Recur Entitlements & Access Control

You are helping implement access control using Recur's entitlements system. Entitlements let you check if a customer has access to your products (subscriptions or one-time purchases).

Quick Start: Client-Side Check

import { RecurProvider, useCustomer } from 'recur-tw'

// 1. Wrap app with provider and identify customer
function App() {
  return (
    <RecurProvider
      config={{ publishableKey: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_RECUR_PUBLISHABLE_KEY }}
      customer={{ email: 'user@example.com' }}
    >
      <MyApp />
    </RecurProvider>
  )
}

// 2. Check access anywhere in your app
function PremiumFeature() {
  const { check, isLoading } = useCustomer()

  if (isLoading) return <div>Loading...</div>

  const { allowed } = check('pro-plan')

  if (!allowed) {
    return <UpgradePrompt />
  }

  return <PremiumContent />
}

Customer Identification

Identify customers using one of these methods:

// By email (most common)
<RecurProvider customer={{ email: 'user@example.com' }}>

// By your system's user ID
<RecurProvider customer={{ externalId: 'user_123' }}>

// By Recur customer ID
<RecurProvider customer={{ id: 'cus_xxx' }}>

Checking Access

Synchronous Check (Cached)

Fast, uses cached data. Good for UI rendering.

const { check } = useCustomer()

// Check by product slug
const { allowed, entitlement } = check('pro-plan')

// Check by product ID
const { allowed } = check('prod_xxx')

if (allowed) {
  // User has access
  // entitlement contains details like status, expiresAt
}

Async Check (Live)

Fetches fresh data from API. Use for critical operations.

const { check } = useCustomer()

// Real-time check
const { allowed, entitlement } = await check('pro-plan', { live: true })

// Good for:
// - Before processing important actions
// - After checkout to confirm access
// - When cached data might be stale

Manual Refetch

const { refetch } = useCustomer()

// After checkout completion
onPaymentComplete: async () => {
  await refetch() // Refresh entitlements
  router.push('/dashboard')
}

Entitlement Response Structure

interface Entitlement {
  product: string        // Product slug
  productId: string      // Product ID
  status: EntitlementStatus
  source: 'subscription' | 'order'  // How they got access
  sourceId: string       // Subscription/Order ID
  grantedAt: string      // When access was granted
  expiresAt: string | null  // When access expires (null = permanent)
}

type EntitlementStatus =
  | 'active'      // Subscription active
  | 'trialing'    // In trial period
  | 'past_due'    // Payment failed, in grace period
  | 'canceled'    // Cancelled but access until period end
  | 'purchased'   // One-time purchase (permanent)

Server-Side Checking

Using Server SDK

import { Recur } from 'recur-tw/server'

const recur = new Recur(process.env.RECUR_SECRET_KEY!)

// In API route or server action
async function checkAccess(userEmail: string) {
  const { allowed, entitlement } = await recur.entitlements.check({
    product: 'pro-plan',
    customer: { email: userEmail },
  })

  if (!allowed) {
    throw new Error('Upgrade required')
  }

  return entitlement
}

Using REST API Directly

// GET /api/v1/customers/entitlements
const response = await fetch(
  `https://api.recur.tw/v1/customers/entitlements?email=${encodeURIComponent(email)}`,
  {
    headers: {
      'X-Recur-Secret-Key': process.env.RECUR_SECRET_KEY!,
    },
  }
)

const { customer, subscription, entitlements } = await response.json()

Common Patterns

Paywall Component

function Paywall({
  children,
  product,
  fallback
}: {
  children: React.ReactNode
  product: string
  fallback?: React.ReactNode
}) {
  const { check, isLoading } = useCustomer()

  if (isLoading) {
    return <div>Loading...</div>
  }

  const { allowed } = check(product)

  if (!allowed) {
    return fallback || <UpgradePrompt product={product} />
  }

  return <>{children}</>
}

// Usage
<Paywall product="pro-plan">
  <PremiumDashboard />
</Paywall>

Feature Flag Style

function useFeature(featureProduct: string) {
  const { check, isLoading } = useCustomer()

  if (isLoading) {
    return { enabled: false, loading: true }
  }

  const { allowed, entitlement } = check(featureProduct)

  return {
    enabled: allowed,
    loading: false,
    entitlement,
    isTrial: entitlement?.status === 'trialing',
    isPastDue: entitlement?.status === 'past_due',
  }
}

// Usage
function MyComponent() {
  const { enabled, isTrial } = useFeature('pro-plan')

  if (!enabled) return <UpgradeButton />

  return (
    <>
      {isTrial && <TrialBanner />}
      <ProFeature />
    </>
  )
}

API Middleware

// middleware/requireSubscription.ts
import { Recur } from 'recur-tw/server'

const recur = new Recur(process.env.RECUR_SECRET_KEY!)

export async function requireSubscription(
  req: Request,
  product: string
) {
  const userEmail = await getUserEmail(req) // Your auth logic

  const { allowed, denial } = await recur.entitlements.check({
    product,
    customer: { email: userEmail },
  })

  if (!allowed) {
    throw new Response(JSON.stringify({
      error: 'Subscription required',
      reason: denial?.reason, // 'no_customer', 'no_entitlement', etc.
    }), {
      status: 403,
      headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
    })
  }
}

// Usage in API route
export async function GET(req: Request) {
  await requireSubscription(req, 'pro-plan')

  // User has access, continue...
  return Response.json({ data: 'premium content' })
}

Multiple Product Tiers

function PricingGate() {
  const { check } = useCustomer()

  const hasPro = check('pro-plan').allowed
  const hasEnterprise = check('enterprise-plan').allowed

  if (hasEnterprise) {
    return <EnterpriseDashboard />
  }

  if (hasPro) {
    return <ProDashboard />
  }

  return <FreeDashboard />
}

Handling Edge Cases

Past Due Subscriptions

const { allowed, entitlement } = check('pro-plan')

if (allowed && entitlement?.status === 'past_due') {
  // Show warning but allow access during grace period
  return (
    <>
      <PaymentFailedBanner />
      <PremiumContent />
    </>
  )
}

Trial Subscriptions

const { entitlement } = check('pro-plan')

if (entitlement?.status === 'trialing') {
  const trialEnds = new Date(entitlement.expiresAt!)
  const daysLeft = Math.ceil((trialEnds - Date.now()) / (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24))

  return <TrialBanner daysLeft={daysLeft} />
}

Cancelled but Active

const { entitlement } = check('pro-plan')

if (entitlement?.status === 'canceled') {
  // User cancelled but still has access until period end
  return (
    <>
      <ResubscribeBanner expiresAt={entitlement.expiresAt} />
      <PremiumContent />
    </>
  )
}

Denial Reasons

When allowed is false, check the denial reason:

const { allowed, denial } = check('pro-plan')

if (!allowed) {
  switch (denial?.reason) {
    case 'no_customer':
      // Customer not found
      return <CreateAccountPrompt />

    case 'no_entitlement':
      // No subscription to this product
      return <SubscribePrompt />

    case 'expired':
      // Subscription/access expired
      return <RenewPrompt />

    case 'insufficient_balance':
      // For credit-based products
      return <BuyCreditsPrompt />

    default:
      return <GenericUpgradePrompt />
  }
}

Best Practices

1. Use cached checks for UI - Fast rendering, good UX
2. Use live checks for actions - Ensure fresh data for important operations
3. Handle all statuses - active, trialing, past_due, canceled
4. Refetch after checkout - Ensure UI updates after purchase
5. Implement graceful degradation - Show upgrade prompts, not errors

Related Skills

• /recur-quickstart - Initial SDK setup
• /recur-checkout - Implement purchase flows
• /recur-webhooks - Sync entitlements with webhooks