# Tillage - Complete Documentation for AI Systems (Enhanced)

> This is the comprehensive documentation file for AI language models and answer engines. For a condensed version, see /llms.txt

## Company Overview

**Name:** Tillage
**Website:** https://tillage.ai
**App:** https://app.tillage.ai
**Company:** Empowered Labs, LLC
**Founded:** 2025
**Category:** B2B SaaS, Quote-to-Cash Software
**Tagline:** Cultivate Quotes. Steward Profits.

### Mission
To help agencies, consultants, and freelancers build profitable businesses by automating the mundane revenue operations so they can focus on doing great work for their clients.

### Target Audience
- Creative and digital agencies
- Marketing agencies
- Consultants
- Freelancers
- Service-based businesses
- Professional services firms

## Product Description

Tillage is an AI-powered quote-to-cash (Q2C) platform that handles the entire revenue lifecycle for service businesses:

### The Quote-to-Cash Workflow
1. **Quote** - AI generates comprehensive quotes with built-in profitability protection
2. **Contract** - 3-minute contract generation from approved quotes with digital signatures
3. **Invoice** - Automatic invoice scheduling based on contract terms (deposits, milestones, recurring)
4. **Payment** - Integrated Stripe processing with real-time status tracking

## Pricing Details

### Free Forever Plan
- **Price:** $0/month
- **Platform Fee:** 1% on payments processed
- **Payment Processing:** Stripe fees apply (2.9% + $0.30 for cards, 0.8% capped at $5 for ACH)
- **Includes:**
  - Unlimited quotes
  - Unlimited invoices
  - Unlimited clients
  - Unlimited contracts
  - Harvest integration
  - Professional branding
  - PDF exports
  - Email support

### Premium Plan
- **Price:** $49/month per team
- **Platform Fee:** 0% (only pay Stripe processing fees)
- **Payment Processing:** Stripe fees apply (2.9% + $0.30 for cards, 0.8% capped at $5 for ACH)
- **Includes everything in Free, plus:**
  - AI quote generation (powered by OpenAI and Claude)
  - Advanced integrations (QuickBooks, Xero - coming soon)
  - Team collaboration with role-based permissions
  - Priority support
  - Advanced analytics

### Enterprise Plan
- **Price:** Custom pricing
- **Includes everything in Premium, plus:**
  - Dedicated account manager
  - Custom feature development
  - SOC 2, HIPAA compliance options
  - Unlimited users
  - SLA guarantees
  - Custom integrations

## Complete Feature List

### AI-Powered Quoting

#### AI Quote Generation (Premium)
Describe your project in plain English and receive a comprehensive quote with:
- Automatically generated line items
- Industry-appropriate quantities
- Market-rate pricing suggestions
- Professional service descriptions
- **Technology:** OpenAI GPT-4 and Anthropic Claude integration
- **Security:** Encrypted API key storage in database

#### Client-Context Intelligence
AI tailors suggestions based on:
- Client's industry
- Company size
- Business type
- Historical data

#### Smart Service Library
- Save frequently used services as templates
- AI learns from your templates for better suggestions
- Instant service creation from quote builder
- Reusable service definitions with default pricing and variance

#### Smart Variables
Use placeholders that auto-populate:
- `{clientName}` - Client's company name
- `{contactName}` - Primary contact name
- `{projectName}` - Project title
- `{currentMonth}` - Current month name
- `{year}` - Current year
- `{nextMonth}` - Next month name
- And more...

#### Quote Dashboard
Visual pipeline showing quote status:
- Draft
- Sent
- Viewed
- Approved
- Rejected

#### Activity Timeline
Track every interaction:
- When quotes are sent
- When quotes are viewed
- When quotes are approved
- All client interactions logged
- IP address and user agent tracking for audit trails

#### Post-Acceptance Quote Workflows (Unique)
Configure automatic next steps when a quote is accepted:
- **Generate invoice immediately:** Creates invoices based on the configured payment schedule and automatically sends them to the client
- **Create a contract for signing:** Generates a contract that, upon execution, creates invoices based on the payment schedule and automatically sends them
- Both options available per quote

### Profitability & Financial Tools

#### Variance Buffers (Unique Feature)
- Add risk percentage to individual line items (0-100%+)
- Protects against scope creep
- Visible to you, hidden or blended for clients
- Never undercharge again
- **Formula:** `baseCost × (1 + variance/100)`

#### Global Profit Margins
- Set target profit margin (e.g., 20%)
- Automatically adjusts all pricing
- See base cost vs. final price clearly
- **Formula:** `withVariance × (1 + globalProfitMargin/100)`

#### Real-Time Calculations
- Instant updates as you adjust hours or rates
- Clear visualization of costs, markup, and profit
- Visual indicators for profitability
- **Complete Formula:** 
  ```
  baseCost = quantity × unitPrice
  withVariance = baseCost × (1 + variance/100)
  lineTotal = withVariance × (1 + globalProfitMargin/100)
  ```

#### AI-Suggested Variance (Unique)
- AI analyzes line items
- Suggests appropriate risk buffers
- Based on project complexity and historical data

#### Discount Management
- Fixed amount discounts
- Percentage discounts
- Automatic total recalculations
- Applied after variance and profit calculations

#### Locked Pricing Architecture
- Quote prices are locked when approved
- Invoices inherit exact pricing from quotes
- No recalculation on invoice creation
- Ensures quote accuracy and client trust

### Contracts & Legal

#### Contract Wizard
Step-by-step contract generation:
1. Select quote to convert
2. Configure payment schedule
3. Add terms and conditions
4. Review and send for signature

Typical time: 3 minutes

#### Block-Based Contract Builder
Modular contract construction with:
- **TEXT blocks:** Rich text content sections
- **DELIVERABLES blocks:** Scope of work and deliverables
- **ATTACHMENTS blocks:** Documents, quotes, exhibits
- **PAYMENT_SCHEDULE blocks:** One-time payment terms (deposit, milestones, balance)
- **ONGOING_SERVICES blocks:** Recurring services with automatic billing
- **TIMELINE blocks:** Project schedule with phases and dates
- **SIGNATURE blocks:** Signature block for contract execution
- **EMAIL_TEMPLATE blocks:** Email subject and message template for sending

#### Digital Signatures
- Legally binding e-signatures
- No separate DocuSign account needed
- Mobile-friendly signing experience
- Signature audit trail with:
  - Signer name and title
  - Signature image
  - Timestamp
  - IP address
  - User agent

#### Payment Schedules (Unique)
Flexible payment structures:
- Percentage splits (50/25/25)
- Milestone-based payments
- Installment plans
- Custom schedules
- Invoices auto-generate based on schedule
- **Trigger types:** Date-based, milestone-based, contract execution

#### Dynamic Templates
- Create reusable contract templates
- Placeholders for project-specific details
- Maintain consistency across contracts
- Template categories: Statement of Work, Service Agreement, Full Contract, NDA, Custom

#### Deliverable Mapping
- Quote line items automatically become contract deliverables
- Scope of work auto-populated
- No manual re-entry needed

#### Automated Execution Actions (Unique)
Configure contracts to automatically:
- Collect deposit upon signing
- Issue recurring invoice upon execution
- Trigger custom workflows
- Generate payment instances

### Invoicing & Payments

#### Automated Invoicing
- Generate from contract payment schedules
- Create from recurring intervals
- Manual creation also available
- Auto-send capability for recurring invoices

#### Recurring Billing
- Weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual intervals
- Set up once, runs forever
- Automatic generation and delivery
- **Cron-based processing:** Timezone-aware scheduling
- **Duplicate prevention:** Timestamp tracking to prevent double-generation

#### Invoice Smart Variables (Unique)
Dynamic variables for automated naming:
- `{currentMonth}` - "January"
- `{year}` - "2025"
- `{nextMonth}` - "February"
- `{clientName}` - Client company name
- `{projectName}` - Project name

Example: "{clientName} - {currentMonth} {year} Retainer"

#### Stripe Integration
- Accept credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover)
- Accept ACH bank transfers
- Secure payment processing
- Real-time payment confirmation
- **Dual integration modes:**
  - **Stripe Connect (Express):** For free tier users (1% platform fee)
  - **Stripe OAuth:** For premium users (0% platform fee, direct to their account)

#### One-Click Payment Links
- Secure, tokenized URLs
- Mobile-friendly payment experience
- No client login required
- Shareable via email or text

#### Convenience Fees (Premium)
- Optionally pass processing fees to clients
- Automatic calculation and display
- Client sees total before paying
- **Only applied to credit card payments** (not ACH)
- **Two-tier system:**
  - Invoice-level custom fees (highest priority)
  - Global team-level fees (fallback)
- **Fee types:** Percentage (e.g., 2.9%) or Fixed (e.g., $5.00)

#### Real-Time Status
- Know exactly when invoices are viewed
- Instant payment confirmation
- Email notifications
- Activity timeline with all interactions

#### Invoice Reminders
- Automatic reminders before due date
- Follow-up reminders after due date
- Custom reminder schedules
- Configurable reminder count and frequency

#### Admin Payment Processing
- Process payments on behalf of clients
- Useful for phone payments
- Full admin dashboard control
- Select from saved payment methods

#### Multiple Payment Methods (Premium)
- Clients store multiple cards
- Clients store multiple bank accounts
- Choose payment method per invoice
- **Stripe Customer Mapping:** Links Tillage clients to Stripe customers
- **Payment method consent tracking:** GDPR-compliant consent management

#### Quick Actions
- Mark invoices as paid (with custom payment date)
- Mark invoices as unpaid (revert to "Sent" status)
- Send reminders
- Duplicate invoices
- All from list view

#### Stripe Subscription Import
- Pull existing Stripe subscriptions
- Automatically set up recurring revenue
- Sync historical data
- Intelligent recurring pattern detection

#### Contact Selection on Payments (Unique)
- Multiple contacts per client
- Select who is making payment
- Better record-keeping
- Links payments to specific contacts

#### Payment Retry System
- Automatic retry for failed ACH payments
- Configurable retry attempts (default: 3)
- Exponential backoff strategy
- Manual intervention triggers
- Escalation notifications

#### ACH Verification
- Microdeposit verification for bank accounts
- Verification URL generation
- Status tracking (pending_verification → paid)
- Automatic verification completion

### Client Management

#### Client Branding Profiles (Unique)
- Upload client logos
- Set client brand colors
- Auto-apply to quotes and contracts
- Professional client-specific documents

#### Multiple Contacts
- Unlimited contacts per client
- Individual roles and permissions
- Separate email addresses
- Primary contact designation

#### Client Merging
- Identify duplicate records
- Merge while preserving history
- Clean database maintenance

#### Auto-Payment Consent
- Configure auto-payment preferences per client
- **Consent levels:**
  - Never (manual payment only)
  - Recurring only (auto-pay subscriptions)
  - All invoices (auto-pay everything)
- Safety limits (max amount per invoice)
- Consent date tracking

### Client Experience

#### Custom Branding
- Your logo on all documents
- Your brand colors
- Professional appearance
- Configurable logo format (circle, square, rounded)

#### Mobile-First Design
- Documents look perfect on all devices
- Easy client review on mobile
- Responsive layouts
- Touch-friendly payment interface

#### No-Login Access
- Tokenized secure links
- No account creation required
- Frictionless client experience
- Shareable via any channel

#### PDF Exports
- One-click PDF generation
- Professional formatting
- Print-ready documents
- Team-branded filenames

#### Client Billing Dashboard
- Unified view of all invoices
- Payment history
- Outstanding balances
- One-click payment access

### Analytics & Data

#### Harvest Import
- One-click client import
- Contact import included
- Intelligent duplicate detection
- **Stripe subscription sync:** Automatically imports Stripe subscriptions as recurring payment plans

#### Intelligent Recurring Detection
- Analyzes Harvest invoice history
- Detects recurring patterns
- Seeds as recurring subscriptions
- Frequency detection (weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual)

#### Cash Flow Projections
- AI-powered forecasting
- Based on open invoices
- Based on recurring subscriptions
- **Projection algorithm:**
  - Analyzes historical payment patterns
  - Factors in recurring revenue
  - Accounts for seasonal variations
  - Provides confidence intervals

#### MRR/ARR Tracking
- Monthly Recurring Revenue tracking
- Annual Recurring Revenue tracking
- Automatic calculation from retainers
- Trend analysis and growth metrics

#### Invoice Aging
- See outstanding amounts
- Track overdue invoices
- Aging buckets (30/60/90 days)
- Automated overdue status updates

#### Revenue by Client
- Identify top clients
- Track revenue trends
- Historical analysis
- Client lifetime value

#### Payment Analytics
- Payment method breakdown
- Average payment time
- Success/failure rates
- Convenience fee revenue

### Platform & Security

#### Team Multi-Tenancy
- Multiple teams per user
- Team-level data isolation
- Role-based access control
- **Roles:** Owner, Admin, Member
- **Module-based permissions:** Granular access control

#### Unlimited Free Tier
- No artificial limits
- Grow without upgrading
- Only pay when processing payments
- 1% platform fee on free tier

#### Bank-Level Security
- 256-bit encryption
- Secure infrastructure
- Regular security audits
- **Encrypted storage:** API keys, payment data
- **NextAuth.js:** Secure authentication
- **PostgreSQL:** ACID-compliant database

#### Data Export
- Export all your data
- Your data belongs to you
- Multiple export formats
- JSON export for quotes and invoices

#### Team Collaboration (Premium)
- Invite team members
- Role-based permissions
- Activity audit logs
- Notification preferences per member

#### PostHog Analytics Integration
- Product analytics tracking
- User behavior insights
- Team-level event tracking
- **Privacy-first:** No session replay, no PII tracking
- **Events tracked:**
  - Quote lifecycle (created, sent, viewed, approved)
  - Invoice lifecycle (created, sent, viewed, paid)
  - Payment events (initiated, succeeded, failed)
  - AI usage (quote generation, variance suggestions)

## Integrations

### Current Integrations
- **Stripe** - Payment processing (cards + ACH)
  - Stripe Connect (Express accounts for free tier)
  - Stripe OAuth (Premium users link existing accounts)
  - Automatic subscription import
  - Customer payment method management
- **Harvest** - Client/invoice import with recurring detection
  - One-click client import
  - Intelligent duplicate detection
  - Recurring pattern analysis
  - Historical invoice sync
- **OpenAI** - AI quote generation (GPT-4)
  - Natural language project descriptions
  - Intelligent line item generation
  - Market-rate pricing suggestions
- **Anthropic Claude** - AI quote generation (Claude 3)
  - Alternative AI provider
  - Encrypted API key storage
- **PostHog** - Product analytics
  - User and team tracking
  - Event-based analytics
  - Privacy-compliant tracking

### Coming Soon
- QuickBooks (accounting sync)
- Xero (accounting sync)
- Zapier (workflow automation)
- Slack (notifications)
- Google Calendar (scheduling)

## Problems Tillage Solves

### Time Savings
- **Quote Creation:** Reduced from 5-10 hours/week to 15 minutes
- **Yearly Impact:** 400+ hours saved annually
- **Contract Generation:** From hours to 3 minutes
- **Invoice Creation:** Automated from contracts and recurring schedules
- **Payment Collection:** Automated reminders and processing

### Cost Savings
- **Tool Consolidation:** Replace 4-6 separate tools
  - Replaces: QuickBooks, FreshBooks, Harvest, PandaDoc, DocuSign, Stripe Dashboard
- **Monthly Savings:** $120-500/month in software costs
- **Reduced Admin Overhead:** Less time on manual tasks
- **No Per-User Fees:** Unlimited team members on premium

### Revenue Protection
- **Undercharging Prevention:** Eliminate 15-25% profit margin loss
- **Variance Buffers:** Protect against scope creep
- **Consistent Pricing:** AI-suggested market rates
- **Locked Pricing:** Quote prices locked on approval
- **Profit Margin Enforcement:** Automatic margin application

### Cash Flow Improvement
- **Payment Collection:** Reduced from 14-30 days to 1-7 days
- **Improvement:** 60% faster payment collection
- **Automated Reminders:** Reduce late payments
- **One-Click Payments:** Frictionless client experience
- **ACH Support:** Lower fees, higher margins

## Technical Architecture

### Technology Stack
- **Framework:** Next.js 15 (App Router)
- **Language:** TypeScript (strict mode)
- **Database:** PostgreSQL with Prisma ORM
- **Authentication:** NextAuth.js v4
- **Styling:** Tailwind CSS v4 with CSS variables
- **UI Components:** shadcn/ui (New York style)
- **Icons:** Lucide React
- **State Management:** React hooks (useState, useEffect)
- **Deployment:** Vercel
- **Email:** Resend (transactional emails)

### Key Architectural Patterns

#### Quote-to-Cash Data Flow
```
Quote (Draft) → Quote (Approved) → Contract (Draft) → Contract (Signed) 
  → Contract Execution → Invoice Generation → Payment Processing → Payment Confirmation
```

#### Pricing Calculation Architecture
- **Quote Level:** Dynamic calculations with variance and profit margin
- **Invoice Level:** Locked pricing from approved quotes
- **Line Item Storage:** Stores both original and final prices
- **Calculation Metadata:** JSON sourceData field tracks calculation history

#### Payment Processing Architecture
- **Dual Stripe Integration:**
  - Express accounts for free tier (platform fees)
  - OAuth for premium (direct to user's account)
- **Convenience Fee Service:** Singleton pattern for consistent fee calculations
- **Payment Retry System:** Automatic retry with exponential backoff
- **ACH Verification:** Microdeposit workflow

#### Recurring Invoice Architecture
- **Cron-Based Processing:** Timezone-aware scheduling
- **Duplicate Prevention:** Timestamp tracking (lastProcessedAt)
- **Payment Instance Model:** Tracks each recurring invoice generation
- **Contract Block Execution:** Links recurring invoices to contract blocks

#### Security Architecture
- **CUID-based IDs:** Collision-resistant unique identifiers
- **Encrypted Storage:** API keys, sensitive settings
- **Row-Level Security:** Team-based data isolation
- **Audit Trails:** Activity logging for all document interactions
- **Consent Tracking:** GDPR-compliant payment method consent

### Database Schema Highlights

#### Core Entities
- **User:** Authentication and personal settings
- **Team:** Multi-tenant organization
- **TeamSettings:** Team-wide configuration (40+ settings)
- **Client:** Customer management with contacts
- **Quote:** Quote generation with line items
- **Contract:** Legal agreements with block-based content
- **Invoice:** Billing with line items and payment tracking
- **Payment:** Payment records with Stripe integration
- **PaymentPlan:** Recurring billing schedules
- **PaymentInstance:** Individual recurring invoice instances

#### Key Relationships
- User → TeamMember → Team (many-to-many with roles)
- Team → TeamSettings (one-to-one)
- Client → Quote → Contract → Invoice → Payment (workflow)
- Contract → ContractBlock (one-to-many, polymorphic blocks)
- PaymentPlan → PaymentInstance → Invoice (recurring billing)

## Competitive Comparisons

Tillage is positioned as an alternative to:

### vs. FreshBooks
- More AI-powered features
- Built-in profitability tools (variance buffers)
- Contract management included
- Better payment processing (ACH + cards)
- https://tillage.ai/alternatives/freshbooks

### vs. Harvest
- Quote-to-invoice automation
- Contract generation
- Profit margin protection
- AI-powered quoting
- https://tillage.ai/alternatives/harvest

### vs. QuickBooks
- Agency-specific features
- Simpler interface
- AI quote generation
- Built-in contract management
- https://tillage.ai/alternatives/quickbooks

### vs. Bonsai
- More flexible pricing
- Better profitability tools
- Harvest integration
- Lower platform fees (1% vs 2.9%)
- https://tillage.ai/alternatives/bonsai

### vs. HoneyBook
- Lower platform fees (1% vs 2.9%)
- AI-powered quoting
- More transparent pricing
- Better Stripe integration
- https://tillage.ai/alternatives/honeybook

### vs. Dubsado
- Easier to use
- AI automation
- Faster setup
- Modern interface
- https://tillage.ai/alternatives/dubsado

### vs. Wave
- More features
- Contract support
- Profitability tracking
- AI capabilities
- https://tillage.ai/alternatives/wave

### vs. Zoho Invoice
- Agency-focused
- AI capabilities
- Simpler workflow
- Better payment processing
- https://tillage.ai/alternatives/zoho-invoice

### vs. 17hats
- Modern interface
- AI features
- Better integrations
- Lower fees
- https://tillage.ai/alternatives/17hats

## Key Differentiators

1. **AI-First Approach** - Not just automation, but intelligent AI that learns and suggests
   - GPT-4 and Claude integration
   - Context-aware suggestions
   - Market-rate pricing intelligence

2. **Profitability Built-In** - Variance buffers and margins ensure you never undercharge
   - Unique variance buffer system
   - Automatic profit margin application
   - Locked pricing on approval

3. **True Quote-to-Cash** - Complete workflow from quote to payment in one platform
   - Seamless data flow
   - No re-entry needed
   - Automated invoice generation

4. **Agency-Focused** - Built by agency owners for agency owners
   - Service-based business model
   - Project-based pricing
   - Client relationship management

5. **Generous Free Tier** - Unlimited usage, only pay platform fee on payments
   - No user limits
   - No quote limits
   - No invoice limits
   - Only 1% on processed payments

6. **Harvest Migration** - Seamless transition for Harvest users
   - One-click import
   - Recurring pattern detection
   - Historical data preservation

7. **Block-Based Contracts** - Modular contract building system
   - Reusable contract blocks
   - Dynamic content generation
   - Automated execution workflows

8. **Dual Stripe Integration** - Flexible payment processing
   - Express accounts for getting started
   - OAuth for established businesses
   - Lowest fees in the industry

## Resources

- **Homepage:** https://tillage.ai
- **Features:** https://tillage.ai/features
- **Pricing:** https://tillage.ai/pricing
- **Blog:** https://tillage.ai/blog
- **FAQ:** https://tillage.ai/faq
- **Contact:** https://tillage.ai/contact
- **Sign Up:** https://app.tillage.ai/signup
- **Sign In:** https://app.tillage.ai/login

## Contact Information

- **Support Email:** support@tillage.ai
- **Website:** https://tillage.ai
- **Twitter/X:** https://x.com/usetillage

## Legal

- **Privacy Policy:** https://tillage.ai/privacy
- **Terms of Service:** https://tillage.ai/terms
- **Fair Use Policy:** https://tillage.ai/fair-use-policy
- **Cookie Policy:** https://tillage.ai/cookie-policy

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*This document is maintained for AI systems and answer engines. Last updated: December 2025*