Overview

Plainform uses Stripe for payment processing, providing secure checkout, subscription management, and webhook integration out of the box.

What is Stripe?

Stripe is a complete payment platform that handles:

• One-time payments and subscriptions
• Checkout sessions with hosted payment pages
• Webhook events for payment status updates
• Manual payment capture for order verification
• Automatic tax calculation
• Coupon and promotion codes
• Customer portal for subscription management

How Plainform Uses Stripe

Plainform integrates Stripe at three key points:

1. Checkout Flow (app/api/stripe/checkout/) - Creates Stripe checkout sessions with manual capture
2. Webhooks (app/api/stripe/webhook/) - Processes payment events and updates database
3. Product Display (lib/stripe/) - Fetches products, prices, and coupons for pricing section

Key Features in Plainform

Checkout Sessions

Pre-configured checkout with:

• Hosted payment page (no PCI compliance needed)
• Automatic tax calculation
• Manual capture for order verification
• Success/cancel URL redirects

Manual Payment Capture

Plainform uses manual capture mode for one-time payments:

• Payment is authorized but not charged immediately
• Allows order verification before capturing funds
• Can cancel authorization if order is invalid
• Capture or cancel via Stripe Dashboard or API

Webhook Integration

Real-time payment event processing:

• checkout.session.completed - Order created
• payment_intent.succeeded - Payment captured
• customer.subscription.created - Subscription started
• Cache revalidation for products and coupons

Product & Pricing Display

Dynamic pricing section:

• Fetches products from Stripe API
• Displays prices with currency formatting
• Shows active coupons and discounts
• Cached with Next.js revalidation tags

Subscription Support

Full subscription lifecycle:

• Create subscription plans in Stripe Dashboard
• Automatic recurring billing
• Customer portal for plan management
• Webhook events for subscription changes

Environment Variables

Required Stripe configuration in .env:

# Public key (client-side)
NEXT_PUBLIC_STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=pk_test_...

# Secret key (server-side only)
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_test_...

# Webhook secret (for signature verification)
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=whsec_...

Payment Flow

One-Time Payment

User clicks "Buy Now"
    ↓
POST /api/stripe/checkout
    ↓
Stripe Checkout Session created (manual capture)
    ↓
User completes payment
    ↓
Webhook: checkout.session.completed
    ↓
Order saved to database (payment authorized)
    ↓
Manual review/verification
    ↓
Capture payment via Stripe Dashboard
    ↓
Webhook: payment_intent.succeeded
    ↓
Order marked as paid

Subscription Payment

User selects subscription plan
    ↓
POST /api/stripe/checkout (mode: subscription)
    ↓
Stripe Checkout Session created
    ↓
User completes payment
    ↓
Webhook: customer.subscription.created
    ↓
Subscription saved to database
    ↓
Automatic recurring billing

Security Features

• PCI Compliance - Stripe handles all payment data
• Webhook Signature Verification - Validates webhook authenticity
• Rate Limiting - Prevents checkout abuse (5 requests per 10 seconds)
• Manual Capture - Review orders before charging
• HTTPS Only - All API calls over secure connection

Performance Considerations

• Cached Product Data - Products fetched with force-cache and revalidation tags
• Server-Side Only - Stripe client initialized with 'server-only' directive
• Webhook Optimization - Fast event processing with targeted cache invalidation
• Minimal Client JS - Checkout redirects to Stripe-hosted page

Related Resources