Open a Stripe Checkout payment from the server

Lesson objective

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to create a product and price in a Stripe test environment, have the agent write a server function that creates a Checkout session for the signed-in user, and verify the flow with test cards (payment accepted, strong authentication, decline) without the Stripe key leaving the server.

Where it fits

Take a Stripe payment, in test mode

How do I charge for a subscription, and know for sure who has paid?

Lessons in this module

1. Open a Stripe Checkout payment from the server (this lesson)
2. Webhooks: payment status is decided on the server

What you will learn in the course

This lesson is part of the course Add a database, authentication and payments to your app

• Decide what stays in the browser and what must move to the server, and choose a back-end platform that fits your app, your budget and your data.
• Manage environment variables and secrets (public VITE_ variables, secret keys on the server only, .env files kept out of Git, rotation after a leak).
• Have the agent design a data model and its migrations, then check that data is actually stored and linked to the right user.
• Write, have written and test Row Level Security rules that guarantee each user only accesses their own data and that plan limits are enforced in the database.
• Add sign-up, sign-in, sign-out and password reset, and verify the flows, email confirmation and redirect URLs.
• Integrate Stripe Checkout in test mode (product, price, session created on the server, test cards) without exposing the secret key.
• Hold payment status on the server with signed, deduplicated Stripe webhooks, tested with the Stripe CLI or the Dashboard.
• Apply GDPR basics (information, account deletion, processors) and a go-live checklist before taking real payments.

Related courses

• Build and ship a web app with an AI coding agentJunior · ~2 hr 45 min
• Work with Claude Code on a real project: context, planning, reviewAdvanced · ~3 hr
• Git for PMs: ship as a team without putting production at riskAdvanced · ~3 hr 30 min