alternative-payments-invoicing

# Alternative Payments Invoicing ## Overview Invoices are the billing records in Alternative Payments. Each invoice belongs to a customer, carries one or more line items, and has a due date. Once an invoice exists you can fetch a **hosted payment link** (a URL the customer visits to pay) and a **PDF link** (a signed download of the invoice document). Separately, **payment requests** are standalone hosted payment links that are not tied to a stored invoice — useful for ad-hoc charges and follow-ups. The key posture: hosted payment links and payment requests let the **customer** choose to pay. Generating a link does **not** charge a card or move money — it simply produces a URL. This integration never executes a direct charge. See [Alternative Payments API Patterns](../api-patterns/SKILL.md) for why `POST /payments` (direct charge) is excluded by design. ## Core Concepts ### Invoice Status | Status | Description | Payable | |--------|-------------|---------| | `open` | Issued and awaiting payment | Yes | | `paid` | Fully paid | No | | `overdue` | Past `due_date` and still unpaid | Yes | | `archived` | Removed from default lists (destructive) | No | Archiving uses `DELETE /invoices/{id}` and is destructive — confirm before running. ### Hosted Links vs. Direct Charges | Mechanism | What it does | Money movement | |-----------|--------------|----------------| | Payment link (`GET /invoices/{id}/payment-link`) | URL for an existing invoice | Customer pays — not the integr...