# Payout cycles (/docs/brands/payouts/pay-cycles)
Create payout cycles, make them recur automatically, move an end date, and understand each cycle's locked rules and stats.
A payout cycle is a date range you pay creators for. Every set whose first post falls inside the range belongs to that cycle. Cycles live on Payouts & Cycles › Cycles, which every brand admin can use.
Open Payouts & Cycles
## Create a cycle [#create-a-cycle]
### Open the dialog [#open-the-dialog]
On Payouts & Cycles, click **New Cycle** in the page header.
### Pick the dates [#pick-the-dates]
Choose a **Start Date** and an **End Date**. Dates follow your brand's [timezone](/docs/brands/settings/timezone), shown in the dialog. Both days count, so Jul 1 → Jul 31 is 31 days.
### Check the rules snapshot [#check-the-rules-snapshot]
The **Current rules snapshot** panel shows the payout model, minimum views, base pay and bonus the cycle will lock in. To change them, use the **Go to Settings → Rules** link first.
### Create it [#create-it]
Click **Create Cycle**.
Rules for the window:
- The end date must be after the start date.
- A cycle must be at least **2 days** long. There's no maximum.
- Cycles can't overlap. If they would, Bloss names the cycle in the way.
## Auto-recurring cycles [#auto-recurring-cycles]
Turn on **Auto-recurring** in the cycles stats card to have Bloss create the next cycle each time the latest one ends.
- The new cycle has the **same length** as the latest cycle and starts the day after it ends.
- If several periods have passed, Bloss skips ahead to the period that covers today. It doesn't backfill the missed ones.
- Each cycle starts its successor **once**. If you delete an auto-created cycle, it doesn't come back.
- The new cycle snapshots your rules as they are when it's created.
## Change a cycle's end date [#change-a-cycles-end-date]
The end date is the cycle's **payout deadline**: bonus views stop counting at it, and bonuses unlock for payment after it. You can move it later or earlier until the cycle is paid.
### Open Edit End Date [#open-edit-end-date]
In the cycle's **⋯** menu, choose **Edit End Date**.
### Pick the new date [#pick-the-new-date]
Pick a **New end date**, or click **End today** to close the campaign now. The start date can't be changed, and the end date can't be set before today.
### Save [#save]
Click **Save End Date**. Bloss re-prices the cycle straight away. Sets posted up to the new end date join the cycle automatically.
**Edit End Date** is unavailable, with the reason shown in the menu, when:
| Menu says | Why |
| ----------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **paid cycles are locked** | The cycle is marked paid. |
| **bonus paid per set is final** | Some bonus was already sent per set from the bonus board. |
| **undo recorded payments first** | A creator row was paid, by transfer or by hand. Undo the hand-marked rows to unlock it. |
| **not available for ledger cycles** | The cycle uses the ledger model. |
If the next cycle already exists (for example, an auto-recurring one),
extending this one overlaps it and Bloss shows an error. If that next cycle
was created automatically and is still pending, delete it first.
## The rules snapshot [#the-rules-snapshot]
Each cycle locks in your pay rules when it's created. Click **Cycle rules** on a cycle to see them:
| Badge | Meaning |
| ------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Locked snapshot** | The cycle prices with the rules saved on it. Changing Settings › Rules doesn't affect it. |
| **Live settings** | The cycle has no snapshot (usually an older cycle). It follows your current settings, so changing them changes its pay. |
The snapshot covers four rule groups: **Base pay** (amounts and platform requirement), **Minimum views** (threshold and how it's measured), **Bonuses** (model, tiers or rate, cap, pair-aggregate mode) and **Payout model** (cycle or ledger, plus the ledger window).
To bring a running cycle up to date, use **Update cycle rules**, or **Lock current settings** for a cycle on live settings. Both are in the cycle's menu. See [Changing rules mid-cycle](/docs/brands/settings/changing-rules-mid-cycle).
## Reading a cycle [#reading-a-cycle]
The stats card at the top shows **Total cycles**, **Total paid out**, **Pending payouts** and the **Active cycle**. "Total paid out" includes base paid early and bonus paid per set, which is why it can be higher than the cycles marked paid.
Each cycle row shows its dates, a **Pending** or **Paid** badge, an **Active** badge while today is inside it, and its **Total**, **Creators** and payment counts. Expand it to see one row per creator:
| Column | Meaning |
| ------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Due** | What the cycle still owes this creator after anything paid early or per set. On a paid row, what that payment settled. |
| **Paid early** | Base pay already sent mid-cycle through [instant base pay](/docs/brands/payouts/instant-base-pay). |
| **Base**, **Bonus** | The creator's full earnings for the cycle, before early payments. |
| **Views** | Views from the creator's eligible sets. |
| **Stats as of** | **Live** when figures follow the latest sync, or the date of the view snapshot used to price them. |
| **Last calculated** | When the row was last priced. |
| **Status** | **Pending** or **Paid**. |
Only **active** and **trial** creators get a payout row. A paused creator's base pay still queues on the Base pay tab.
## Related [#related]
Generate, recalculate and pay a cycle.
What a settings change does to running cycles.
The two payout models.