# The referral deal framework

Twelve questions every referral, affiliate, reseller or partner deal has to answer. Most disputes come from one nobody answered. They work on any deal, in any field, with no data from us: a signup bounty, a share of API usage, an enterprise registration, a finder's fee, a stablecoin fee share.

Rates and terms are always your own. Nothing here is a recommendation, a market rate, or legal, tax or financial advice.

| # | Question | Why it matters | In a program file |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Who pays, and who gets paid? | An AI agent can't be paid. Pay reaches a person, a company or a wallet behind it. | `payer`, agreement `partner`, `acts_for` |
| 2 | What event pays? | A signup, a first payment and a signed contract are very different promises. | `rules[].on` |
| 3 | How much? | Flat, a percent, per unit or tiers. Each breaks differently. | `rules[].basis`, `rate`, `amount`, `price`, `tiers` |
| 4 | A percent of what exactly? | "Net" is the most common commission dispute. Say what it takes out. | `rules[].of`, `net_of` |
| 5 | For how long? | Twelve months from when? What happens on churn and return, or at renewal? | `recurring`, `step`, `once_per` |
| 6 | What counts as a referral? | A link, a code, a signed token, a registered deal, a recommendation in a chat. | `attribution.allowed_kinds`, `token.signed` |
| 7 | How long does credit last? | A trial longer than the window pays nothing unless the deal says otherwise. | `window_days`, `customer_lock_days`, `lock_on` |
| 8 | Who wins when two parties claim it? | First, last, split, by role, or the one who registered first. | `model`, `exclusive_kinds`, `precedence` |
| 9 | What takes it back, and for how long? | Refunds, chargebacks and fraud, and what happens after it's been paid. | `clawback_days`, `reversal`, `clawback_mode` |
| 10 | When and how is it paid? | Holdback, cycle, minimum, currency or stablecoin, and a small balance when a partner leaves. | `settlement` |
| 11 | Who is told about the pay, and when? | A paid recommendation has to reach the person who relies on it, before they act. A field in a record isn't a disclosure. | `disclosure` |
| 12 | How can each side check the number? | Statements, evidence, audit rights and a way to dispute. Say what can't be seen. | `evidence`, `sla`, `settlement.audit` |

## Stop and ask a lawyer first

- Paying for referrals in healthcare, real estate settlement, legal services, insurance, securities, credit or government buying.
- Pay tied to a sale or trade of tokens or securities.
- Pay to a buyer's own employee, adviser or official.
- Pay for recruiting other referrers rather than for customers, or pay more than one level deep.
- Any promise of returns or income.

This list is not complete. Something not on it can still be illegal.

## Use it

- By hand: answer the twelve for any deal. "Not stated" is an answer, and it's the useful one.
- With any agent: paste a prompt from https://referrals.md/prompts.
- With a tool: `explain_program` answers the twelve for a program file, and says which came from the file, which fall back to a default, and which nothing answers. `compare_programs` runs one scenario through several programs.