Stripe Integration

Master Stripe payment processing integration for robust, PCI-compliant payment flows including checkout, subscriptions, webhooks, and refunds.

When to Use This Skill

• Implementing payment processing in web/mobile applications
• Setting up subscription billing systems
• Handling one-time payments and recurring charges
• Processing refunds and disputes
• Managing customer payment methods
• Implementing SCA (Strong Customer Authentication) for European payments
• Building marketplace payment flows with Stripe Connect

Core Concepts

1. Payment Flows

Checkout Sessions

• Recommended for most integrations
• Supports all UI paths:
  • Stripe-hosted checkout page
  • Embedded checkout form
  • Custom UI with Elements (Payment Element, Express Checkout Element) using ui_mode='custom'
• Provides built-in checkout capabilities (line items, discounts, tax, shipping, address collection, saved payment methods, and checkout lifecycle events)
• Lower integration and maintenance burden than Payment Intents

Payment Intents (Bespoke control)

• You calculate the final amount with taxes, discounts, subscriptions, and currency conversion yourself.
• More complex implementation and long-term maintenance burden
• Requires Stripe.js for PCI compliance

Setup Intents (Save Payment Methods)

• Collect payment method without charging
• Used for subscriptions and future payments
• Requires customer confirmation

2. Webhooks

Critical Events:

• payment_intent.succeeded: Payment completed
• payment_intent.payment_failed: Payment failed
• customer.subscription.updated: Subscription changed
• customer.subscription.deleted: Subscription canceled
• charge.refunded: Refund processed
• invoice.payment_succeeded: Subscription payment successful

3. Subscriptions

Components:

• Product: What you're selling
• Price: How much and how often
• Subscription: Customer's recurring payment
• Invoice: Generated for each billing cycle

4. Customer Management

• Create and manage customer records
• Store multiple payment methods
• Track customer metadata
• Manage billing details

Quick Start

import stripe

stripe.api_key = "sk_test_..."

# Create a checkout session
session = stripe.checkout.Session.create(
    line_items=[{
        'price_data': {
            'currency': 'usd',
            'product_data': {
                'name': 'Premium Subscription',
            },
            'unit_amount': 2000,  # $20.00
            'recurring': {
                'interval': 'month',
            },
        },
        'quantity': 1,
    }],
    mode='subscription',
    success_url='https://yourdomain.com/success?session_id={CHECKOUT_SESSION_ID}',
    cancel_url='https://yourdomain.com/cancel'
)

# Redirect user to session.url
print(session.url)

Payment Implementation Patterns

Pattern 1: One-Time Payment (Hosted Checkout)

def create_checkout_session(amount, currency='usd'):
    """Create a one-time payment checkout session."""
    try:
        session = stripe.checkout.Session.create(
            line_items=[{
                'price_data': {
                    'currency': currency,
                    'product_data': {
                        'name': 'Blue T-shirt',
                        'images': ['https://example.com/product.jpg'],
                    },
                    'unit_amount': amount,  # Amount in cents
                },
                'quantity': 1,
            }],
            mode='payment',
            success_url='https://yourdomain.com/success?session_id={CHECKOUT_SESSION_ID}',
            cancel_url='https://yourdomain.com/cancel',
            metadata={
                'order_id': 'order_123',
                'user_id': 'user_456'
            }
        )
        return session
    except stripe.error.StripeError as e:
        # Handle error
        print(f"Stripe error: {e.user_message}")
        raise

Pattern 2: Elements with Checkout Sessions

def create_checkout_session_for_elements(amount, currency='usd'):
    """Create a checkout session configured for Payment Element."""
    session = stripe.checkout.Session.create(
        mode='payment',
        ui_mode='custom',
        line_items=[{
            'price_data': {
                'currency': currency,
                'product_data': {'name': 'Blue T-shirt'},
                'unit_amount': amount,
            },
            'quantity': 1,
        }],
        return_url='https://yourdomain.com/complete?session_id={CHECKOUT_SESSION_ID}'
    )
    return session.client_secret  # Send to frontend

const stripe = Stripe("pk_test_...");
const appearance = { theme: "stripe" };

const checkout = stripe.initCheckout({
  clientSecret,
  elementsOptions: { appearance },
});
const loadActionsResult = await checkout.loadActions();

if (loadActionsResult.type === "success") {
  const { actions } = loadActionsResult;
  const session = actions.getSession();

  const button = document.getElementById("pay-button");
  const checkoutContainer = document.getElementById("checkout-container");
  const emailInput = document.getElementById("email");
  const emailErrors = document.getElementById("email-errors");
  const errors = document.getElementById("confirm-errors");

  // Display a formatted string representing the total amount
  checkoutContainer.append(`Total: ${session.total.total.amount}`);

  // Mount Payment Element
  const paymentElement = checkout.createPaymentElement();
  paymentElement.mount("#payment-element");

  // Store email for submission
  emailInput.addEventListener("blur", () => {
    actions.updateEmail(emailInput.value).then(
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