Stripe Expert

Product advisor that guides you through choosing the right Stripe products and integration approach for your specific business needs.

How This Skill Works

Understand your business - Identify your business model, requirements, and stage
Recommend products - Map your needs to the right Stripe product stack
Choose integration path - Select the right implementation approach for each product
Hand off to implementation skills - Route to specialized stripe-* skills for actual code

This skill does NOT write implementation code. It advises on WHAT to use and WHY. For implementation, use the specialized skills listed below.

Quick Advisor: What Do You Need?

What are you trying to do?
|
+-- Accept payments (one-time)?
|   Products: Payments (Checkout or Payment Element)
|   Skill: stripe-payments
|   Cost: 2.9% + $0.30/txn
|
+-- Recurring billing / subscriptions?
|   Products: Billing + Payments
|   Skill: stripe-billing
|   Cost: 0.7% billing + 2.9% + $0.30/txn
|
+-- Marketplace with sellers/providers?
|   Products: Connect + Payments + Payouts
|   Skill: stripe-connect
|   Cost: 2.9% + $0.30/txn + $2/mo/active account (Express)
|
+-- Embedded banking / wallets / card issuing?
|   Products: Treasury + Issuing + Connect
|   Skill: stripe-treasury
|   Cost: Custom pricing (contact Stripe sales)
|
+-- Tax calculation and compliance?
|   Products: Tax (+ Payments or Billing)
|   Skill: stripe-revenue
|   Cost: 0.5%/txn
|
+-- Fraud prevention?
|   Products: Radar (+ Payments)
|   Skill: stripe-money-management
|   Cost: Included with standard pricing; Fraud Teams $0.07/txn
|
+-- Financial reporting / analytics?
|   Products: Sigma, Revenue Recognition, Reporting
|   Skill: stripe-revenue
|   Cost: Sigma free for 1M rows; RevRec included with Billing
|
+-- Refunds, disputes, payouts?
|   Products: Core payment operations
|   Skill: stripe-money-management

Business Model Advisor

Match your business type to a recommended Stripe stack:

Business Model	Must Have	Should Have	Nice to Have	Reference
SaaS	Billing, Payments	Tax, Customer Portal	Revenue Recognition, Sigma	`references/business-guides.md`
E-Commerce	Checkout, Payments	Tax, Radar	Payment Links, Sigma	`references/business-guides.md`
Marketplace	Connect, Payments	Radar, Tax	Treasury, Sigma	`references/business-guides.md`
On-Demand/Gig	Connect, Payments	Issuing	Instant Payouts	`references/business-guides.md`
Fintech/BaaS	Treasury, Connect, Issuing	Identity	Capital	`references/business-guides.md`
Creator Economy	Connect, Payment Links	Billing	Checkout	`references/business-guides.md`
B2B/Enterprise	Invoicing, Payments	Tax, Billing	Sigma, Revenue Recognition	`references/business-guides.md`
Non-Profit	Checkout, Payment Links	Billing	Tax	`references/business-guides.md`
Mobile App	Payments (mobile SDK)	Billing	Apple/Google Pay	`references/business-guides.md`
Physical Retail	Terminal, Payments	Radar	Checkout (online)	`references/business-guides.md`
Crypto/Web3	Crypto Onramp, Payments	Connect	Identity	`references/business-guides.md`
Usage-Based API	Billing (meters)	Revenue Recognition	Sigma	`references/business-guides.md`

For detailed guides per business type: references/business-guides.md

Integration Approach Advisor

Payment Acceptance: Which Integration?

Approach	Code Required	Customization	Best For	Effort
Payment Links	None	Low	Quick launch, social selling	Minutes
Checkout Sessions	Server only	Medium	Most businesses, MVPs	Hours
Payment Element	Server + Client	High	Custom branded checkout	Days
Custom (PI API)	Full stack	Total	Specialized payment flows	Weeks

Default recommendation: Start with Checkout Sessions. Move to Payment Element when you need more UI control.

Subscription Creation: Which Path?

Approach	Best For	Complexity
Checkout (`mode: 'subscription'`)	New customers, simple plans	Low
Subscription API + Payment Element	Existing customers, complex plans	Medium
Customer Portal	Self-service changes/cancellation	Low (add-on)

Connect: Which Account Type?

Account Type	Onboarding	Dashboard	Liability	Best For
Standard	Stripe-hosted	Full Stripe	Account holder	Sellers with existing Stripe
Express	Stripe-hosted (branded)	Express	Shared	Most marketplaces (default)
Custom	You build	You build	Platform	White-label, full control

Default recommendation: Express accounts for most platforms.

Connect: Which Charge Flow?

Flow	Statement Shows	Fund Flow	Best For
Destination	Platform	Platform -> Seller	Most marketplaces (default)
Direct	Seller	Seller (platform takes fee)	Seller-branded experiences
SCT	Platform	Platform -> Multiple sellers	Complex multi-party splits

Default recommendation: Destination charges for most platforms.

For detailed integration decision trees: references/integration-decision-guide.md

Architecture by Stage

MVP (Week 1-2)

Checkout Sessions for payments (hosted, fast, handles SCA)
Payment Links for quick sharing
Webhooks for fulfillment (checkout.session.completed)
Test mode with Stripe CLI

Growth (Month 1-3)

Payment Element for custom checkout UX
Stripe Tax for automatic tax calculation
Customer Portal for self-service (if subscriptions)
Radar rules for fraud prevention
Billing for subscriptions

Scale / Platform (Month 3+)

Connect for marketplace/platform payments
Treasury for embedded financial services
Revenue Recognition for accounting compliance
Sigma for custom analytics
Data Pipeline for warehouse export

Stripe Product Catalog

For the complete catalog of all 27+ Stripe products with capabilities, pricing, prerequisites, and integration details: references/product-catalog.md

Quick Pricing Reference

Product	Pricing	Notes
Payments	2.9% + $0.30	Per successful card charge (US)
International	+1.5%	Cross-border surcharge
Billing	0.7%	Of recurring billing volume
Connect (Express)	$2/mo/account	+ 0.25% + $0.25 per payout
Connect (Standard)	Free	Stripe bills connected accounts directly
Tax	0.5%	Per transaction
Radar	Included	Standard ML; Fraud Teams $0.07/txn
Identity	$1.50	Per verification
Terminal	2.7% + $0.05	Per in-person transaction
Issuing	$0.10 virtual / $3.00 physical	Per card created
Revenue Recognition	Included	With Billing
Sigma	Free (1M rows)	Then $0.02/1K rows
Treasury / Capital	Custom	Contact Stripe sales

Specialized Implementation Skills

Once you've chosen your products and approach, hand off to these skills:

Skill	Covers	When to Use
stripe-payments	Payment Intents, Checkout, Payment Element, Payment Links, 3DS	Accepting any payment
stripe-billing	Subscriptions, invoicing, usage-based, trials, customer portal, dunning	Recurring revenue
stripe-connect	Connected accounts, onboarding, charge flows, platform fees, payouts	Marketplace / platform
stripe-treasury	Financial accounts, money movement, card issuing, crypto onramp	Embedded finance / BaaS
stripe-revenue	Tax, revenue recognition, Sigma, reporting, data pipeline	Tax and financial compliance
stripe-money-management	Payouts, refunds, disputes, Radar, balance, multi-currency	Money operations

Cross-Cutting Concerns (All Integrations)

Every Stripe integration needs:

Webhook endpoint - Verify signatures, handle events idempotently, return 200 quickly
Error handling - Classify errors (card decline vs API error vs network), never expose raw errors
Idempotency keys - On all mutating API calls, derived from business IDs
Test mode - Use Stripe CLI (stripe listen), test cards, test clocks

References

references/product-catalog.md - Complete Stripe product catalog: capabilities, pricing, prerequisites, anti-patterns
references/business-guides.md - Business-type specific guides: SaaS, marketplace, e-commerce, fintech, and 8 more
references/integration-decision-guide.md - Integration approach decisions: payment paths, framework setup, webhook architecture, testing

stripe-expert