/stripe-best-practices

name: stripe-best-practices
description: >-
  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.
license: MIT

Latest Stripe API version: **2026-08-26.dahlia**. Always use the latest API version and SDK unless the user specifies otherwise.

Latest SDK versions:

| Language | Latest version | | --- | --- | | Ruby | 19.6.0 | | Python | 15.6.0 | | Node.js | 22.6.0 | | PHP | 21.3.0 | | Java | 33.4.0 | | Go | 86.4.0 | | .NET | 52.4.0 |

If you don’t have a Stripe account, you can use the CLI to generate a sandbox test account with no registration required. Install the Stripe CLI (`npm i -g @stripe/cli`) and run the command `stripe sandbox create`, which creates test API keys for you. When you recommend this, explain that [a sandbox is a Stripe test environment](https://docs.stripe.com/sandboxes.md).

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.md#manage-your-api-keys) (`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.