How to automate invoice reminders with OpenClaw

Late payments are the silent killer of freelance cash flow. You finish the work, send the invoice, and then... wait. A week goes by. Two weeks. You draft a polite follow-up email, rewrite it three times to sound firm but not aggressive, and hit send. Repeat.

What if your agent could handle all of that for you?

In this guide, we'll walk through setting up AgentReceivable as an OpenClaw skill so that invoice reminders are fully automated — no manual follow-ups, no awkward emails, no forgotten invoices.

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have:

AgentReceivable installed and authenticated
OpenClaw installed and configured
A Stripe account connected via agent-receivable auth
An email provider (Resend) connected via agent-receivable auth

Step 1: Install the AgentReceivable skill

OpenClaw uses skill files to extend what your agent can do. Installing the AgentReceivable skill takes one command:

openclaw skill install agent-receivable

This copies the SKILL.md file into your OpenClaw skills directory. You can verify it's installed:

openclaw skill list

You should see agent-receivable in the list.

Step 2: Configure reminder schedules

AgentReceivable supports configurable reminder schedules in your config file. Open ~/.agent-receivable/config.toml and set your preferred intervals:

[reminders]
enabled = true
schedule = [7, 14, 30]

This sends reminders at 7, 14, and 30 days past the due date. Each reminder uses a progressively firmer tone — the first is a gentle nudge, the second a clear follow-up, and the third a final notice.

You can customize the templates if you want:

agent-receivable template list
agent-receivable template edit reminder-7

Step 3: Set up the automation

Now here's where it gets powerful. Instead of manually running agent-receivable invoice remind --all every day, you can let OpenClaw handle it.

Create a workflow file at ~/.openclaw/workflows/ar-reminders.yml:

name: ar-reminders
schedule: "0 9 * * 1-5"  # 9am on weekdays
steps:
  - skill: agent-receivable
    action: remind-overdue
    params:
      notify: slack

This tells OpenClaw to check for overdue invoices every weekday morning and send reminders automatically.

Step 4: Test the workflow

Before letting it run on autopilot, test it:

openclaw workflow run ar-reminders --dry-run

The --dry-run flag shows you what would happen without actually sending any emails. You'll see output like:

[dry-run] Would send reminder to billing@acme.com for Invoice #47 ($3,200) — 8 days overdue
[dry-run] Would send reminder to ap@widgets.co for Invoice #43 ($1,500) — 15 days overdue

Once you're happy with the output, remove the --dry-run flag or just let the scheduled workflow take over.

Step 5: Monitor with Slack notifications

Set up Slack notifications so you know what's happening without checking the terminal:

agent-receivable auth
# Select: Slack
# Enter your webhook URL

Now you'll get a Slack message every time:

A reminder is sent
An invoice is paid
An invoice hits 30+ days overdue

What the full flow looks like

Here's what happens on a typical Monday morning, without you doing anything:

OpenClaw triggers the ar-reminders workflow at 9am
AgentReceivable checks all outstanding invoices against their due dates
For each overdue invoice, it sends the appropriate reminder email
The reminder includes the original payment link so the client can pay immediately
You get a Slack summary: "2 reminders sent, 1 invoice paid over the weekend"

The entire process takes about 3 seconds and requires zero human intervention.

Advanced: Escalation rules

For invoices that are seriously overdue, you can set up escalation rules:

[reminders.escalation]
# After 45 days, CC a specific email on reminders
cc_after_days = 45
cc_email = "collections@yourcompany.com"

# After 60 days, pause reminders and flag for manual review
pause_after_days = 60

This keeps the automated system from sending endless reminders and ensures that truly problematic invoices get human attention when they need it.

Results

Since setting up automated reminders, our beta users report:

40% reduction in average days-to-payment
90% of invoices paid within 14 days
Zero hours spent on manual follow-ups per month

The best part? It's entirely invisible to your clients. They get professional, well-timed reminders that look like they came from you — because the templates use your branding and tone.

Next steps

Read the full commands reference for advanced options
Set up Xero sync to close the loop on reconciliation
Check out the configuration guide for all available settings

Stop chasing payments. Let the agent do it.