Billing contact

What the Billing contact flag on a client user gives, how it differs from a billing recipient, and how timesheets and bank balances reach the client.

Written for
user, admin
Roles
billing-contact, client-user
Requires
Client user with the Billing contact flag; Full login (password, passkey, or single sign-on)
Feature
documents

A billing contact is a client user who may download their client's timesheets and see its time bank balances. It is a flag on the client user, not a separate account, and it works only in a full-login session. It is the client-side counterpart of the workspace's billing: the client sees the document that will become the invoice, at the level of detail the workspace chose to write in the billing descriptions.

Before you start

  • A workspace Owner or Admin sets the flag under Clients → (client) → Users, in the Billing contact column. Until the user has a full login the column reads "usable after full login".
  • You need a password, a passkey, or single sign-on. A magic-link session never qualifies; the Documents entry stays hidden and downloads are refused. See Client user.

Billing contact versus billing recipient

These are two different things on the same client.

Billing contact Billing recipient
What it is A client user with the flag An email address designated on the client (optionally per project)
Needs a login Yes, a full login No; it can be a contact without any login
Gets the timesheet by email Only if the same address is also designated as a billing recipient Yes, when the billing run's documents are delivered through the workspace mailbox
Can download under Documents Yes No
Can see bank balances Yes No
Set where Clients → Users Clients → Contacts → Billing recipients

An accounts-payable mailbox that only needs the document by email is a billing recipient. A person at the client who wants to check hours and download earlier documents is a billing contact. One person can be both. See Contacts and billing recipients.

Download timesheets

  1. Open Documents in the sidebar.
  2. Each row is one document from a billing run: its number, its scope (Combined for the whole client, or one per Project), a checksum, delivery status, and Download as HTML, PDF, or CSV.
  3. A document from a voided run is marked Voided and stays listed; the replacement, if any, comes from a later run.

The timesheet shows, per line: date, consultant category, ticket id, the billing description, hours as a decimal, rate, amount, and whether the line was charged, covered by a time bank, or free of charge. Amounts exclude VAT. Ticket titles, internal notes, and estimates are never on it. See Client timesheets.

Time bank balances

If the client has time banks, the timesheet contains a ledger section per bank: opening balance, credit, carried in, borrowed, consumed, overage, and closing balance. Balances move only when a billing run is committed, so the balance you see is as of the last run. See Time banks.

API and MCP

A billing contact with a full login can create a personal API token if they are also elevated on at least one project; regular client users cannot mint tokens. With such a token:

  • GET /api/w/{slug}/documents lists the documents you may download, and GET /api/w/{slug}/documents/{id}/download fetches one (HTML inline; PDF and CSV as attachments).
  • The MCP tools get_timesheet (list, or the content of one document) and get_bank_balances return the same data to an AI assistant.

See Download client timesheets and the MCP server.

Common problems

  • Documents is not in the sidebar. Either the flag is not set, or this is a magic-link session. Set a password or passkey under Account → Security and log in with it.
  • "You have no document access." Shown to workspace users without a grant; for a client user it means the flag is missing.
  • The document arrived by email but you cannot download it. Your address is a billing recipient, not a billing contact. Ask the workspace to set the flag on your client user.
  • Client user What a client user sees and can do in SAQ, the difference between regular and elevated mode, and how a full login unlocks elevation.
  • Client timesheets (documents) What the timesheet documents a billing run produces contain, who can download them, how they are delivered to billing recipients, and how to fetch them through the API or MCP.
  • Contacts and billing recipients Register email identities without a login, designate the addresses that receive timesheet documents, and grant workspace users client-wide document access.
  • Time banks Set up recurring or prepaid pools of hours per client, understand every bank setting and ledger row, post adjustments, and see who can read balances.
  • Download client timesheets How to list the client timesheet documents a token may see and download them as HTML, PDF, or CSV through the API or the MCP get_timesheet tool.