Auto-Renewal & Expiry

Overview#

Commerce keeps auto-renew turned OFF at the registrar for all managed domains. This means the registrar will never silently charge for a renewal — every renewal goes through a Commerce invoice that the client pays explicitly.

This approach gives Commerce full control over billing, renewal timing, and expiry notifications.

Renewal Process#

Step 1 — Renewal Invoice Generation#

The commerce:check-expiring-domains command runs daily at 04:00.

It finds all domains where:

• status = active
• auto_renew = true
• expiry_date is within 30 days
• No existing unpaid renewal invoice exists for this domain

A renewal invoice is generated for each matching domain and sent to the client by email.

Step 2 — Client Pays the Invoice#

The renewal invoice email contains:

• Domain name
• Current expiry date
• Renewal price (from domain_tlds.renew_price)
• Payment link

Step 3 — RenewDomainJob#

When the invoice is paid, InvoiceService::markPaid() dispatches RenewDomainJob.

The job:

1. Calls renew(domain, years) on the active registrar module.
2. On success: updates domains.expiry_date with the new expiry date returned by the registrar.
3. Sends a renewal confirmation email to the client with the new expiry date and amount paid.

Step 4 — Sync Confirms Renewal#

commerce:sync-domain-statuses (daily 05:00) independently confirms the renewal by calling getDomainInfo for expiring domains, providing a safety net if the renewal job result was ambiguous.

What Happens If the Invoice Is Not Paid#

Once a domain enters the registrar's redemption period, recovery fees apply (often $50–$200 depending on the registry). Standard renewal is no longer possible.

Disabling Auto-Renew#

Clients can disable auto-renew per domain at /client/domains/{domain} — the toggle stores auto_renew = false on the domains record. With auto-renew off:

• No renewal invoice is generated.
• No job is dispatched.
• The domain expires naturally at its current expiry date.

Admins can also set this in Admin → Domains → [domain] → Info Panel.

Manual Renewal (Admin)#

To renew a domain manually outside the invoice flow:

1. Go to Admin → Domains → [domain].
2. Click Renew in the Actions panel.
3. Select the number of years.
4. Confirm — this dispatches RenewDomainJob immediately (bypasses invoice).

Use this for corrections, promotional renewals, or recoveries where the invoice was already written off.

Scheduled Commands#

Related#

• How Domains Work in Commerce
• Managing Registered Domains
• TLD Manager