Guide · Agent skill
How to use the Billing Automation agent skill
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
The billing-automation skill is a set of instructions that gives an AI coding agent a structured playbook for building automated billing systems. It covers recurring charges, subscription states, failed-payment recovery (dunning), proration and sales tax or VAT handling. After this guide you will know how to install the skill, how to ask for it in plain language, and what it does and does not do for you.
Billing Automationwshobson/agents · MIT Download the skill Quick start
- 1Download the ZIP. Download the billing-automation ZIP from this page.
- 2Unzip into a skills folder. Unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ for all projects, or into .claude/skills/ inside one project.
- 3Or upload it in the Claude apps. In the Claude apps, go to Settings → Capabilities → Skills and upload the skill.
- 4Ask for billing work in plain language. Describe what you are building, such as subscription states, dunning or proration, and mention your stack.
- 5Review the output before using it. Check the generic example against your real billing provider and have tax logic reviewed by a qualified professional.
What the billing-automation skill makes the agent do
Agent skills are folders of instructions that an AI agent loads when a task matches the skill's description. This one is aimed at building subscription billing. Its SKILL.md covers billing cycles (monthly, annual, quarterly, weekly, custom), a subscription state flow of trial, active, past_due, canceled, and paused and resumed, dunning, and proration.
The skill's detailed patterns live in references/details.md, which the agent reads when the main file is not enough. It includes a subscription lifecycle example with a SubscriptionStatus enum covering trial, active, past_due, canceled and paused.
- Recurring billing cycles and renewals
- Subscription states: trial, active, past due, paused, canceled
- Dunning: retry schedules, customer notifications, grace periods, account restrictions
- Proration when upgrading, downgrading, changing seats or billing frequency
- Sales tax, VAT and GST handling, plus usage-based billing
How to install the billing-automation skill
Download the billing-automation ZIP from this page. Then choose one of the two install routes below.
For Claude Code, unzip the download into ~/.claude/skills/ to make it available to all your projects, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder to limit it to that project.
To use it in the Claude apps, upload the skill under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
- Personal install: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/
- Project install: unzip into .claude/skills/ inside your project
- Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload
How to trigger the skill with natural requests
You do not run the skill like a program. You ask the agent for work that matches the skill's description: implementing subscription billing, automating invoicing, or managing recurring payment systems. Name the thing you are building and the situation you care about.
Clear requests get better results than vague ones. Mention your stack, plan types and billing interval so the agent can tailor the structure.
- Help me design subscription states for a monthly SaaS plan with a 14-day trial.
- Plan a dunning flow for failed card renewals, with retries and a grace period.
- How should I calculate prorated charges when a customer upgrades mid-cycle?
- Outline an automated invoicing flow for annual and quarterly customers.
Quick-start example and reference file
The skill's quick start shows the general shape of a billing engine: create a subscription for a customer and plan, then process a billing cycle. Treat it as a structure to adapt, not as working code.
The example imports from a module called billing and uses a BillingEngine class. That module is not a published library and is not included in the skill. The example also uses datetime without importing it, so you must add the import and write or choose the real implementation yourself.
from billing import BillingEngine, Subscription
# Initialize billing engine
billing = BillingEngine()
# Create subscription
subscription = billing.create_subscription(
customer_id="cus_123",
plan_id="plan_pro_monthly",
billing_cycle_anchor=datetime.now(),
trial_days=14
)
# Process billing cycle
billing.process_billing_cycle(subscription.id)What it needs and safety notes
The skill requires Python for the example code style and a payment or billing backend of your choice. It does not connect to any payment provider by itself. It runs no scripts and makes no network calls.
The guidance is generic. Tax rules vary by region, so have a qualified accountant or payment specialist review any tax or invoicing logic before it handles real money. Production billing that must match a specific provider such as Stripe needs provider-specific work beyond this skill.
- Requires Python (for the example style) and your own billing backend
- Runs scripts: no
- Uses network: no
- Have tax and invoicing logic reviewed before production use
Tips for getting useful output
Ask the agent to explain the state transitions before writing code. A written state diagram is the fastest way to catch missing paths, such as resuming a paused subscription after a failed payment.
Keep the skill's generic patterns separate from your provider's API. Ask the agent to map each state and event to your real provider's webhooks or events once you have chosen one.
- Ask for the state diagram and transitions first
- Check edge cases: failed renewal during a trial, mid-cycle downgrade, pause during past due
- Replace the generic billing module with your real provider library
What people use it for
- Designing the subscription state machine for a SaaS product with trial, active, past due, paused and canceled states
- Drafting a dunning plan for failed renewals, including retry timing, customer emails and account restrictions
- Reviewing how a mid-cycle upgrade or seat change should be prorated
- Outlining an automated invoicing flow for monthly, annual or quarterly plans
Frequently asked questions
How do I install the billing-automation agent skill?
Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ for all your projects, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder. In the Claude apps, you can instead upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
Is the billing-automation skill free to use?
The skill is published under the MIT licence, which is a permissive open-source licence. Check the licence file in the source repository for the full terms.
What does the billing-automation skill require?
It requires Python for the example code style and a payment or billing backend of your choice. The example references a generic billing module that is not included in the skill.
Does the billing-automation skill connect to Stripe or another payment provider?
No. The skill does not connect to any payment provider by itself, and it makes no network calls and runs no scripts. You need to integrate your own provider, such as Stripe, separately.
Can I use this skill to handle real payments and sales tax?
It gives generic guidance on states, dunning, proration and tax handling, but tax rules vary by region. Have a qualified accountant or payment specialist review any logic before it processes real payments or tax filings.
How is this different from just asking an AI agent about billing?
The skill gives the agent a consistent, structured playbook of billing states, dunning steps and proration concepts to follow, rather than relying on whatever it recalls for each request. It teaches structure and concepts; it is not a billing product.
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Our verdict
Use this skill if you are a developer or engineer building SaaS subscription billing from scratch and want a checklist of billing states, dunning steps and proration flows. Pick something else if you need a ready-made billing system, a provider-specific integration such as Stripe, or a tax-compliant solution without expert review.
Download the skill