stripe-payments

Stripe Payments

Add Stripe payments to a web app. Covers the common patterns — one-time payments, subscriptions, webhooks, customer portal — with working code. No MCP server needed.

Which Stripe API Do I Need?

| You want to... | Use | Complexity |

|----------------|-----|-----------|

| Accept a one-time payment | Checkout Sessions | Low — Stripe hosts the payment page |

| Embed a payment form in your UI | Payment Element + Payment Intents | Medium — you build the form, Stripe handles the card |

| Recurring billing / subscriptions | Checkout Sessions (subscription mode) | Low-Medium |

| Save a card for later | Setup Intents | Low |

| Marketplace / platform payments | Stripe Connect | High |

| Let customers manage billing | Customer Portal | Low — Stripe hosts it |

Default recommendation: Start with Checkout Sessions. It's the fastest path to accepting money. You can always add embedded forms later.

Setup

Install

npm install stripe @stripe/stripe-js

API Keys

# Get keys from: https://dashboard.stripe.com/apikeys
# Test keys start with sk_test_ and pk_test_
# Live keys start with sk_live_ and pk_live_

# For Cloudflare Workers — store as secrets:
npx wrangler secret put STRIPE_SECRET_KEY
npx wrangler secret put STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET

# For local dev — .dev.vars:
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_test_...
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=whsec_...
STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=pk_test_...

Server-Side Client

import Stripe from 'stripe';

// Cloudflare Workers
const stripe = new Stripe(c.env.STRIPE_SECRET_KEY);

// Node.js
const stripe = new Stripe(process.env.STRIPE_SECRET_KEY!);

One-Time Payment (Checkout Sessions)

The fastest way to accept payment. Stripe hosts the entire checkout page.

Create a Checkout Session (Server)

app.post('/api/checkout', async (c) => {
  const { priceId, successUrl, cancelUrl } = await c.req.json();

  const session = await stripe.checkout.sessions.create({
    mode: 'payment',
    line_items: [{ price: priceId, quantity: 1 }],
    success_url: successUrl || `${new URL(c.req.url).origin}/success?session_id={CHECKOUT_SESSION_ID}`,
    cancel_url: cancelUrl || `${new URL(c.req.url).origin}/pricing`,
  });

  return c.json({ url: session.url });
});

Redirect to Checkout (Client)

async function handleCheckout(priceId: string) {
  const res = await fetch('/api/checkout', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
    body: JSON.stringify({ priceId }),
  });
  const { url } = await res.json();
  window.location.href = url;
}

Create Products and Prices

# Via Stripe CLI (recommended for setup)
stripe products create --name="Pro Plan" --description="Full access"
stripe prices create --product=prod_XXX --unit-amount=2900 --currency=aud --recurring[interval]=month

# Or via Dashboard: https://dashboard.stripe.com/products

Hardcode price IDs in your code (they don't change):

const PRICES = {
  pro_monthly: 'price_1234567890',
  pro_yearly: 'price_0987654321',
} as const;

Subscriptions

Same as one-time but with mode: 'subscription':

const session = await stripe.checkout.sessions.create({
  mode: 'subscription',
  line_items: [{ price: PRICES.pro_monthly, quantity: 1 }],
  success_url: `${origin}/dashboard?session_id={CHECKOUT_SESSION_ID}`,
  cancel_url: `${origin}/pricing`,
  // Link to existing customer if known:
  customer: customerId, // or customer_email: 'user@example.com'
});

Check Subscription Status

async function hasActiveSubscription(customerId: string): Promise<boolean> {
  const subs = await stripe.subscriptions.list({
    customer: customerId,
    status: 'active',
    limit: 1,
  });
  return subs.data.length > 0;
}

Webhooks

Stripe sends events to your server when things happen (payment succeeded, subscription cancelled, etc.). You must verify the webhook signature.

Webhook Handler (Cloudflare Workers / Hono)

app.post('/api/webhooks/stripe', async (c) => {
  const body = await c.req.text();
  const sig = c.req.header('stripe-signature')!;

  let event: Stripe.Event;
  try {
    // Use constructEventAsync for Workers (no Node crypto)
    event = await stripe.webhooks.constructEventAsync(
      body,
      sig,
      c.env.STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET
    );
  } catch (err) {
    console.error('Webhook signature verification failed:', err);
    return c.json({ error: 'Invalid signature' }, 400);
  }

  switch (event.type) {
    case 'checkout.session.completed': {
      const session = event.data.object as Stripe.Checkout.Session;
      // Fulfill the order — update database, send email, grant access
      await handleCheckoutComplete(session);
      break;
    }
    case 'customer.subscription.updated': {
      const sub = event.data.object as Stripe.Subscription;
      await handleSubscriptionChange(sub);
      break;
    }
    case 'customer.subscription.deleted': {
      const sub = event.data.object as Stripe.Subscription;
      await handleSubscriptionCancelled(sub);
      break;
    }
    case 'invoice.payment_failed': {
      const invoice = event.data.object as Stripe.Invoice;
      await handlePaymentFailed(invoice);
      break;
    }
  }

  return c.json({ received: true });
});

Register Webhook

# Local testing with Stripe CLI:
stripe listen --forward-to http://localhost:8787/api/webhooks/stripe

# Production — register via Dashboard:
# https://dashboard.stripe.com/webhooks
# URL: https://yourapp.com/api/webhooks/stripe
# Events: checkout.session.completed, customer.subscription.updated,
#          customer.subscription.deleted, invoice.payment_failed

Cloudflare Workers Gotcha

constructEvent (synchronous) uses Node.js crypto which doesn't exist in Workers. Use constructEventAsync instead — it uses the Web Crypto API.

Customer Portal

Let customers manage their own subscriptions (upgrade, downgrade, cancel, update payment method):

app.post('/api/billing/portal', async (c) => {
  const { customerId } = await c.req.json();

  const session = await stripe.billingPortal.sessions.create({
    customer: customerId,
    return_url: `${new URL(c.req.url).origin}/dashboard`,
  });

  return c.json({ url: session.url });
});

Configure the portal in Dashboard: https://dashboard.stripe.com/settings/billing/portal

Pricing Page Pattern

Generate a pricing page that reads from Stripe products:

// Server: fetch products and prices
app.get('/api/pricing', async (c) => {
  const prices = await stripe.prices.list({
    active: true,
    expand: ['data.product'],
    type: 'recurring',
  });

  return c.json(prices.data.map(price => ({
    id: price.id,
    name: (price.product as Stripe.Product).name,
    description: (price.product as Stripe.Product).description,
    amount: price.unit_amount,
    currency: price.currency,
    interval: price.recurring?.interval,
  })));
});

Or hardcode if you only have 2-3 plans — simpler and no API call on every page load.

Stripe CLI (Local Development)

# Install
brew install stripe/stripe-cli/stripe

# Login
stripe login

# Listen for webhooks locally
stripe listen --forward-to http://localhost:8787/api/webhooks/stripe

# Trigger test events
stripe trigger checkout.session.completed
stripe trigger customer.subscription.created
stripe trigger invoice.payment_failed

Common Patterns

Link Stripe Customer to Your User

// On first checkout, create or find customer:
const session = await stripe.checkout.sessions.create({
  customer_email: user.email,  // Creates new customer if none exists
  // OR
  customer: user.stripeCustomerId,  // Use existing
  metadata: { userId: user.id },  // Link back to your user
  // ...
});

// In webhook, save the customer ID:
case 'checkout.session.completed': {
  const session = event.data.object;
  await db.update(users)
    .set({ stripeCustomerId: session.customer as string })
    .where(eq(users.id, session.metadata.userId));
}

Free Trial

const session = await stripe.checkout.sessions.create({
  mode: 'subscription',
  line_items: [{ price: PRICES.pro_monthly, quantity: 1 }],
  subscription_data: {
    trial_period_days: 14,
  },
  // ...
});

Australian Dollars

// Set currency when creating prices
const price = await stripe.prices.create({
  product: 'prod_XXX',
  unit_amount: 2900,  // $29.00 in cents
  currency: 'aud',
  recurring: { interval: 'month' },
});

Gotchas

| Gotcha | Fix |

|--------|-----|

| constructEvent fails on Workers | Use constructEventAsync (Web Crypto API) |

| Webhook fires but handler not called | Check the endpoint URL matches exactly (trailing slash matters) |

| Test mode payments not appearing | Make sure you're using sk_test_ key, not sk_live_ |

| Price amounts are in cents | 2900 = $29.00. Always divide by 100 for display |

| Customer email doesn't match user | Use customer (existing ID) not customer_email for returning users |

| Subscription status stale | Don't cache — check via API or trust webhook events |

| Webhook retries | Stripe retries failed webhooks for up to 3 days. Return 200 quickly. |

| CORS on checkout redirect | Checkout URL is on stripe.com — use window.location.href, not fetch |