Stripe Best Practices

Best practices for building Stripe payment integrations

Keywords

stripe, payment, checkout, subscription, billing

Intents

• integrate payment processing

• handle subscriptions

• process credit cards

Constraints

Never

• Charges API

• Sources API

• Card Element

• Payment Element in card-only mode

• Tokens API (unless specific need)

• mixing Connect charge types

• legacy Connect terms (Standard/Express/Custom)

Always

• latest API/SDK version (unless specified otherwise)

• advise PCI compliance proof for raw PAN handling

• use controller properties for Connect (not legacy terms)

Preferences

• Prefer CheckoutSessions over PaymentIntents when on-session payments

• Prefer Stripe-hosted Checkout over embedded Checkout when default choice

• Prefer embedded Checkout over Payment Element when more control needed

• Prefer dynamic payment methods over explicit payment_method_types when using Payment Element

• Prefer SetupIntents over Sources when saving payment methods

• Prefer Confirmation Tokens over createPaymentMethod/createToken when inspecting card before payment

• Prefer Billing APIs over raw PaymentIntents when subscriptions/recurring

• Prefer direct charges over destination charges when platform wants Stripe to take risk

• Prefer destination charges over direct charges when platform accepts liability

Decisions

• When user wants Charges API: advise migration to CheckoutSessions or PaymentIntents

• When user wants Card Element: advise migration to Payment Element

• When recurring revenue / subscription / SaaS: recommend Billing APIs + Checkout frontend

• When platform / marketplace / Connect: follow integration recommendations, use controller properties

• When migrating PAN data from another processor: point to migration process

• When render Payment Element before creating intent: use Confirmation Tokens

References

• stripe:integration-options - primary integration design reference

• stripe:api-tour - API overview

• stripe:go-live - pre-launch checklist

• stripe:migration/charges - Charges to PaymentIntents migration

• stripe:migration/payment-element - Card Element to Payment Element migration

• stripe:billing/design-integration - subscription integration planning

• stripe:connect/recommendations - Connect charge type selection

• stripe:pan-import - PAN data migration

Converted from UASP format (knowledge skill)