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Get paid with Stripe

Users buy credit packs by card on the My Compute page; the money lands in the bank account connected to your Stripe account. You configure exactly one value — your Stripe secret key. The platform provisions the webhook endpoint and its signing secret automatically via the Stripe API.

1. Create a Stripe account

  1. Sign up at dashboard.stripe.com/register.
  2. To receive real money, complete activate payments: business details and the bank account for payouts. (Skip this to start in test mode.)

2. Copy your secret key

Dashboard → Developers → API keys → Secret key:

  • sk_test_… — test mode: no real money, pay with card 4242 4242 4242 4242.
  • sk_live_… — live mode: real cards, real payouts.

The key is stored on your master only — in the platform database (or deploy/.env, if you pinned it there yourself) — and is never shown again in the UI.

3. Connect it — either path

During deploy — the wizard asks:

Stripe payments — users buy credits by card, you get paid (optional).
Paste your Stripe secret key (sk_...) or Enter to skip:

The key is validated against the Stripe API on the spot, then connected at the end of the deploy through the same path as the web UI — so it stays manageable from Configuration → Payments afterward.

Or later, from the web UI — log in as admin → Configuration → Payments → paste the key → Connect. Validation and webhook setup happen on the spot; the card shows mode (test/live) and webhook status.

Requirements

  • Public URL — WEBUI_URL in deploy/.env must be set to the address users (and Stripe) reach, e.g. https://platform.example.com. The webhook is created at {WEBUI_URL}/api/v1/credits/webhook. Live mode requires HTTPS (./deploy/setup-https.sh); test mode also works over plain HTTP.
  • Reachable webhook — if the master sits behind Cloudflare or a WAF, allow Stripe's webhook requests (user agent Stripe/1.0); otherwise payments succeed but credits are never minted.

How it works / troubleshooting

  • Checkout: POST /v1/credits/checkout creates a Stripe-hosted checkout session; on payment Stripe calls POST /v1/credits/webhook, which mints the paid credits (idempotent per event, signature-verified).
  • Webhook deliveries are rejected (403) when no signing secret is configured — unsigned minting is a hole, not a convenience. Local dev can opt out with STRIPE_ALLOW_UNSIGNED=1.
  • .env wins over the web UI: when STRIPE_SECRET_KEY is set in deploy/.env, the Payments card is read-only and says so.
  • Webhook status and errors: Configuration → Payments, or GET /v1/admin/stripe. Re-connecting recreates the webhook endpoint (Stripe reveals a signing secret only at creation).
  • Set STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET in .env only if you manage the webhook endpoint yourself in the Stripe dashboard (events: checkout.session.completed).