> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.yabetoopay.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Overview

> Bill your customers on a recurring basis, over Mobile Money.

A **subscription** bills a customer at a regular interval — weekly, monthly, yearly — for one
or more products. Yabetoo generates the invoice for each cycle, asks the customer for payment on
their Mobile Money number, retries on failure, and notifies you by webhook at every step.

## The model

```
Product ──► Price (recurring) ──► Subscription ──► Invoice (one per cycle)
                                       │
                                       └─► Customer + default payment method
```

| Object                | Prefix   | Role                                                                                                                                                                            |
| --------------------- | -------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Product**           | `prod_`  | What you sell. See [Products](/en/products/products).                                                                                                                           |
| **Price**             | `price_` | How much and how often: `type: "recurring"`, `billingInterval` (`day`, `week`, `month`, `year`) × `billingIntervalCount`, `trialPeriodDays`. See [Prices](/en/products/prices). |
| **Customer**          | `cus_`   | The person billed, identified by email, with a **default payment method** (a Mobile Money number).                                                                              |
| **Subscription**      | `sub_`   | The link between a customer and one or more recurring prices, with its current period and status.                                                                               |
| **Subscription item** | `si_`    | One price × one quantity.                                                                                                                                                       |
| **Invoice**           | `inv_`   | The amount due for a cycle, with its lines, status and payment attempt history.                                                                                                 |

## What happens every cycle

<Steps>
  <Step title="Three days before the due date">
    Yabetoo issues the invoice for the upcoming cycle and emails it to the customer with a
    payment link. The customer can settle it early.
  </Step>

  <Step title="On the due date, at 11:00 (Brazzaville)">
    If the invoice is still unpaid, a **payment request** is pushed to the customer's default
    Mobile Money number. They approve it on their phone.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Success">
    The invoice becomes `paid`, you receive `invoice.paid`, the period advances.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Failure">
    The subscription becomes `past_due`, and three automatic retries go out at D+1, D+3 and D+7.
    See [Failed payments](/en/subscriptions/billing/failed-payments).
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Warning>
  **Mobile Money has no automatic debit.** A renewal is not charged: it is **requested**, and the
  customer has to approve it on their phone. That is why the request goes out at 11:00 local
  time, never at night, and why a failed renewal is a nominal case to handle — not an exception.
</Warning>

## Two ways to create a subscription

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Through the API" icon="code" href="/en/subscriptions/create/api">
    You know the customer and their Mobile Money number: one call to `POST /v1/subscriptions`
    creates the subscription and requests the first payment.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Through the hosted payment page" icon="window" href="/en/subscriptions/create/hosted">
    The customer picks and pays on `pay.yabetoo.com`, through a checkout session in
    `subscription` mode or a payment link.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Environments

```bash theme={null}
https://buy.api.yabetoopay.com
```

There is **a single host**. The mode is carried by the **key**: an `sk_test_` key works in test
mode (`isLive: false`, payments go to Yabetoo Pay's test environment), an `sk_live_` key in live
mode. Data from the two modes is kept apart, but served by the same API and visible in the same
dashboard (test/live toggle).

A subscription's **mode** (test or live) is that of the key that created it, and it is frozen:
all of its billing follows that mode. To simulate the passage of time in test mode, use
[test clocks](/en/subscriptions/testing).

## What the system does not do

So you do not find out in production:

* **No price change** on an existing subscription. Only the **quantity** of a line can change
  (`PUT /v1/subscriptions/{id}/quantity`). To change plan: cancel and recreate.
* **No automatic cancellation** after the retries: an unpaid subscription stays `past_due`
  until you settle it or cancel it.
* **No automatic credit** on a mid-period quantity decrease.
* **No automatic email** to the customer on a failed payment, a cancellation or a trial ending:
  only invoices are emailed.