# Create Knowify progress invoices by percent complete

> Monthly Knowify progress billing: percent complete per contract line, approved change orders added, a draft to review, then the email to the client.

Source: https://cotlet.dev/integrations/knowify-api-mcp-server/bill-percent-complete-invoice

At month end each fixed price job needs a pay request: a percent for every contract line, plus the extra work agreed on site. In Knowify that means the Contract & Change Orders tab of every job, a change order that may still be a draft, and typing percents line by line.

Cotlet does it in your own Knowify account with list\_jobs, get\_job, list\_invoices, add\_change\_order, create\_invoice and send\_invoice, called by your AI agent, an n8n workflow or a script.

[Request access](https://cotlet.dev/app/signup?app=knowify) [All Knowify tools](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/knowify-api-mcp-server)

Hosted · nothing to install or maintain

Official options

## Can Knowify do this on its own?

Knowify has no public API for invoices or change orders (checked 12 Oct 2026). Its Zapier app fires New Invoice, Updated Invoice and Change Order Made Active triggers but cannot create, finalize or send an invoice or add a change order. The AI Connector can answer which jobs have unbilled work ready to invoice, but someone still builds each invoice by hand.

By hand

## How you do it in Knowify today

1. Open the job in Knowify and go to the Contract & Change Orders tab; extra work goes in with Add Change Order at the bottom of the line items (Description and Price), then Make Active, because only an active change order can be invoiced.
2. Click Invoice Now on the same tab, or open Invoices > Add New Invoice and search for the job.
3. Choose the invoicing style (percent per line, dollar amount per line, percent or amount of the whole job with change orders separate, or per unit) and enter the progress for each line, then Confirm.
4. Review the preview and pick Save as a Draft or Verify & Finalize; on the Invoice Summary screen enable card or ACH payment if online payments are connected.
5. Send the invoice to the client's email, with Include link to accept online payment under Advanced settings. Then open the next job and start again; a change order still in draft cannot go on the bill until someone makes it active.

With an agent

## How to create Knowify progress invoices by percent complete

Prompt

```
Bill Maple St at 60% on rough-in and 25% on fixtures, add the $2,400 kitchen outlet change order and bill it in full, then email the invoice to Dana once I approve it.
```

1. 01  
### Confirm the job can be billed  
get\_job shows the contract lines, change orders and contract style. The agent stops on a job that is not active, and on a cost plus job when you asked for percent billing, since percent of progress is one of the Knowify invoicing styles for fixed price invoices.
2. 02  
### Keep the invoicing style the job already uses  
list\_invoices for the job shows whether it was billed before. Knowify keeps one invoicing style for the life of a job, so when earlier invoices exist and you did not say the method, the agent asks before choosing percent or amount.
3. 03  
### Bring change orders up to date  
Change orders still in draft are listed with their price, and the agent asks which ones the client approved. New extra work is added with add\_change\_order and made active only after you confirm the price, because reverting an active change order later means deleting every invoice that includes it.
4. 04  
### Check percents against what is left  
Percents above 100 or lines missing from your prompt are flagged before anything is saved. The agent compares the new invoice plus earlier invoices with the contract value and change orders, and stops if the total would bill more than the job is worth.
5. 05  
### Draft, review, then send  
create\_invoice runs with finalize false and waits for your OK, so you see each line and the total first. On your second OK it finalizes, and send\_invoice emails the client contact or the accounts payable address you name.

### What you get back

Example data

```
Maple St Remodel, fixed price, contract $40,000 + change orders $2,400
Change order CO-1 Extra outlets in the kitchen $2,400 added and made active after your OK
Draft invoice 90517: Rough-in electrical 60% $13,200, Fixtures and finish 25% $4,500, CO-1 100% $2,400
Total $20,100, billed to date after this invoice $20,100 of $42,400
Finalized and emailed to dana.whitfield@example.com after your second OK
```

### Other ways to ask

- On the 25th, draft progress invoices for every active fixed price job from the percents I paste, but finalize nothing.
- Bill only the approved change orders on Oak Ave this week and leave the contract lines alone.
- Bill 30% of the whole Riverside job as one progress line, with change orders billed separately by amount.
- Add a $1,150 change order for the relocated panel on Hilltop Garage as a draft so the client can approve it first.

Before you automate it

## What Knowify allows, and what to know first

- Once a Knowify job has its first invoice, every later invoice must use the same invoicing style; switching means deleting and recreating the earlier invoices.
- Knowify change orders exist only on fixed price jobs, and several lines with the same CO# print as one change order document, for example to keep part of it tax exempt.
- Reverting an active Knowify change order to draft first requires deleting all invoices that include it, and on AIA jobs even invoices that listed it without billing it.
- Knowify needs an active contract before a job can be invoiced, and AIA invoices cannot be saved as a draft.
- Knowify online payments through QuickBooks Payments cost 2.8% for cards and 1% for ACH capped at $15, with an optional 3% card surcharge not supported in MA, NY, CT or PR.

create\_invoice and send\_invoice ask for your OK by default. To run it monthly without you, switch confirmation off for those tools in your dashboard.

Sources: [Knowify: How to create an invoice](https://knowify.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360015508791-How-to-create-an-invoice) · [Knowify: Invoicing styles](https://knowify.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/48338257761044-Invoicing-styles) · [Knowify: How to create a change order](https://knowify.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360015475092-How-to-create-a-change-order) · [Knowify: How to accept online payments for your invoices](https://knowify.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/40740703221652-How-to-accept-online-payments-for-your-invoices) · [Knowify: How to revert a change order to draft](https://knowify.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360014043092-How-to-revert-a-change-order-to-draft) · [Knowify: How to add multiple line items to the same change order](https://knowify.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/35499590492820-How-to-add-multiple-line-items-to-the-same-change-order) · [Knowify: How to track costs for a change order](https://knowify.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360021544731-How-to-track-costs-for-a-change-order)

REST

## Call create\_invoice from a script

curl

```
curl https://cotlet.dev/api/v1/knowify/create_invoice \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COTLET_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"job_id":"418203","method":"percent","lines":{"line-1":60,"line-2":25,"co-1":100},"finalize":false}'
```

Example response

```
{
"invoice_id": "90517",
"job_id": "418203",
"status": "draft",
"amount": 18400,
"balance_due": 18400,
"date": "2026-10-10"
}
```

MCP: add https://cotlet.dev/mcp/v1 with the same key; the tool is knowify\_create\_invoice. Example data.

[Schedule it in n8n, Make, Zapier or cron](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/knowify-api-mcp-server#automations)

Tools

## Knowify tools this automation uses

__Cotlet Knowify tools used to create Knowify progress invoices by percent complete__
| Tool | Parameters |
| ------------------ | ----------------------------------------- |
| list\_jobs | status, search, limit |
| get\_job | job\_id |
| list\_invoices | job\_id, unpaid\_only, since |
| add\_change\_order | job\_id, description, price, make\_active |
| create\_invoice | job\_id, method, lines, finalize |
| send\_invoice | invoice\_id, to\_email |

[All 15 Knowify tools with descriptions](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/knowify-api-mcp-server#tools)

## Frequently asked questions

### Does a new Knowify change order get its own phase for costs?

It depends on the job costing mode. In Advanced mode Knowify adds a job phase for each change order made active; in Simple mode you add the phase yourself in Plan & Track edit mode, and in Professional mode from the gear icon next to the change order.

## More Knowify automations

- [Weekly Knowify report of jobs and phases over budget](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/knowify-api-mcp-server/weekly-job-cost-report)
- [Create a Knowify job and send the proposal for e-signature](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/knowify-api-mcp-server/create-job-and-send-proposal)
- [Knowify API and MCP server: every tool](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/knowify-api-mcp-server)
- [All use cases](https://cotlet.dev/use-cases)

## Give your agent access to Knowify.

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[Request access](https://cotlet.dev/app/signup?app=knowify)