The trial, hiring and billing

When you add Staffd it arrives as an intern: it reads your server but doesn't moderate, and the trial hasn't started. The trial starts when you pick its name, which is the hire (see Getting started). For the next 14 days your employee does the full job: it watches and flags, answers members, welcomes newcomers if you turn that on, and takes instructions in its private channel. There's nothing to pay and no card to enter. You can ask it in its private channel when your trial ends.

During the trial it also posts a short daily watch report so you can see the work. See Reports and check-ins.

Removing Staffd and adding it back doesn't restart the clock.

When the 14 days are up, your employee posts a performance review in its private channel. It's a short note in its own voice plus a two-week report card. Every number is counted from your server's records:

• Days on the job.
• Messages it judged.
• Flags it raised.
• Actions your team took, shown as "Handled by your team". Dismissals and /warn or /note entries count too.
• New members it welcomed.
• Questions it answered for members.
• How many rules and owner calibrations it now carries.
• The plan your server's activity fits, with the price.

You don't pick a plan. It's based on your server's message activity since the hire. Each server has its own subscription; the pricing page has the full details.

• Starter, $30 a month: up to 15,000 messages a month.
• Pro, $80 a month: up to 75,000 messages a month.
• Scale, $150 a month: beyond 75,000 messages a month.

Payments are handled by Lemon Squeezy, our merchant of record. They run the checkout, send your receipts and handle sales tax. Staffd never sees your full card number. There are three ways to reach the checkout, and each one is tied to the right server:

• The button on the day-14 review, labeled with your employee's name, for example "Hire Nova full-time".
• /upgrade, any time after the hire. It replies privately with your server's size, the plan and the checkout link.
• The Hire full-time button on your server's page in the dashboard.

Within about a minute, your employee confirms in its private channel that it's on the team full-time. Same rules, same memory, same way of working.

Your card, invoices and cancellation live in the Lemon Squeezy customer portal. Sign in there with the email you used at checkout. You can reach it three ways: run /upgrade on a subscribed server, use "Manage or cancel subscription" on your server's page in the dashboard, or open it from the dashboard's Billing page.

There are no contracts. If you cancel, your employee keeps working until the end of the period you've paid for. Then it posts a goodbye that mentions the billing ending, and goes off the clock, as described below.

Your employee keeps doing the full job for a few days after the trial ends while you decide. Paying at any point simply ends the countdown. Otherwise, here's what you'll see in its private channel:

• A short reminder with the checkout link. Then it goes back to work.
• A note on its last day, with the link.
• A goodbye. After that it's off the clock.

An employee that's off the clock stays in your server and keeps everything it learned: your rules, calibrations, facts and moderation history. It stops watching messages, welcoming members and posting reports.

• If a member @mentions it, it replies with a short line saying it's off the clock and to ask one of the human mods. It won't keep repeating it.
• If you message it in its private channel, it tells you when its contract ended and gives you the link to bring it back.
• Slash commands reply privately that it's off the clock, except /upgrade, which still gives you the checkout link.

One payment brings it straight back, with its memory intact. Use the link in its goodbye, /upgrade, or your server's page in the dashboard. Within about a minute it posts a welcome-back in its private channel and gets back to work.

If a renewal payment fails, Lemon Squeezy retries your card, and your employee keeps working normally while it does. The dashboard shows a payment issue. You can update your card in the customer portal at any time.

If the retries run out and the subscription ends, your employee posts a goodbye and goes off the clock the same way, with its memory kept. Paying again brings it back.

If you'd rather remove your server's data entirely, see Your data and privacy. Other questions: FAQ.