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Stripe

Connect Stripe to accept one-time payments, subscriptions, upgrades, and downgrades, and gate features by real subscription state.

Stripe lets you accept payments and manage billing inside applications you build with condoo.Vibe.

You can use Stripe to build:

Once Stripe is connected, you can describe the payment experience you want and let condoo.Vibe build the application logic around it.

Connect Stripe. Describe your billing model. Let condoo.Vibe build the payment experience.

What you can build with Stripe

Stripe can power many different types of payment workflows.

One-time purchases

For example:

Sell this course for $99. Customers should receive access to the course after successful payment.

Subscriptions

For example:

Create Starter, Pro, and Business plans at $0, $29, and $99 per month.

condoo.Vibe Pricing

Paid bookings

For example:

Customers must pay a $50 consultation fee before their appointment is confirmed.

Feature access

For example:

The Analytics feature should only be available to customers with an active Pro or Business subscription.

Billing management

For example:

Add a Billing page where customers can see their current plan and manage their subscription.

condoo.Vibe can build these experiences around your Stripe connection.

Before You Start

You'll need a Stripe account before connecting Stripe to your application.

You'll also need the appropriate Stripe credentials for the environment you're using.

Stripe provides separate environments for testing and live payments.

Connect Stripe to condoo.Vibe

Open your condoo.Vibe project and navigate to the Connectors area.

Find Stripe and select it.

condoo.Vibe Stripe

Follow the connection flow and provide the Stripe credentials requested by condoo.Vibe.

condoo.Vibe Stripe Config

Once the connection is configured, Stripe becomes available for the application you're building.

Test Mode vs Live Mode

Stripe provides separate environments for development and production.

Test Mode

Use this while building.

Transactions don't charge real cards, allowing you to test:

Live Mode

Use this when you're ready to accept real customer payments.

A recommended workflow is:

Stripe Test Mode
      ↓
Connect to condoo.Vibe
      ↓
Build payment workflow
      ↓
Test complete flow
      ↓
Fix any issues
      ↓
Configure Live Mode
      ↓
Test configuration
      ↓
Publish

Don't use real customer payments as your first test of a new billing system.

Build Your First Payment Flow

Once Stripe is connected, tell condoo.Vibe what you want customers to purchase.

For example:

Add a one-time payment of $29 for the Complete Marketing Course. Customers should click Buy Now, complete payment through Stripe, and receive access to the course dashboard after successful payment.

condoo.Vibe Stripe Checkout

condoo.Vibe can build the workflow around that requirement.

Conceptually:

Customer
   ↓
Buy Now
   ↓
Stripe Checkout
   ↓
Payment
   ↓
Verify Payment
   ↓
Record Purchase
   ↓
Grant Access
   ↓
Course Dashboard

The important part isn't simply getting the customer to Stripe.

Your application also needs to know what should happen after payment.

Building Subscriptions

Stripe is especially useful for SaaS applications with recurring billing.

Suppose you have:

Starter
$19/month

Pro
$49/month

Business
$99/month

You could tell condoo.Vibe:

Add monthly subscriptions for Starter at $19, Pro at $49, and Business at $99. Users should select their plan from the pricing page and complete payment through Stripe. After successful payment, update their account with the correct subscription.

Now you're defining both the payment and the application behavior.

Define what each plan includes

Pricing isn't the only thing condoo.Vibe needs to understand.

Tell condoo.Vibe what each subscription unlocks.

For example:

Starter users can create up to 3 projects. Pro users can create up to 20 projects and access analytics. Business users have unlimited projects, analytics, and team collaboration.

Your application can then use the customer's subscription to determine which functionality is available.

Conceptually:

Stripe Subscription
       ↓
Application
       ↓
Current Plan
       ↓
Feature Permissions

Payment Success

Don't define payment behavior only around checkout.

Tell condoo.Vibe what should happen after Stripe confirms a successful payment.

For example:

After successful payment, record the purchase, update the customer's subscription, unlock Pro features, and redirect them to the dashboard.

This creates a complete payment workflow.

Payment Failure

Payments can fail.

Your application should handle that properly.

For example:

If payment fails, don't activate the subscription. Show the customer that payment was unsuccessful and allow them to try again.

Conceptually:

Payment Attempt
      ↓
   Successful?
    ↙       ↘
  Yes        No
   ↓          ↓
Activate     Keep Current
Plan         Access
   ↓          ↓
Dashboard    Retry

Don't Trust the Success Page Alone

A customer reaching:

/payment-success

doesn't necessarily prove that payment was successfully completed.

Important payment events should be verified through the appropriate server-side Stripe workflow.

Your application should use confirmed payment information before activating paid functionality.

Stripe Webhooks

Stripe can notify your application when important billing events happen.

These notifications are commonly called webhooks.

For example:

Customer
   ↓
Stripe Checkout
   ↓
Payment succeeds
   ↓
Stripe sends event
   ↓
condoo.Vibe application
   ↓
Subscription updated

Webhooks are especially important for subscriptions because billing events can happen even when the customer isn't currently using your application.

Subscription events happen later

Imagine someone subscribes today.

Thirty days later, Stripe attempts to renew their subscription.

The customer may not even have your application open.

Your application still needs to know whether:

Stripe can send these events to your application.

Your application can then update its own subscription state accordingly.

Keep Stripe and Your Database in Sync

Your application may store information such as:

User
Plan: Pro
Subscription Status: Active
Stripe Customer ID: ...
Stripe Subscription ID: ...

Stripe remains responsible for payment processing.

Your application uses relevant billing information to determine what experience the customer should receive.

Conceptually:

STRIPE
Payment & Subscription State
        ↓
SERVER-SIDE LOGIC
        ↓
NEON POSTGRES
Application Subscription State
        ↓
YOUR PRODUCT
Features & Access

Keeping these systems synchronized is an important part of building reliable subscription software.

Upgrades

Suppose a Starter customer wants to move to Pro.

You could tell condoo.Vibe:

Allow Starter customers to upgrade to Pro from the Billing page. After Stripe confirms the subscription change, update their account and unlock Pro functionality.

Your application should reflect the updated plan once the billing change succeeds.

Downgrades

Downgrades may require more product decisions.

Imagine:

A Pro customer currently has 12 projects and downgrades to Starter.

What happens?

You need to decide.

For example:

If a user downgrades below their current project usage, don't delete existing projects. Prevent them from creating additional projects until they're within their new plan limit.

That's a product rule.

Stripe manages the billing change.

condoo.Vibe builds your application's behavior around it.

Cancellations

You should also decide what cancellation means.

For example:

When customers cancel, keep their Pro access until the end of their current billing period. After the subscription expires, move them to the Starter plan.

Or:

This product has no free plan. After the paid billing period ends, keep the account but restrict access until the customer subscribes again.

There isn't one correct cancellation model.

Tell condoo.Vibe how your product should behave.

Customer Billing Management

For subscription products, customers often need somewhere to manage billing.

You can ask condoo.Vibe:

Add a Billing section to Account Settings. Show the customer's current plan and subscription status and provide an option to manage their subscription.

Depending on your Stripe implementation, customers can use Stripe's billing management functionality for actions such as managing their subscription or payment details.

Your application should enforce paid functionality based on actual subscription state.

For example:

Analytics
   ↓
Active Pro or Business?
     ↙          ↘
   Yes           No
    ↓             ↓
 Show           Upgrade
Analytics        Prompt

You might tell condoo.Vibe:

Analytics should only be available to Pro and Business customers. Starter users should see an upgrade page instead.

Important paid-access rules should be enforced appropriately rather than relying only on hiding navigation links.

Example: SaaS Subscription

Here's a more complete prompt:

Add Stripe subscriptions to this SaaS application.

Create three monthly plans:

Starter: $19/month: 3 projects

Pro: $49/month: 20 projects + analytics

Business: $99/month: unlimited projects + analytics + team collaboration

Users should select a plan from the pricing page and complete checkout through Stripe.

After Stripe confirms payment, update the user's subscription and unlock the appropriate features.

Add a Billing page showing their current plan and subscription status.

Customers should be able to manage their subscription.

If a subscription expires, restrict features based on their new account state.

For something this important, I'd recommend:

Plan + Max → Review → Build

rather than immediately asking condoo.Vibe to implement everything.

Example: Paid Booking

Stripe isn't only for SaaS.

Suppose you're building a consultation platform.

Customers should choose an available appointment, enter their information, and pay a $100 consultation fee through Stripe. Only create a confirmed booking after payment succeeds. Send the customer a confirmation email afterward.

Conceptually:

Choose Appointment
       ↓
Customer Details
       ↓
Stripe Payment
       ↓
Payment Confirmed
       ↓
Confirm Booking
       ↓
Save to Neon
       ↓
Send Confirmation

This combines Stripe with your database and email integration.

Example: One-Time Digital Product

You could also build:

Sell this report for $49. Customers should pay through Stripe and receive access to the report inside their account after payment is verified.

Your application can record the purchase so the customer doesn't need to pay again every time they return.

Test Your Payment Workflow

Before accepting real payments, test the entire customer journey.

Don't only test whether Stripe Checkout opens.

Test:

Checkout

Can the customer reach Stripe?

Successful payment

Does the application recognize the payment?

Application state

Does the user's plan or purchase update?

Feature access

Are the correct features unlocked?

Refresh

Does the correct access remain after refreshing or signing in again?

Failure

What happens when payment fails?

Cancellation

Does your application respond correctly?

Renewal

For subscriptions, does the application process billing events correctly?

Permissions

Can users access features they haven't paid for?

Payment testing should cover the complete workflow, not only the payment screen.

Common Problems

Checkout doesn't open

Check whether Stripe is connected correctly and whether the application is successfully creating the checkout session.

Use Debug Mode and provide any error message you receive.

Payment succeeds but plan doesn't update

This usually means the payment itself and your application's subscription state need to be investigated separately.

Tell condoo.Vibe:

Stripe payment succeeds, but the user's plan remains Starter afterward. Debug the payment confirmation and subscription update flow. Don't change the checkout interface.

Plan updates only after refreshing

Tell condoo.Vibe:

Stripe successfully updates the subscription, but the dashboard continues showing the previous plan until the page is refreshed. Fix the application state so the updated subscription appears after payment.

Users can access paid features without paying

This is more serious.

Tell condoo.Vibe:

Users without an active Pro subscription can access the Analytics feature directly. Audit the Pro feature authorization and ensure paid access is enforced appropriately on the server side.

Test payments work but live payments don't

Check that you've moved from the correct Stripe test configuration to the appropriate live configuration.

Test and live credentials are different.

Also verify that any production webhook configuration required by your application is correctly configured.

Debugging Stripe

If something isn't working, use Debug Mode.

A strong debugging request looks like:

Stripe checkout completes successfully.

Expected: The user should be upgraded to Pro immediately after payment.

Actual: Payment succeeds, but the user's account remains on Starter.

The Stripe transaction appears successful.

Debug the complete payment confirmation and subscription update flow. Identify the root cause and fix it without changing the existing pricing or checkout UI.

Give condoo.Vibe:

This helps condoo.Vibe narrow down the issue.

Keep Your Stripe Credentials Secure

Stripe secret credentials should never be intentionally exposed in your application's frontend.

If you believe a live Stripe credential has been exposed, rotate or revoke it through Stripe and update your application's configuration.

Think Beyond the Payment Button

Adding Stripe isn't simply:

Put a payment button here.

Think about the complete lifecycle:

PLAN
 ↓
CHECKOUT
 ↓
PAYMENT
 ↓
VERIFICATION
 ↓
SUBSCRIPTION / PURCHASE
 ↓
FEATURE ACCESS
 ↓
RENEWAL
 ↓
UPGRADE / DOWNGRADE
 ↓
CANCELLATION

For simple one-time purchases, the workflow may be much smaller.

For subscription SaaS products, billing becomes part of your product architecture.

condoo.Vibe can help build that architecture when you clearly describe how your business model should work.

Next: Resend

Stripe handles money.

Next, we'll connect your application to Resend so it can communicate with users through transactional email.

We'll cover workflows such as:

Resend

Connect Resend and send transactional email from your condoo.Vibe app.