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Can an AI agent chase your invoices safely? 6 guardrails

A checklist for freelancers and small agencies before connecting an AI assistant to accounts receivable: confirmation, scoped keys, server-side totals, audit log, fallback chase and money flow.

AI assistants are good at the boring parts of getting paid: finding who's late, drafting the nudge, keeping track. You still want control over anything that touches a client or money. Here are six guardrails to require from any tool before you connect an agent, with how DueChat handles each.

Short answer: yes, if the tool, not the model, enforces the limits. Require confirmation before anything is sent, scoped and revocable keys, totals calculated by the system, a full audit log, reminders that run without the AI, and payments that go straight to your own account.

1. Confirm before send

The agent can prepare; only you can release. In DueChat, sending an invoice, sending a reminder and marking paid return a preview and wait for confirm_action.

2. Scoped, revocable keys

Give the agent the least access it needs. DueChat keys are read, write and/or send. A read-only key can answer "who owes me?" but can't draft or email. You can revoke a key any time.

3. The ledger does the maths

Language models can make arithmetic mistakes. In DueChat, quantity × rate, tax and totals are calculated server-side: "the AI proposes; the ledger decides."

4. A full audit log

Every tool call is recorded: what the agent asked for, what DueChat did and when. You can review it in the web app or ask your agent (get_audit_log).

5. The chase doesn't depend on the agent

Agents get closed, forget, or lose context. DueChat's 7 / 14 / 30-day email ladder runs anyway, signed with your name. The agent can pause, resume or send early, but nothing depends on it remembering. See the escalation ladder.

6. Money never passes through the tool

Payments go to your own Stripe or bank account. DueChat never holds funds.

Checklist to copy

Your judgement stays in the loop

Getting paid without burning a client still depends on context only you have: how long you've worked together, what they're going through, and how firm to be. Consistent reminders with a payment link do most of the work. The agent's job is to keep them going on time and to flag the cases that need you.

More in automated reminders vs AI agents.

Next: connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor to DueChat. It takes about two minutes and needs a DueChat API key. Free covers 3 invoices a month with AI access included.

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