Invoices
To get paid in cryptocurrency, you first need to create an invoice, which includes details on the buyer, the product or service purchased, the price, taxes, and how you would like to get paid.
After creating the invoice off-chain, it needs to be converted into an on-chain request using another endpoint introduced further below.
The Request Network protocol is all about creating payment requests. They are stored on-chain. Invoices are what you will be manipulating with the Request Finance API. Invoices are simply an implementation of requests with a predefined schema for their content. If you wish to learn more about this, please visit this page.
Creating an Off-Chain Invoice
Creates an off-chain invoice for the account
POST https://api.request.finance/invoices
Request Body
meta
Request Network JSON Schema
format: "rnf_invoice",
version: "0.0.3",
}
creationDate
String
ISO-8601 representation of the invoice’s creation date. Default value: Current date
invoiceItems.currency*
String
Currency code in which the invoice is denominated. For example, invoices can be denominated in USD, but buyers can pay in crypto.
invoiceItems.name
String
Name of the product/service for which the invoice is created.
invoiceItems.quantity*
Decimal
Quantity of the product/service that was provided.
invoiceItems.tax.type
String
Can be “fixed” or “percentage”. Required if tax.amount is sent.
Default value:
fixed
invoiceItems.tax.amount
Decimal
Amount of the tax. Required if tax.type is sent.
Default value:
0
invoiceItems.unitPrice*
Integer
Price of the product/service, excl. taxes.
invoiceNumber*
String
Invoice number. Has to be unique for each invoice.
buyerInfo.businessName
String
Business name of the buyer (the customer).
buyerInfo.address.streetAddress
String
Street, house, apartment of the buyer.
buyerInfo.address.extendedAddress
String
Extended details on the address of the buyer.
buyerInfo.address.city.postalCode
String
Post code of the buyer.
buyerInfo.address.region
String
Region of the buyer (e.g. “California”).
buyerInfo.address.country
String
Two character ISO 3166-1 country code of the buyer.
buyerInfo.email*
String
Email of the buyer.
buyerInfo.firstName
String
First name (incl. middle names) of the buyer.
buyerInfo.lastName
String
Last name of the buyer.
buyerInfo.taxRegistration
String
Tax registration number of the buyer.
paymentTerms.dueDate
String
ISO-8601 due date of the invoice. Last date the buyer can pay.
paymentOptions*
Array of objects
note
String
An optional descriptive note.
tags
Array of strings
One or multiple tags for an invoice.
recurringRule
String
DTSTART:20230314T085800Z RRULE:FREQ=MONTHLY;INTERVAL=1 Monthly on the 14th of each month, starting 14th of March 2023.
Example Request
Let’s assume you sold 2 TVs, each worth $99.99, to your customer, Acme Wholesaler Ltd. on the 22nd of December 2022. The tax is 20%, so that’s $119.99 including tax. The total invoice amount will thus be $239.98 (=2x $119.99) and it’s payable by the 21st of January 2023.
Your contact at Acme Wholesaler Ltd. is Justin Walton, so you want to send the invoice to his email address, justin.walton@acme-wholesaler.com.
Finally, you want to be paid in USDC on Polygon.
To create an invoice for this, you would pass the following body with the request:
In the JSON response, you will get an id field. Please save it in a variable or your database. In the next section, you will need it to convert the invoice into an on-chain request.
Converting an Off-Chain Invoice into an On-Chain Request
To make an invoice payable, it must be converted to an on-chain request. Once the invoice is created, convert it into an on-chain request using the endpoint below. Replace [id] with the ID of the invoice you saved previously. You don’t need to pass anything in the request body.
Converts off-chain invoice into on-chain request
POST https://api.request.finance/invoices/[id]
Path Parameters
id*
String
ID of the off-chain invoice
In the JSON response, you will get a requestId field. This is the ID of the newly created request. Please save it in your database, as you will need it to be informed of when the request has been paid. You may use this value in place of the invoiceId for future HTTP requests.
Sharing your Invoice and Getting Paid
To get paid by your customer, you need to redirect them to a payment page hosted by Request Finance. You can get the links to the payment page from the response after creating an on-chain request and embed them in your application or an email.
Using the invoiceLinks.signUpAndPay link, you can redirect your customers to a page that looks like the one below, where they can pay your invoice or sign into their Request Finance account, if they have one.
When your customers pay through this page using Request Finance, they can enjoy the convenience and security of our platform, which includes measures to prevent accidental double payments. Additionally, this payment method ensures that the invoice status is automatically updated, simplifying invoice tracking for both you and your customers.
Fetching an Invoice
To check the status of an invoice and understand if it has been paid, please poll the endpoint below regularly. Replace [id] with the requestId of the Request (recommended), or the invoiceId.
Fetch an invoice by its ID
GET https://api.request.finance/invoices/[id]
Path Parameters
id*
String
ID of the request or invoice
Query Parameters
withLinks=true
String
You can check the status field of the JSON response. The different statuses of an invoice are the following:
open– The request associated with the invoice has been created on-chain. The buyer has not yet paid the invoice.accepted– The invoice has been approved by the buyer.declaredPaid– The buyer declared the invoice as paid. The seller has to confirm before the invoice can move into the paid status. This is necessary for currencies, where the Request Network does not yet support payment detection.paid– Final state. The buyer paid the invoice.canceled– Final state. The seller canceled the invoice.rejected– Final state. The buyer rejected the invoice.scheduled– Status for recurring invoices. Indicates that an invoice will be created on a specific date in the future.draft– The invoice is in draft status. It can still be edited and was not yet converted into an on-chain request. This status is currently only supported when creating an invoice in the Request Finance UI.
When creating an on-chain request with the previously described process, you should end up with a pending status while the request is being persisted on-chain (this process is asynchronous), followed by an open status once the request is actually created.
You can use the value paid to classify the Request as "fulfilled" and stop polling for a new status.
When the value matches rejected or canceled you can also stop polling: it means that the request has been manually canceled out by the payer or the payee respectively, and thus will not get paid.
Listing Invoices
Fetch a list of the user's invoices. Use the creationDateRange parameter to filter for invoices created in a date range. Other filters are listed below for your convenience. For example, the search=tx_hash filter is a valuable filter to use when presenting the user with a list of invoices associated with a transaction hash.
List invoices
GET https://api.request.finance/invoices
Query Parameters
take
Integer
How many items should be returned per page. Default: 25. Maximum: 100.
skip
Integer
Use this filter to paginate the results (= skip to a certain page number). Default: 0.
search
String
Filter by transaction hash, invoice number, company, and other fields. Example: &search=0xef...
status
String[]
Filter by invoice status. Available statuses are: draft, pending, open, paid, declaredPaid, accepted, canceled, rejected, scheduled, overdue. Example: &status[]=draft
creationDateRange
String
Filter by creation date (ISO 8601 format).
Example: &creationDateRange={"from":"2022-06-24T00:00:00.000Z","to":"2022-08-22T00:00:00.000Z"}
variant
String
Filter by invoice format. Use rnf_invoice to filter for invoices and rnf_salary to filter for salaries.
filterBy
String
This filter accepts two values: sent or received ; returning only invoices sent or received by the user.
withLinks
Boolean
format
String
You can set the query parameter&format=paginated which will return additional information like the total number of results with and without filters, as well as the number of results per invoice status.
Approving/Rejecting/Canceling an Invoice
Approving:
As a buyer, if you received an invoice from one of your supplier/contractors, you can approve it prior to paying. Approved invoices will show up in the "Approved" tab of the "Pay" menu in the Request Finance app and indicate that the invoice has been accepted by you and is ready for payment. Only
openinvoices can be approved.As a seller, you cannot approve an invoice. Once a buyer approves your invoice, it will show up in the "Approved" tab of the "Get paid" menu.
Rejecting
As a buyer, if you received an incorrect invoice from one of your supplier/contractors, you can reject it. Rejected invoices will show up in the "Rejected" tab of the "Pay" menu in the Request Finance app and indicate that the invoice has been rejected by you and won't be paid. Only
openandacceptedinvoices can be rejected.As a seller, you cannot reject an invoice. Once a buyer rejects your invoice, it will show up in the "Rejected" tab of the "Get paid" menu.
Canceling:
As a seller, if you issued an invoice to your client but realised a mistake, you can cancel it. Canceled invoices will show in the "Voided" tab of the "Get paid" menu. Only
openandacceptedinvoices can be canceled.As a buyer, you cannot cancel an invoice. Once a seller cancels an invoice, it will show up in the "Voided" tab of the "Pay" menu.
Approve, reject or cancel an invoice
POST https://api.request.finance/invoices/[id]/changes
Path Parameters
id*
String
ID of the invoice
Request Body
type*
String
The type of change. Use
"accept" to approve an invoice
"reject" to reject
"cancel" to cancel
input.note*
String
Required when rejecting an invoice. Include a rejection reason.
Example:
"input":
{
note: "Duplicate"
}
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