Invoice Generator Actor

Create polished invoices in bulk without touching a spreadsheet. This Actor turns structured input (JSON, spreadsheet exports, API payloads) into production-ready documents in minutes. It handles numbering, due dates, tax calculations, branding, and exports the output in multiple formats so you can plug the result straight into your workflow.

Why use this Actor?

• Batch-friendly: Generate a single invoice or thousands in one run.
• Consistent branding: Configure colours, fonts, logos, layouts, watermarks, and optional QR codes.
• Streamlined layout: Two-column header (seller + logo), invoice details table with highlighted amount due, banded item grid, side-by-side totals & notes, and a footer QR/payment call-to-action.
• US Letter ready: Optimised for 8.5"×11" output so invoices print cleanly without tweaking margins.
• Accurate calculations: Supports percentage/fixed discounts, multiple tax rates, auto-numbering schemes, and due-date rules.
• Multi-format output: Produce PDF, HTML, and JSON representations, plus an aggregated ZIP archive for batch downloads.
• Actionable analytics: Receive a summary report with totals, averages, currency breakdowns, and failure counts.
• Status tracking timeline: Capture lifecycle updates (draft → paid) and persist them in the dataset for downstream automation or reporting.

How it works

1. Provide an array of invoices in the input JSON (supports copy-paste from CSV/Excel after conversion).
2. Optionally customise numbering, templates, QR code behaviour, and output formats.
3. The Actor validates each invoice, calculates totals, and generates the formats you enabled.
4. Results are stored in the default key-value store and metadata is written to the dataset for downstream automation.

Input

The full input schema lives in .actor/input_schema.json. Key fields are:

Field	Type	Required	Description
action	String	✅	GENERATE (default) renders invoices. UPDATE_STATUS applies lifecycle updates you provide. PROCESS_PASTDUE auto-marks unpaid invoices past their due date as overdue. UPSERT_DEFAULTS stores shared seller/template defaults for future runs.
invoices	Array	Conditional	One or more invoice objects (seller, buyer, items, optional discounts, notes, terms, lifecycle status, customFields). Required when action = GENERATE.
statusUpdates	Array	Conditional	Batch of { invoiceNumber, status, amountPaid?, note?, paymentReference?, updatedAt? } entries. amountPaid accepts a numeric value or numeric string. Required when action is UPDATE_STATUS.
numberingScheme	String	❌	Pattern for automatic invoice numbering (INV-{YYYY}-{MM}-{####}, {CLIENT}-{DATE}-{SEQ}, etc.).
allowDuplicates	Boolean	❌	Skip duplicate-number check when true (default false).
output	Object	❌	Toggles for generated formats (pdf, html, json). Defaults to PDF only.
template	Object	❌	Branding options: layout, colours, font family, logo URL placeholder, and QR code configuration (content, caption, payment link).

Each invoice entry supports:

• invoiceNumber, issueDate, dueDate, currency
• seller/buyer objects with address & contact info
• items: array of { description, quantity, unitPrice, taxRate }
• discount: { type: 'percentage' | 'fixed', value }
• notes, terms, status (draft, sent, viewed, partial_payment, paid, overdue, cancelled)
• customFields: key/value pairs rendered in the PDF & HTML outputs

Logo sizing tip: the header positions the brand mark inside a 240×60 pt area (≈3.3″ × 0.8″). Supply a transparent PNG or SVG that’s no wider than ~600 px and ~200 px tall so it stays sharp when centered and scaled down.

Persisting defaults

Use action: "UPSERT_DEFAULTS" once to store company details, template colours, and other reusable settings:

{
  "action": "UPSERT_DEFAULTS",
  "defaults": {
    "seller": {
      "name": "Acme Agency",
      "address": "100 Main St",
      "city": "Metropolis"
    },
    "template": {
      "primaryColor": "#123456",
      "logoUrl": "https://example.com/logo.png"
    }
  }
}

The actor saves these values in its default key-value store and merges them into every subsequent run. After seeding defaults you can omit the repeated fields—just provide the invoice payload (or status updates).

Example input

{
  "invoices": [
    {
      "invoiceNumber": "INV-2025-001",
      "issueDate": "2025-01-15",
      "terms": "Net 30",
      "currency": "USD",
      "seller": {
        "name": "Example Agency",
        "address": "123 Business St",
        "city": "New York",
        "state": "NY",
        "zipCode": "10001",
        "country": "USA",
        "email": "billing@example.com"
      },
      "buyer": {
        "name": "Client Company",
        "address": "456 Client Ave",
        "city": "Los Angeles",
        "state": "CA",
        "zipCode": "90001",
        "country": "USA"
      },
      "items": [
        { "description": "Web Development", "quantity": 40, "unitPrice": 150, "taxRate": 0.1 },
        { "description": "Consulting", "quantity": 10, "unitPrice": 200, "taxRate": 0.1 }
      ],
      "discount": { "type": "percentage", "value": 5 },
      "notes": "Thank you for partnering with us this quarter. Please reference the PO on remittance.",
      "status": "SENT",
      "customFields": {
        "PO Number": "PO-12345",
        "Project Code": "PROJ-001"
      }
    }
  ],
  "numberingScheme": "INV-{YYYY}-{MM}-{####}",
  "output": {
    "pdf": true,
    "html": true,
    "json": true
  },
  "template": {
    "primaryColor": "#2563eb",
    "secondaryColor": "#64748b",
    "fontFamily": "Helvetica",
    "qrCode": {
      "enabled": true,
      "content": "invoiceUrl",
      "caption": "Scan to view this invoice online",
      "paymentLink": "https://pay.example.com/invoice/INV-2025-001"
    }
  }
}

Status update workflow

• Switch action to UPDATE_STATUS to skip rendering and apply lifecycle changes only.
• Provide one or more entries in statusUpdates. Each event is persisted in the default key-value store and appended to the dataset timeline so downstream automations can react.
• The dataset exposes a statusTimeline view that unwinds history so finance teams can filter by paid, overdue, reminder count, or the timestamp of the most recent status change.

Example payload:

{
  "action": "UPDATE_STATUS",
  "statusUpdates": [
    {
      "invoiceNumber": "INV-2025-001",
      "status": "paid",
      "amountPaid": 1875.50,
      "paymentReference": "txn-872345",
      "note": "Paid via ACH",
      "updatedAt": "2025-02-12T14:05:00.000Z"
    }
  ]
}

Integrating with other actors

• Every run writes invoice metadata and lifecycle events to the default dataset (RUN.defaultDatasetId). Each item contains the current status, lifecycleStatus, payment balances, and full statusHistory.
• Create a dedicated notification actor (for Slack, email, accounting systems, etc.) that reads the dataset items for a run via the Apify API. You can trigger it with an Actor webhook on RUN.SUCCEEDED, schedule, or manual apify.call.
• Store any hand-off state (for example, the last processed dataset item ID) in the notification actor’s key-value store so it can retry failed deliveries without re-running invoice generation.
• This separation keeps the invoice generator deterministic while giving integrators freedom to shape payloads per destination.

Local testing helpers

• Sample payloads live in test_configs/:
  • GENERATE.json – seeds invoices and documents.
  • UPDATE_STATUS.json – applies two lifecycle updates to existing invoices.
  • PROCESS_PASTDUE.json – runs the overdue marker logic.
  • UPSERT_DEFAULTS.json – stores reusable seller/template defaults.
  • STATUS_INDEX_SEED.json – seed data for invoice-status-index when you need state without re-running GENERATE.
• Copy a file into storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json (or point APIFY_INPUT_FILE at it) before apify run.
• To keep prior dataset/key-value store state between runs, add --no-purge (or export APIFY_PURGE_LOCAL_STORAGE=0) when running locally.
• When testing PROCESS_PASTDUE, copy STATUS_INDEX_SEED.json to storage/key_value_stores/default/invoice-status-index.json before executing so the action has invoices to evaluate.

Output

Location	Contents
Default dataset (RUN.defaultDatasetId)	One record per invoice/event. Success rows include amounts, URLs for each generated format, lifecycle status, payment balances, reminder metadata, and full status history. Failures store the error message.
Default key-value store (RUN.defaultKeyValueStoreId)	Generated files: invoice-<number>.pdf, .html, .json (depending on formats), invoices-batch.zip, invoice-summary.json, invoice-summary.txt.
Output schema shortcuts	overview (dataset view), statusTimeline (flattened lifecycle view), invoices (key prefix listing), zipArchive, and summary links surfaced in Apify Console.

Summary analytics

invoice-summary.json contains totals, averages, per-currency breakdown, and failure counts. invoice-summary.txt provides a human-readable report.

Typical use cases

• Freelancers and agencies automating recurring invoicing
• Marketplaces generating payout statements for vendors
• Back-office teams producing PDF invoices from ERP/CRM exports
• AI agents that need reliable document output from structured data

Running on Apify

1. Open the Actor in Apify Console and review the input JSON form (auto-generated from input_schema.json).
2. Paste or upload your invoice data; tweak optional parameters.
3. Click Run. Monitor progress via the log and dataset preview.
4. Download generated documents from the Key-value stores tab or use the direct links exposed in the Output tab.
5. Optionally schedule recurring runs or trigger the Actor via API/Webhook. A ZIP archive (invoices-batch.zip) and analytics summaries (invoice-summary.json, .txt) are stored automatically when you generate PDF output for multiple invoices.

Scheduling recurring runs

1. In Apify Console, create a task for this actor (Actors → Tasks → Create task). The form exposes structured sections for defaults so you can fill them without editing raw JSON.
2. Go to Actors → Schedules → Create schedule, select the task, choose the cadence (cron expression, hourly, daily, weekly, etc.), and limit concurrent runs if needed.
3. Seed or update shared settings by running the task once with action: "UPSERT_DEFAULTS"; reuse the same task with action: "GENERATE" or status workflows afterwards.

Example hourly payment sync (set schedule cron to 0 * * * *):

{
  "action": "UPDATE_STATUS",
  "statusUpdates": [
    {
      "invoiceNumber": "INV-2025-001",
      "status": "paid",
      "amountPaid": 1250.0,
      "paymentReference": "txn-5678"
    }
  ]
}

Example daily past-due sweep (set schedule cron to 0 7 * * * for 7:00 every morning):

{
  "action": "PROCESS_PASTDUE",
}

Development & deployment

npm install        # install dependencies
apify run          # run locally with INPUT.json
apify login        # authenticate with Apify
apify push         # deploy new version to the platform
npm test           # run unit/integration tests

For detailed architecture notes and full field descriptions see:

• ./SPECIFICATION.md
• ./ACTOR_DEVELOPMENT_GUIDE.md
• ./AGENTS.md Refer to storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json for an annotated example that demonstrates colour theming, logo embedding, QR codes, and output format toggles.

Support & feedback

• Bug reports / feature requests: open an issue in this repository or contact via Apify support.
• Contributions: feel free to submit pull requests for new templates, integrations, or localisation improvements.

License

ISC