# Getting started

> The Markdown version of https://www.paylent.com/docs/getting-started. Every page: [llms.txt](https://www.paylent.com/llms.txt).

What to set up before you raise anything, and how to get your first invoice out of the door.

Paylent is in beta, so an account starts with an email to
[hello@paylent.com](mailto:hello@paylent.com?subject=Beta%20access). Once you can sign
in at [dashboard.paylent.com](https://dashboard.paylent.com), everything below is
yours to do.

## Set up your business

A business is the thing that invoices get raised under: its name and address at the
top of the invoice, its numbering sequence, its currency, its tax settings, its team.
You can run more than one from a single login, and they share nothing but you.

Settings are split by subject:

- **General** — the business's name, address, country and timezone.
- **Invoicing** — how invoices are worded, your tax settings, payment terms, and when
  unpaid invoices get chased.
- **Payments** — your Stripe connection.
- **Team** — who else can sign in.
- **AI agent** — API keys for MCP.

Three of those are worth getting right before you raise anything, because an invoice
keeps whatever was true when it was issued:

- **Currency.** One per business — GBP, EUR, USD, AUD or CAD. If you bill in two
  currencies, that is two businesses.
- **Tax.** Whether you charge it, what you call it, the rate you usually use, and your
  registration number. [Tax](https://www.paylent.com/docs/tax.md) covers the detail.
- **Payment terms.** How long customers get to pay, in days. This fills in the due
  date on every new invoice, so the commonest one needs no typing — and an invoice
  with a due date is one that can be chased.

## Connect Stripe, if you want cards

Card payment is optional and can wait. Connecting Stripe puts a pay button on the
invoice your customer opens, and the money arrives in your own Stripe account rather
than passing through us. See [Getting paid](https://www.paylent.com/docs/payments.md).

Without Stripe you can still raise invoices, send them, and record the bank transfers
and cheques that come back by hand.

## Your first invoice

1. **Add the customer.** Name, email, and the address that belongs on an invoice.
2. **Start a draft.** Nothing is numbered or sent yet, and a draft can be deleted.
3. **Add the lines.** Description, quantity, unit price, and a tax rate per line. The
   total adds up as you go.
4. **Check the terms.** The due date is already filled in from your payment terms. Add
   your customer's purchase order reference if they need one, and any note you want
   them to read.
5. **Issue and send.** One click numbers the invoice, freezes it, and emails it to the
   customer with a private link they can pay from.

[Invoices](https://www.paylent.com/docs/invoices.md) covers what each of those steps commits you to.

A business with nothing in it yet is shown those steps on the dashboard rather than a
row of zeroes. Once there is something to show, the same page answers "where do I
stand": what is outstanding, what is overdue, what needs chasing, what is coming up on
a schedule, and what happened lately.

## What happens next on its own

Two things run without you once an invoice exists:

- **Chasing.** Unpaid invoices are followed up from three days before they fall due to
  a month after. On from the start. See [Chasing payment](https://www.paylent.com/docs/chasing.md).
- **Recurring.** Anything you bill on a rhythm can raise itself. See
  [Recurring invoices](https://www.paylent.com/docs/recurring.md).

## Or let an agent do it

Everything above is available to an AI agent over MCP: a key, an endpoint, and nine
tools. See [AI agents](https://www.paylent.com/docs/agents.md).

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Paylent · GBP, EUR, USD, AUD and CAD · hello@paylent.com