-side rendering of the branded invoice
- Send — email with HTML body + PDF attachment to the client's billing contact
- View — client opens the invoice in the portal; status flips to Viewed
- Pay — client clicks Pay, enters card details, Stripe processes the payment
- Webhook — Stripe calls back, ClientCove marks invoice Paid, sends payment confirmation email
- (Optional) Recurring — for recurring invoices, the next occurrence is scheduled
If payment doesn't arrive by the due date, the daily cron flips the status to Overdue and (optionally) sends a reminder email.
For recurring invoices, the cycle repeats on the configured schedule — admin sets it up once, ClientCove handles the rest.
How It Connects to Other Features
Invoices integrate with several other portal features:
| Feature | Connection |
|---|---|
| Clients | Every invoice is bound to a client — visible in the Client Workspace's Invoices tab |
| Billing Contact | The client's designated billing contact receives invoice emails (see Contacts & Billing) |
| Orders | Invoices can be generated from a client order via the related_order field |
| Projects / Contracts | Linkable as related items for context |
| Email Designer | Invoice notification emails respect your custom email template if configured |
| Stripe | Payment processing — see Stripe Checkout & Payments |
Permissions Snapshot
| Capability | Who |
|---|---|
| View Invoices page (admin) | Administrator, Editor — sees all invoices |
| View own invoices (client) | Client users with client_billing role or designated billing contact |
| Create invoices | Administrator, Editor |
| Edit invoices (Draft only) | Administrator, Editor |
| Edit invoices (Sent and beyond) | Restricted — most fields locked once sent |
| Send invoice emails | Administrator, Editor |
| Mark as Paid (manual) | Administrator, Editor |
| Cancel invoice | Administrator, Editor |
| Pay invoice | Any client user with view access to the invoice, once it's sent |
| Configure Stripe | Administrator only |
| Set up recurring schedule | Administrator, Editor |
Subscriber-level users have no invoice access. Client users see only their client's invoices, scoped via the assign_to_client field.
Invoices is feature-gated. The feature must be enabled in Settings → Core Features. If disabled, the dashboard returns a "feature not enabled" notice and the per-client Invoices tab hides. For Stripe-powered payments, you also need Stripe API keys configured in Settings → Stripe — see Stripe Checkout & Payments for the full setup.