Automatic renewal laws · the record to keep · updated 10 October 2026

Automatic renewal laws: the record a subscription seller keeps

Since 1 July 2025, California's automatic renewal law (Bus. & Prof. Code § 17602, as amended by AB 2863) asks a seller of subscriptions to keep each customer's consent for three years, to send an annual reminder, and to give notice before a price change. On the reminder: “A business shall send an annual reminder to a consumer” (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17602(h)(1)) (read 10 October 2026). New York's amended law has applied since 5 November 2025, Minnesota's since 1 January 2025, and Colorado has counted businesses as buyers since 16 February 2026. The record each asks for is made by your own checkout, emails and price changes, and Stripe keeps little of it for long.

What each state asks you to keep and send

State	Law	Applies	What to keep and send
California	§ 17602, AB 2863	contracts entered, amended or extended from 1 July 2025; consumers	consent kept 3 years (or 1 year after the end, if later); an annual reminder; notice 15–45 days before a renewal of a year or more; 3–21 days before a trial over 31 days ends; 7–30 days before a price change
New York	§ 527-a	amended from 5 November 2025; consumers	notice 15–45 days before a renewal of a year or more; 3–21 days before a trial over a month ends; 5 business days to 30 days before a price increase; consent to the higher price, or a 14-day cancel with a pro rata refund
Minnesota	§ 325G.57	contracts entered, modified or renewed from 1 January 2025; consumers	written notice once each calendar year for continuous service; 5–30 days before a trial over 30 days ends; notice before a material change
Colorado	§ 6-1-732	since 1 January 2022; any buyer, businesses included, from 16 February 2026	notice 25–40 days before each renewal, and for a shorter term before the renewal past each twelve months; notice of a material change

California's, New York's and Minnesota's automatic renewal laws cover consumers: people who buy for personal, family, or household purposes. A customer buying for a business may be outside them. Colorado has counted any purchaser, businesses included, since 16 February 2026.

Why the record has to be your own

Stripe can send renewal reminders, but keeps no record of sending them: its customer email log covers the last 60 days and does not list renewal reminders or price-change notices (Stripe's docs, read 10 October 2026). Stripe Checkout records that terms were accepted, not which terms, and Stripe's events API looks back 30 days. Three years from now, the record a demand letter asks for is the one you kept. What Stripe keeps, and what it does not.

Benesch counted laws like these in 28 states and the District of Columbia on 14 August 2026 and expects a wave of subscription class actions in 2026 and 2027, mostly in California and Illinois (Benesch). 28 states and the District of Columbia have laws on automatically renewing consumer subscriptions (Benesch, 14 August 2026). This tool sets out California, New York, Minnesota and Colorado; for a customer elsewhere it lists the dates only.

What these pages never ask for

Nothing here asks for your Stripe key, your customers or anything about them. The free tool below runs on your own machine: it reads your account through a restricted read-only key you make yourself, or your own Stripe exports, never writes to Stripe, never emails your customers and sends nothing to us.

The record from your own Stripe account, free

$ npx --allow-remote=root https://agentwares.vercel.app/dl/autorenew-record-0.2.0.tgz check --stripe

Each subscription beside the law of its customer's state: the consent on record, the annual reminder, the notices before a renewal and a price change, and what is missing, kept in a hash-chained ledger on your disk. It reads your account through a restricted read-only key you make in the Stripe Dashboard (a secret key is refused), or your Stripe exports. It never writes to Stripe, never emails your customers and sends nothing to us. No AI. Also a local MCP server: the same command with mcp.

A signed renewal evidence report

The tool writes the report for your counsel: the period's consent, reminders, notices and gaps per subscription, as JSON and PDF, with its SHA-256. A signed report adds a dated Ed25519 signature over this report's SHA-256, which anyone can check later; only the hash is sent to be signed. The report itself is complete without it.

The signature is over the report's hash only: your customers' data stays on your machine. One-time, with no account; the report command prints the link for your report's hash.

A signed report

A hosted renewal ledger that records consent from your Checkout, and sends and keeps the annual reminders and price notices for three years, is not built

It would take consent as it happens from your Checkout, send the annual reminder and the notices before a renewal or a price change from your own domain, and keep each one in okgate's hash-chained log for three years.

What exists today: these pages, the free tool, and the ledger it keeps on your own disk.

I want the hosted ledger