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Sets the billing cycle once. It runs the whole term.

Tell the Retainer Agent the amount, the cycle, and the date the engagement ends so it can manage billing each cycle on schedule, collect payment, follow up on any unpaid amounts, and keep revenue moving right up to that date. You set it in January and touch it again in June.

Reserve for free
In short

One setup, then the whole engagement runs itself and keeps revenue moving.

You give the Retainer Agent three things: the amount, the cycle, and the end date. From then on, the Retainer Agent manages the full retainer term: it issues an invoice for each cycle on the client thread, monitors payments, and follows up on any unpaid cycle, repeating this until the term you set runs out. Keep revenue moving without re-entering the same details.

✧You set three things: the amount, the billing cycle, and the engagement end date.
✧It issues each cycle invoice on schedule and follows up on any unpaid cycle in your voice, on your approval or automatically, so revenue keeps moving.
✧On the end date, it stops billing, collects any outstanding balance, and asks you about renewal.

"Retainer admin is not one job; it is the same job twelve times. So we made it a setting: name the cycle and the end date once, and the agent carries the engagement to the finish."

How it works

The retainer, cycle by cycle.

1
Northwind × Atelier
Activity · updated live
$4,000 per cycle
Set
Monthly
Set
Ends December 31
Set
What do you set up?

The amount, the cycle, the end date.

Three fields on the client thread. $4,000, monthly, ends December. That is the last time you configure anything about this engagement, so the schedule stays set while the work keeps moving and revenue keeps coming in without repeated setup.

2
Northwind × Atelier
Activity · updated live
June cycle
Issued
July cycle
Issued
August cycle
Issued today
Then what happens?

It bills each cycle on its date.

The Retainer Agent bills each cycle on its date and keeps revenue moving. Every cycle date, the invoice goes out on the client thread with a payment link, in your branding. You are not in the loop, and nothing waits on you being free that morning. The schedule stays active without extra work from you.

3
Northwind × Atelier
Activity · updated live
June cycle
Paid
July cycle
Paid
August cycle
Follow-up sent
And when a cycle goes unpaid?

It follows up, every time.

It follows up every time. The follow-up names the month, the amount, and the reference, and goes to whoever handles the recurring payment, from your address, in your tone, same behavior in cycle one and cycle eleven.

4
Northwind × Atelier
Activity · updated live
November cycle
Paid
December cycle
Paid
Term complete
Renew?
How does it end?

On your date, not on its own.

On your date, not on its own. The Retainer Agent bills the final cycle, continues collecting anything still outstanding, then closes the schedule and asks whether to renew, so nothing billed remains uncollected, and revenue does not drift past the date you set.

What's included

What you set once, and what it does after.

A cycle and an end date
Weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly, plus the finish date. That is the entire setup.
Every cycle billed on time
Each cycle date, the agent issues the invoice with a payment link automatically.
Follow-up on every cycle
The same collection behavior repeats for cycle one and cycle eleven alike.
Goes to whoever pays
The follow-up reaches finance, not your contact, naming the month and amount.
Approval or full autopilot
Drafts wait for you, or send automatically from your address. Set per client.
It stops on the date you set
No cycle bills past the end date. It collects any balance and asks about renewal.
How it compares

An agent that runs the term vs a recurring invoice.

TaskRecurring invoicesEverBird agent
Setting up the engagementA recurring invoice, then a calendar reminder for the restAmount, cycle, end date. Once.
Issuing each cycleSends the same invoice on a timerIssues it on the client thread, in the deal history
Collecting the unpaid cycleNot its job. That is on youFollows up until it is paid, cycle after cycle
Who the follow-up reachesThe billing email on fileWhoever actually holds up the payment
Running the full termRuns forever until someone cancels itRuns to your end date, then stops and asks
What you do in month sevenCheck whether anything was missedNothing
Who it's for

Set the term and stop touching it.

Agency business

Nine retainers, nine billing dates, and one person carrying all of them in their head. Set each engagement once, with its cycle and end date, and invoices go out on time for the whole term, while follow-ups happen without anyone opening a spreadsheet. Hence, recurring revenue stays on track, and the month-end billing ritual no longer exists.

Service business

A six-month engagement should take six months of work, not six months of admin. Tell the agent it runs January to June, bills and collects every cycle between those dates, and then hands you a clean renewal decision at the end, instead of a schedule quietly rolling on unnoticed. Hence, revenue ends cleanly, and the term stays controlled.

FAQ · Retainer Agent

Retainer Agent questions.

Three things: the amount, the billing cycle (weekly, monthly, or quarterly), and the end date of the term. The Retainer Agent then runs every cycle between now and that date, billing and following up, without being asked again, so revenue keeps moving and the setup stays simple.
Both. On each cycle date, it issues the invoice on the client thread with a payment link, then follows up on that cycle if it goes unpaid. Billing and collection are one job for the agent.
The Retainer Agent bills for the final cycle, continues to follow up on anything still outstanding after the end date, then closes the schedule and asks whether you want to renew. It never quietly bills past the date you set, and it keeps the revenue conversation clear.
The Invoice Agent handles one invoice at a time. The Retainer Agent owns the entire engagement: the schedule, every cycle in it, and the follow-up on each one until the end date, so recurring revenue stays managed across the whole term and nothing gets left to chance.
Yes. Edit the amount, the cycle, or the end date on the thread, and the agent picks up the new schedule for the next cycle. Pausing stops billing without losing the cycles already collected, so you maintain control without rework and keep revenue organized.
Only if you choose that. By default, every drafted follow-up waits for your approval. You can switch a client, a thread, or the whole workspace to automatic, and it sends from your address in your name, so revenue follow-up keeps moving without extra steps.
The agent follows up a maximum of three times per cycle, then stops sending, even in automatic mode, and hands that cycle back with the payment history, who was contacted, and a recommended next step so you can decide how to recover the revenue.
The Retainer Agent is on Max. The Invoice Agent is on every plan and the Contract Agent on Pro and Max. Max is $349 per month. See pricing.
Yes. Automated retainer billing is on Pro and Max, and payment is link based with zero platform fees. See invoicing and payments.
Portrait of Maya Ellison, Business Analyst, EverBird
Maya Ellison
Business Analyst, EverBird

Maya has spent nine years building document and payments workflows for agencies and service businesses. She leads the team behind EverBird's Revenue Agents, deal threads, e-signatures, client portals, and invoicing, and reviews every product page for factual accuracy on how the product actually behaves.

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Revenue Agents

Three Revenue Agents, one thread.

Every thread sits under a Revenue Agent that reads the actual blocker, decides when to chase, sends from your own address and hands the deal back after three tries. There are exactly three, and your plan decides how many you get.

Invoice Follow-up Agent
Chases unpaid and overdue invoices until the money lands.
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Contract Follow-up Agent
Chases contracts that were opened but never signed.
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Retainer Follow-up Agent
Runs a whole retainer term: bills each cycle, follows up to the end date.
Max only
Learn more →

Set the cycle. Walk away.

7-day free trial. No card required. The Retainer Agent is on Max.

Reserve for freeSee pricing
Last updated · Reviewed by Maya Ellison · Refreshed monthly.
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