Saving a card after a payment

You can save a card to a customer to reuse for a later payment. Stripe ensures the card is properly authenticated before storing to reduce the risk that the cardholder will have to re-authenticate.

To save a card to a customer you need to use the setup_future_usage parameter.

When saving a card you will want to consider how you intend to reuse the card for future payments.

👩‍💻 On-session reuse - Charging the card when your customer is in your application or website, e.g:

• An e-commerce store that lets existing customers pay with a saved card.

🖥️ Off-session reuse - Charging the card when the user is no longer in your app or on your website, e.g:

• A monthly subscription that charges the card on the first of the month.
• A hotel that charges a deposit before the trip and the full amount after the trip.

Setting setup_future_usage to "off_session" will optimize for future off-session payments, while "on_session" will optimize for future on-session usage. If you plan on reusing the card for both on and off-session usage, set setup_future_usage to "off_session".

Demo

See the sample live or fork on CodeSandbox.

The demo is running in test mode -- use 4242424242424242 as a test card number with any CVC + future expiration date.

Use the 4000000000003220 test card number to trigger a 3D Secure challenge flow.

Read more about testing on Stripe at https://stripe.com/docs/testing.

There are two implementations depending on whether you want to use webhooks for any post-payment process:

• /using-webhooks Confirms the payment on the client and requires using webhooks or other async event handlers for any post-payment logic (e.g. sending email receipts, fulfilling orders).
• /without-webhooks Confirms the payment on the server and allows you to run any post-payment logic right after.

This sample shows:

How to run locally

This sample includes 6 server implementations in Go, Node, Ruby, Python, Java, and PHP for the two integration types: using-webhooks and without-webhooks.

Follow the steps below to run locally.

1. Clone and configure the sample

The Stripe CLI is the fastest way to clone and configure a sample to run locally.

Using the Stripe CLI

If you haven't already installed the CLI, follow the installation steps in the project README. The CLI is useful for cloning samples and locally testing webhooks and Stripe integrations.

In your terminal shell, run the Stripe CLI command to clone the sample:

stripe samples create saving-card-after-payment

The CLI will walk you through picking your integration type, server and client languages, and configuring your .env config file with your Stripe API keys.

Installing and cloning manually

If you do not want to use the Stripe CLI, you can manually clone and configure the sample yourself:

git clone https://github.com/stripe-samples/saving-card-after-payment

Copy the .env.example file into a file named .env in the folder of the server you want to use. For example:

cp .env.example using-webhooks/server/node/.env

You will need a Stripe account in order to run the demo. Once you set up your account, go to the Stripe developer dashboard to find your API keys.

STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=<replace-with-your-publishable-key>
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=<replace-with-your-secret-key>

STATIC_DIR tells the server where to the client files are located and does not need to be modified unless you move the server files.

2. Follow the server instructions on how to run:

Pick the server language you want and follow the instructions in the server folder README on how to run.

For example, if you want to run the Node server in using-webhooks:

cd using-webhooks/server/node # there's a README in this folder with instructions
npm install
npm start

4. [Optional] Run a webhook locally:

If you want to test the using-webhooks integration with a local webhook on your machine, you can use the Stripe CLI to easily spin one up.

First install the CLI and link your Stripe account.

stripe listen --forward-to localhost:4242/webhook

The CLI will print a webhook secret key to the console. Set STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET to this value in your .env file.

You should see events logged in the console where the CLI is running.

When you are ready to create a live webhook endpoint, follow our guide in the docs on configuring a webhook endpoint in the dashboard.

FAQ

Q: Why did you pick these frameworks?

A: We chose the most minimal framework to convey the key Stripe calls and concepts you need to understand. These demos are meant as an educational tool that helps you roadmap how to integrate Stripe within your own system independent of the framework.

Get support

If you found a bug or want to suggest a new [feature/use case/sample], please file an issue.

If you have questions, comments, or need help with code, we're here to help:

• on Discord
• on Twitter at @StripeDev
• on Stack Overflow at the stripe-payments tag
• by email

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Author(s)

@adreyfus-stripe