> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.instapods.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Affiliate Program > Enroll in the affiliate program and read your referrals, earnings, and payouts. The affiliate program pays a **recurring commission on every payment** made by customers you refer, for as long as they keep paying. You enroll from **Dashboard → Affiliates**, which is also where the numbers below are rendered; these endpoints are the same data. This is the general affiliate program, open to anyone with an account. It is separate from the [Hosting Partnership](/partners/hosting-partnership), which is a 20% rev-share arranged with maintainers of open-source apps we host. Don't enroll in both for the same traffic. ## How it works 1. **Enroll.** You get a referral code, and two links built from it. 2. **Share the link.** A click is recorded against your code. 3. **They sign up through it.** The signup is linked to you as a `pending` referral. 4. **They pay.** The referral flips to `active` and you earn a commission on that payment and every one after it. Commission is a percentage of what the customer actually paid, taken at your tier's rate at the moment of payment. The rate is snapshotted onto each earning, so a later tier change doesn't rewrite history. Each invoice earns once. ### Tiers You start on **Starter** and move up automatically as the revenue you've referred crosses a milestone. Reaching a tier also pays a one-off bonus. | Tier | Commission | Auto-upgrade at | Upgrade bonus | | ------- | ---------- | ------------------------ | ------------- | | Starter | 10% | - (you start here) | - | | Partner | 15% | \$500 referred revenue | \$25 | | Pro | 20% | \$2,000 referred revenue | \$100 | | Elite | 20% | By arrangement | \$250 | Upgrades happen on the payment that crosses the milestone, and are never downgraded. Read the live values from `GET /api/affiliates/dashboard` rather than hard-coding these - tiers are configurable, and your account may be on a negotiated one. ## Enroll ``` POST /api/affiliates/enroll ``` No request body. Enrolling twice is safe - you get the existing record back rather than a second one. **Response: `201 Created`** ```json theme={null} { "id": "aff_abc123", "user_id": "usr_xyz", "referral_code": "1a2b3c4d", "tier_slug": "starter", "status": "active", "total_revenue": 0, "total_earnings": 0, "total_paid_out": 0, "referral_count": 0, "created_at": "2026-02-20T10:00:00Z" } ``` All money fields are in **cents**. ## Dashboard ``` GET /api/affiliates/dashboard ``` Everything the Affiliates page shows, in one call. **Response: `200 OK`** ```json theme={null} { "affiliate": { "...": "..." }, "tier": { "slug": "starter", "name": "Starter", "commission_rate": 10 }, "next_tier": { "slug": "partner", "name": "Partner", "commission_rate": 15, "milestone_amount": 50000, "bonus_amount": 2500 }, "progress_pct": 34, "pending_balance": 1250, "referral_link": "https://app.instapods.com/join/1a2b3c4d", "referral_link_alt": "https://instapods.com/join/?r=1a2b3c4d", "visit_count": 214 } ``` | Field | Description | | -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `tier` / `next_tier` | Your current tier, and the one you're working toward. `next_tier` is absent on the top tier | | `progress_pct` | How far to `next_tier`'s milestone, 0-100 | | `pending_balance` | Earned but not yet paid out, in cents | | `referral_link` | Send people here. Uses your custom slug if you've set one | | `referral_link_alt` | The same attribution as a `?r=` parameter, for linking to the marketing site | | `visit_count` | Clicks recorded on your links | Returns `404` with `not enrolled` if you haven't enrolled yet. That is the check to make before rendering anything - the same `404` comes back from `referrals`, `earnings`, `payouts` and `settings`. ## Referrals ``` GET /api/affiliates/referrals ``` | Query Param | Type | Description | | ----------- | ---- | ----------------- | | `limit` | int | Page size | | `offset` | int | Pagination offset | **Response: `200 OK`** ```json theme={null} { "referrals": [ { "id": "ref_abc", "affiliate_id": "aff_abc123", "referred_user": "usr_def", "status": "active", "signed_up_at": "2026-02-01T10:00:00Z", "activated_at": "2026-02-05T10:00:00Z", "email": "gr***@example.com", "pod_count": 2, "plan_slug": "build", "subscription_status": "active" } ], "total": 12, "limit": 25, "offset": 0 } ``` **Referral statuses:** `pending` (signed up, hasn't paid), `active` (has paid at least once), `churned`. Emails are masked. You can see that someone signed up and whether they're paying; you cannot see who they are or reach them through us. ## Earnings ``` GET /api/affiliates/earnings ``` Same pagination. One row per commission-earning payment. ```json theme={null} { "earnings": [ { "id": "ern_abc", "affiliate_id": "aff_abc123", "referral_id": "ref_abc", "invoice_id": "inv_xyz", "payment_amount": 700, "commission_rate": 10, "commission_amount": 70, "tier_slug": "starter", "created_at": "2026-02-05T10:00:00Z" } ], "total": 34, "limit": 25, "offset": 0 } ``` `commission_rate` and `tier_slug` are recorded per earning, so this list stays accurate across tier changes. ## Payouts ``` GET /api/affiliates/payouts ``` Same pagination. Payouts are recorded by us when money is sent; there is no endpoint to request one. ```json theme={null} { "payouts": [ { "id": "pay_abc", "affiliate_id": "aff_abc123", "amount": 5000, "method": "paypal", "status": "completed", "reference": "8XY123456", "note": "", "paid_at": "2026-02-15T10:00:00Z", "created_at": "2026-02-15T10:00:00Z" } ], "total": 2, "limit": 25, "offset": 0 } ``` ## Settings ``` PUT /api/affiliates/settings ``` ```json theme={null} { "paypal_email": "you@example.com", "custom_slug": "ada" } ``` | Field | Type | Description | | -------------- | ------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `paypal_email` | string | Where payouts are sent. Set this before you expect one | | `custom_slug` | string | A readable alternative to your generated code, used in both referral links | A custom slug is 3-30 characters, lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens only. **Response: `200 OK`** - returns the updated affiliate record. | Code | Reason | | ----- | ---------------------------------------------------------- | | `400` | Slug is the wrong length or contains disallowed characters | | `404` | Not enrolled | | `409` | Someone else already has that slug | Your original `referral_code` keeps working after you set a slug. ## Recording a Visit ``` POST /api/affiliate/visit ``` Public, no auth. Records a click against a referral code - this is what our own site calls when someone lands with a `?ref=` or `?r=` parameter, and you only need it if you're building your own landing page in front of a referral link. ```json theme={null} { "code": "1a2b3c4d" } ``` Always returns `200 OK` with `{"status": "ok"}`, including for an unknown code: it's tracking, and it never blocks the page it's called from. A click from the affiliate's own logged-in session is silently ignored, so you can't inflate your own visit count.