Set up future payments

Learn how to save payment details and charge your customers later.

To collect customer payment details that you can reuse later, use Checkout’s setup mode. Setup mode uses the Setup Intents API to create Payment Methods.

Check out our full, working sample on GitHub.

Set up Stripe
Server-side

First, you need a Stripe account. Register now.

Use our official libraries to access the Stripe API from your application:

Create a Checkout Session
Client-side
Server-side

Add a checkout button to your website that calls a server-side endpoint to create a Checkout Session.

index.html
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Checkout</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <form action="/create-checkout-session" method="POST">
      <button type="submit">Checkout</button>
    </form>
  </body>
</html>

To create a setup mode Session, use the mode parameter with a value of setup when creating the Session. You can optionally specify the customer parameter to automatically attach the created payment method to an existing customer. Checkout uses Dynamic payment methods by default, which requires you to pass the currency parameter when using setup mode.

Append the {CHECKOUT_SESSION_ID} template variable to the success_url to get access to the Session ID after your customer successfully completes a Checkout Session. After creating the Checkout Session, redirect your customer to the URL returned in the response.

Retrieve the Checkout Session
Server-side

After a customer successfully completes their Checkout Session, you need to retrieve the Session object. There are two ways to do this:

Asynchronously: Handle checkout.session.completed webhooks, which contain a Session object. Learn more about setting up webhooks.
Synchronously: Obtain the Session ID from the success_url when a user redirects back to your site. Use the Session ID to retrieve the Session object.

The right choice depends on your tolerance for dropoff, as customers may not always reach the success_url after a successful payment. It’s possible for them close their browser tab before the redirect occurs. Handling webhooks prevents your integration from being susceptible to this form of dropoff.

After you have retrieved the Session object, get the value of the setup_intent key, which is the ID for the SetupIntent created during the Checkout Session. A SetupIntent is an object used to set up the customer’s bank account information for future payments.

Example checkout.session.completed payload:

{
  "id": "evt_1Ep24XHssDVaQm2PpwS19Yt0",
  "object": "event",
  "api_version": "2019-03-14",
  "created": 1561420781,
  "data": {
    "object": {
      "id": "cs_test_MlZAaTXUMHjWZ7DcXjusJnDU4MxPalbtL5eYrmS2GKxqscDtpJq8QM0k",
      "object": "checkout.session",
      "billing_address_collection": null,
      "client_reference_id": null,
      "customer": "",
      "customer_email": null,
      "display_items": [],
      "mode": "setup",
      "setup_intent": "seti_1EzVO3HssDVaQm2PJjXHmLlM",
      "submit_type": null,
      "subscription": null,
      "success_url": "https://example.com/success"
    }
  },
  "livemode": false,
  "pending_webhooks": 1,
  "request": {
    "id": null,
    "idempotency_key": null
  },
  "type": "checkout.session.completed"
}

Note the setup_intent ID for the next step.

Retrieve the SetupIntent
Server-side

Using the setup_intent ID, retrieve the SetupIntent object. The returned object contains a payment_method ID that you can attach to a customer in the next step.

Note

If you’re requesting this information synchronously from the Stripe API (as opposed to handling webhooks), you can combine the previous step with this step by expanding the SetupIntent object in the request to the /v1/checkout/session endpoint. Doing this prevents you from having to make two network requests to access the newly created PaymentMethod ID.

Use the payment method
Server-side

If you didn’t create the Checkout Session with an existing customer, use the payment_method ID to attach the PaymentMethod to a Customer. After you attach the PaymentMethod to a customer, you can charge the PaymentMethod using a PaymentIntent.

Disclose Stripe to your customers

Stripe collects information on customer interactions with Elements to provide services to you, prevent fraud, and improve its services. This includes using cookies and IP addresses to identify which Elements a customer saw during a single checkout session. You’re responsible for disclosing and obtaining all rights and consents necessary for Stripe to use data in these ways. For more information, visit our privacy center.

Set up future payments

Learn how to save payment details and charge your customers later.

Set up StripeServer-side

Create a Checkout SessionClient-sideServer-side

Retrieve the Checkout SessionServer-side

Retrieve the SetupIntentServer-side