# Stripe Best Practices

> Guides Stripe integration decisions across API selection (Checkout Sessions vs PaymentIntents), Connect platform setup (Accounts v2, controller properties), billing/subscriptions, tax and registrations (Stripe Tax, automatic_tax, product tax codes), Treasury financial accounts, integration options (Checkout, Payment Element), migrating from deprecated Stripe APIs, and security best practices (API key management, restricted keys, webhooks, OAuth). Use when building, modifying, or reviewing any Stripe integration, including accepting payments, building marketplaces, integrating Stripe, processing payments, setting up subscriptions, collecting sales tax, VAT, or GST, creating connected accounts, or implementing secure key handling.

Source: https://skillsagentes.com/skills/stripe/ai/stripe-best-practices
Repository: https://github.com/stripe/ai
Author: stripe
License: MIT
Updated: hace 4 días
Context cost: 185 tok installed, 1.2k tok once triggered, 14.4k tok with every bundled file
Bundle: 7 files, 56 KB
Permissions requested: none declared

## Install

```bash
npx -y skills add stripe/ai --skill stripe-best-practices --agent claude-code
```

## What it does

- Guía decisiones de integración con Stripe: elección de API (Checkout Sessions vs PaymentIntents), Connect, billing/suscripciones, tax y Treasury
- Impone reglas críticas como usar StripeClient instanciado, evitar payment_method_types salvo Terminal, y verificar registro antes de automatic_tax
- Recomienda usar claves API restringidas (rk_) en lugar de secret keys (sk_)
- Indica leer el archivo de referencia correspondiente antes de responder o escribir código de integración

## Use it when

- Al construir, modificar o revisar cualquier integración de Stripe
- Al aceptar pagos, construir marketplaces, configurar suscripciones o cuentas conectadas
- Al recolectar sales tax, VAT o GST
- Al implementar manejo seguro de claves API, webhooks u OAuth

## What triggers it

- "Ayúdame a integrar Stripe Checkout para pagos únicos"
- "Quiero configurar una plataforma Connect con cuentas conectadas"
- "Necesito activar Stripe Tax para cobrar VAT en mi tienda"
- "¿Cómo manejo de forma segura mis claves API de Stripe?"

## Before you install

- Requiere el Stripe CLI (npm i -g @stripe/cli) o una cuenta de Stripe existente para generar claves API.

## Files

- SKILL.md — 5 KB
- references/billing.md — 5 KB
- references/connect.md — 11 KB
- references/payments.md — 6 KB
- references/security.md — 10 KB
- references/tax.md — 18 KB
- references/treasury.md — 793 B

## SKILL.md

Reproduced verbatim from stripe/ai under MIT. This section is the upstream document and is in English.

Latest Stripe API version: **2026-07-29.dahlia**. Always use the latest API version and SDK unless the user specifies otherwise.

Latest SDK versions:

| Language | Latest version |
| --- | --- |
| Ruby | 19.4.0 |
| Python | 15.4.0 |
| Node.js | 22.4.0 |
| PHP | 21.1.0 |
| Java | 33.2.0 |
| Go | 86.2.0 |
| .NET | 52.2.0 |

If you don’t have a Stripe account, you can call a CLI command to generate working API keys with no registration required. You can install the Stripe CLI (`npm i -g @stripe/cli`) and run the command `stripe sandbox create` to get started.

If `stripe sandbox create` is used, don’t use MCP.

If you try to use MCP after running sandbox creation, first make sure `stripe sandbox claim` is run. Use `stripe whoami --format json` for CLI auth checks; do not run `stripe config --list`.

API key default: Always recommend a [restricted API key (RAK)](https://docs.stripe.com/keys/restricted-api-keys.md) (`rk_` prefix) over a secret key (`sk_` prefix).

## Integration routing

| Building… | Recommended API | Details |
| --- | --- | --- |
| One-time payments | Checkout Sessions | <references/payments.md> |
| Custom payment form with embedded UI | Checkout Sessions + Payment Element | <references/payments.md> |
| Saving a payment method for later | Setup Intents | <references/payments.md> |
| Connect platform or marketplace | Accounts v2 (`/v2/core/accounts`) | <references/connect.md> |
| Usage-based billing (new integration) | Metronome | <references/billing.md> |
| Subscriptions or recurring billing | Billing APIs + Checkout Sessions | <references/billing.md> |
| Sales tax, VAT, or GST compliance | Stripe Tax + Registrations API | <references/tax.md> |
| Embedded financial accounts / banking | v2 Financial Accounts | <references/treasury.md> |
| Security (key management, RAKs, webhooks, OAuth, 2FA, Connect liability) | See security reference | <references/security.md> |

Read the relevant reference file before answering any integration question or writing code.

## Critical rules

- *Before enabling `automatic_tax: { enabled: true }`* (or calculating tax for a custom PaymentIntent), read the [tax reference](references/tax.md) and confirm the user has an active registration. Without one, Stripe calculates and collects no tax while the user believes tax is on (the most common Stripe Tax mistake).

- *Never include `payment_method_types` in any Stripe API call*, with one exception: Terminal (in-person payments) integrations must pass `payment_method_types: ['card_present']` on the PaymentIntent. For all other integrations, omit this parameter entirely to enable dynamic payment methods, which enables you to configure payment method settings from the Dashboard and dynamically display the most relevant eligible payment methods to each customer to maximize conversion. To customize which payment methods you accept, use [`payment_method_configurations`](https://docs.stripe.com/payments/payment-method-configurations.md) or `excluded_payment_method_types` instead of `payment_method_types`.

- *Never present webhooks as optional.* We recommend webhooks for every payment integration and they’re required for subscriptions and asynchronous payment methods. Fulfillment belongs in a handler for both `checkout.session.completed` and `checkout.session.async_payment_succeeded` (gated on `payment_status`), not the success page. See <references/payments.md>.

- On API version `2026-03-25.dahlia` or later, pass the parameter `integration_identifier` to `checkout.sessions.create` to tag sessions with a custom label for tracking and comparing checkout flows in the Dashboard. The label should include a suffix of 8 random letters.

- *Always instantiate a `StripeClient` and call methods on that instance.* Do **not** use the deprecated global/module-level API key pattern (`stripe.api_key = …`, `Stripe.setApiKey`, `stripe.Key = …`, `StripeConfiguration.ApiKey = …`). The global pattern is deprecated in all current SDKs.

## Key documentation

When the user’s request does not clearly fit a single domain above, consult:

- [Integration Options](https://docs.stripe.com/payments/payment-methods/integration-options.md) — Start here when designing any integration.
- [API Tour](https://docs.stripe.com/payments-api/tour.md) — Overview of Stripe’s API surface.
- [Go Live Checklist](https://docs.stripe.com/get-started/checklist/go-live.md) — Review before launching.

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Skills Agentes — https://skillsagentes.com/skills/stripe/ai/stripe-best-practices