Clerqpay

Clerqpay Documentation

Everything you need to go from zero to your first paid invoice in under 10 minutes.

Getting StartedInvoicesQuotesPaymentsPayment LinksRemindersClientsClient PortalReceiptsProjectsItems CatalogReportsTeamAI AccessSettings

Getting Started

Clerqpay gets you from signup to your first paid invoice in under 10 minutes. Here's how.

1

Create your account

Go to clerqpay.com/signup. Enter your name, email, and a password. No credit card required — your free plan is ready immediately. Want to look first? The free invoice generator needs no account, and whatever you build there comes with you when you sign up.
2

Set up your profile

Head to Settings → Profile. Add your business name, logo, and brand colour. These appear on every invoice you send, so take 2 minutes to get it right.
3

Add your first client

Go to Clients → New Client. Add their name, email, and phone number. Clerqpay auto-fills their details when you create invoices.
4

Create and send your first invoice

Go to Invoices → New Invoice. Select your client, add line items, set a due date, and click Send. Your client receives an email with a portal link — no login required on their end.
5

Connect Paystack to accept online payments

Go to Settings → Payment Methods and enter your bank details to connect Paystack. Once connected, your clients can pay by card or bank transfer directly from the invoice portal.
✅ Tip: You can preview every invoice before sending it. Click Preview from the invoice editor to see exactly what your client will see.

Invoices

Invoices are the core of Clerqpay. Every invoice gets a unique client portal link, real-time view tracking, and a pay button.

Creating an invoice

  1. Go to Invoices → New Invoice
  2. Select an existing client or create one inline
  3. Set the issue date, due date, and currency
  4. Add line items (description, quantity, unit price)
  5. Optionally apply tax rates (VAT / WHT) and a discount
  6. Add any notes or payment terms in the Notes field
  7. Click Send to send immediately, or Save Draft to finish later

Invoice statuses

StatusWhat it means
DraftSaved but not sent. Only you can see it.
SentEmailed to your client. Awaiting payment.
ViewedYour client has opened the portal link.
PartialA partial payment has been made.
PaidFully paid. A receipt is automatically sent.
OverduePast the due date and not yet paid.

Advanced invoice features

Early-pay discounts — Set two tiers, e.g. "5% off in 24h, then 3% for the next 24h." A live countdown appears on the client portal.
Multi-tax (VAT + WHT) — Add VAT as an additive percentage and WHT as a deductible. Both appear as separate lines on the invoice.
Micro-tipping — Enable tipping on an invoice. Clients can add 5%, 10%, 15% or a custom tip at checkout.

Quotes

Send a branded quote your client can accept or decline online — without printing or signing anything.

Creating a quote

Quotes work almost identically to invoices. Go to Quotes → New Quote. Add your client, line items, an optional expiry date, and click Send.

A-La-Carte Quotes New

Mark any line item as Optional when building the quote. On the client portal, your client can toggle optional items on or off — the total updates live. When they click Accept, their exact selection is locked.

✅ Tip: Use A-La-Carte quotes when you're offering package tiers or add-ons. It replaces the back-and-forth of "can you remove X and add Y?"

Converting a quote to an invoice

Once your client accepts, open the quote and click Convert to Invoice. All line items, client info, and agreed amounts carry over. Change the due date and send.

Payments

Accept card payments, bank transfers, and USSD directly from the invoice portal — powered by Paystack.

Connecting your bank account

1

Go to Settings → Payment Methods

Scroll down to the Paystack Payments section.
2

Enter your details

Enter your business name, select your bank, and enter your 10-digit account number. Clerqpay verifies the account with Paystack and confirms your account name.
3

Click Connect

Your bank account is registered as a Paystack subaccount. From this point on, every invoice you send includes a Pay Now button.
ℹ️ Note: Money from client payments is settled to your bank account automatically by Paystack. You do not need to create a separate Paystack account.

Recording a manual payment

If a client pays by cash or direct bank transfer, you can record it manually. Open the invoice → click Mark as Paid → enter the amount and payment date. The invoice status updates and a receipt is sent.

Partial payments

Clients can pay a partial amount from the portal. The invoice status changes to Partial. Subsequent payments reduce the outstanding balance until it reaches zero.

Confirming a bank transfer New

A transfer lands in your bank account, where no software can see it — so your client tells you instead, and you confirm it.

1

Your client reports the payment

On their invoice they open Already paid by bank transfer? and give the amount, the date, how they paid and the reference, with a receipt or screenshot attached if they have one.
2

It waits in your queue

The claim appears under Payments, and the invoice shows Payment verification pending to both of you. Nothing is marked paid on the client's word alone — the balance, the status and the receipt are all untouched at this stage.
3

You approve, reject, or ask for more

Check it against your bank statement. Approve records the payment and issues a receipt exactly as a manual entry would. Reject or Ask for more emails the client your note — and if you ask for more, they can update their details and resubmit.
✅ Tip: This is what makes invoices in currencies other than Naira workable today: your client pays by transfer and confirms it in one tap, instead of emailing you a screenshot.

Automated Reminders

Set it once. Clerqpay chases for you — politely at first, firmly if needed.

The schedule

Reminders follow one schedule, so there is nothing to configure: we email your client 3 days before the due date and again on the day itself, then on day 3, 7, 14 and 30 past due if it is still unpaid. Six in all, and they stop the moment the invoice is paid. See exactly what each one says under Settings → Reminders.

How reminders work

Reminders are sent automatically, counting from the invoice due date
Nothing is sent before the due date, and nothing after day 30
The tone escalates over time: friendly → firm → a last reminder that invites a reply
Reminders stop automatically the moment the invoice is paid
You can disable reminders on any individual invoice

Clients

Manage all your client information in one place. Client details auto-fill when you create invoices.

Adding a client

Go to Clients → New Client. Required fields: name and email. Optional: phone number, address, company name. You can also create clients inline when creating a new invoice.

Client detail view

Click any client to see their full invoice history, total amount invoiced, amount paid, and outstanding balance. Useful for understanding your best clients and slowest payers.

The Client Portal

Every invoice you send has its own page. Clients who want to see everything at once can sign in — without ever creating an account.

A single invoice

The link in the invoice email opens the invoice: what is owed, how to pay it, your bank details, and a Pay button when online payment is available. No sign-in, nothing to install.

Every invoice, in one place

From any invoice, View all your invoices takes your client to a sign-in screen. They enter the email address your invoices go to and we send a six-digit code — there is no password and no signup.

Once in, they see every invoice, what is outstanding, what is overdue, their payment history, and can download their own receipts. A client who buys from several businesses using Clerqpay sees them all in one list, each labelled with who issued it — and no business ever sees another's invoices.

✅ Tip: Client details shown in the portal are read-only. They belong to your record of that client, so only you can change them — the portal tells your client to contact you if something is wrong.

Receipts

A receipt is issued for every payment — partial ones included — and grouped under the invoice it belongs to.

How receipts are created

You never create one by hand. A receipt is minted whenever a payment is recorded, whether that came from an online payment, a manual entry, or approving a bank transfer. An invoice settled by three payments has three receipts, each for its own amount, showing the balance remaining after it.

Sending and downloading

Receipts are emailed automatically. You can resend one at any time from Receipts, and your clients can download their own from the client portal without asking you.

Projects

Group invoices, quotes, and clients under a project. New

Go to Projects → New Project. Give it a name, link a client, and add a description. Once created, you can attach invoices and quotes to the project — and see all billing in one view.

✅ Tip: Projects are most useful for retainer clients or multi-deliverable engagements where you raise several invoices over time.

Items Catalog

Save your services and products once. Auto-fill them on invoices and quotes. New

Go to Items → New Item. Set the name, default rate, tax configuration, and description. When creating an invoice, start typing the item name and Clerqpay will suggest it from your catalog — description and rate pre-filled.

ℹ️ Note: Items can have different tax configurations. Create one item for services with VAT and another for exempt items — the right tax applies automatically.

Reports

See where your revenue comes from and who owes you.

Available reports

Revenue by client

See total invoiced and total paid per client. Identify your highest-value clients and those with chronic late payments.

Revenue by item

See which services and products generate the most revenue. Useful for pricing and focus decisions.

AR Aging

Outstanding balances grouped by how overdue they are: Current, 1–15 days, 16–30 days, 31–45 days, 45+ days. Know exactly where your money is stuck.

Team

Invite people to work in your account on the Business plan. Everyone works in the same clients, invoices and payments — nothing is duplicated per person.

1

Settings → Team → Invite

Enter their email and pick a role. Admin can do everything except billing; Staff works day to day but cannot delete or manage the account.
2

They accept and join

The invite email takes them through signup and straight into your account — they never create a separate workspace.
✅ Tip: Team members inherit your plan. They do not need their own subscription, and their invoices count against your account's monthly allowance.

AI Access (MCP)

On the Business plan, Clerqpay exposes a secure MCP endpoint, so an AI assistant that speaks MCP — Claude, Cursor, and others — can work in your account in plain language.

1

Create an API key

Settings → API Keys → New key. Copy it when it is shown; it is not displayed again.
2

Point your assistant at the endpoint

Add Clerqpay as an MCP server in your assistant's configuration and authenticate with that key.
3

Ask for what you need

List clients, draft an invoice, check what is outstanding, send a quote. The assistant acts as you, inside your account only.
⚠️ Important: An API key can do anything you can. Treat it like a password, and revoke it from Settings the moment a key is no longer needed.

Settings

All your account, branding, and integration settings in one place. Go to Settings from the sidebar.

Profile — Update your name, business name, email, and phone number.
Branding — Upload your logo, set your brand colour, and choose your invoice number prefix (e.g. INV-, GRD-).
Payment Methods — Add bank transfer details, connect Paystack, or add a custom payment link (e.g. Flutterwave, PayPal).
Reminders — See the reminder schedule and preview the exact email your client receives at each tone.
Email Templates — Customise the email tone: Friendly, Professional, Firm, or a Last reminder.

Need help with a specific setting?

Our support team replies within one working day, Monday to Friday.

Contact support