stripe-projects

Stripe Projects — Service Provisioning

Provision third-party services (databases, auth, hosting, analytics, caching, AI, observability) and retrieve API keys/tokens using the Stripe Projects CLI plugin.

Workflow

Step 1: Ensure Stripe CLI + Projects Plugin

Check if the Stripe CLI is available:

which stripe && stripe --version

If not installed or below version 1.40.0:

• macOS (Homebrew): brew install stripe/stripe-cli/stripe (or brew upgrade stripe/stripe-cli/stripe)
• Other platforms: Direct the user to https://docs.stripe.com/stripe-cli/install for up-to-date instructions.

Then ensure the Projects plugin is installed:

stripe plugin install projects

Step 2: Search the Catalog

Confirm the requested provider/service exists:

stripe projects search <query> --json

If result_count is 0, inform the user the service was not found and stop.

If the user’s request is vague (for example, “I need a database”), browse the catalog to suggest options:

stripe projects catalog --json

Step 3: Initialize a Project

Check if a project is already initialized:

stripe projects status --json

If not initialized, run a preflight check first to reveal all blockers at once:

stripe projects init --preflight --json

If all preflight checks pass, or the only failure is TOS_ACCEPTANCE_REQUIRED, proceed:

stripe projects init --accept-tos --yes

If any check fails with BROWSER_AUTH_REQUIRED, PROJECTS_SESSION_UNUSABLE, or ACCOUNT_NOT_ELIGIBLE, stop here. Report that check’s message and remedy to the user verbatim and let them resolve it — clearing these requires a browser sign-in or a Dashboard visit you cannot perform. Do not run stripe projects init yourself and do not re-run the preflight: neither clears the blocker for you, since only the user can complete a browser sign-in or a Dashboard step.

Follow the remedy the failing check prints rather than assuming stripe login is the fix. If a Stripe CLI session already exists, stripe login reports that you are already logged in and exits 0 without changing anything — an exit code of 0 from a login command does not mean the blocker cleared.

Important: stripe projects init installs the stripe-projects-cli skill locally at .claude/skills/stripe-projects-cli. This skill contains the full post-init command reference.

Step 4: Hand Off to stripe-projects-cli

Verify the skill was installed:

test -f .claude/skills/stripe-projects-cli/SKILL.md && echo "OK" || echo "MISSING"

If MISSING: re-run stripe projects init --accept-tos --yes once — the skill is bundled with the Projects plugin and installed during init. If the file is still missing after that single retry, or if init exits non-zero, report init’s error message to the user and stop. Do not keep re-running init.

If OK: use the locally-installed stripe-projects-cli skill (invoke using the Skill tool with name stripe-projects-cli) to continue the workflow — adding services, managing credentials, and configuring the project.

Step 5: Summarize and Suggest

After a successful service addition, provide output in this format:

Field	Value
Provider	<provider name>
Service	<service type>
Tier	<tier>
Env vars	<variable names only — never values>

Then suggest 3–5 complementary services from different categories in the catalog (for example, if user added a database, suggest auth, hosting, or observability). Only reference services that actually appear in stripe projects catalog --json output — never fabricate commands or provider names.

CLI as Source of Truth

The CLI manages all state under .projects/ and generates .env files. Don’t hand-edit these files. If you need to inspect project state, use the appropriate CLI command:

Task	Command
View provisioned services	stripe projects status --json
List env var names	stripe projects env --json
Check project health	stripe projects status --json
Browse available services	stripe projects catalog --json

Only inspect .projects/ or .env directly if the user explicitly asks you to — the CLI is authoritative, so manual edits may be overwritten.

Project Variables

Use project variables when the user wants to store an environment variable that doesn’t come from a provisioned provider resource, such as an app URL, feature flag, or self-managed API key.

Create or update a project variable for the active environment:

stripe projects variables set <name> --env-key <ENV_KEY> --value <value>

A successful variables set syncs the active environment output file immediately. If the user doesn’t provide the value, run the command without --value only in interactive mode so the CLI can prompt securely. Never print secret values in your response.

Bind an existing project variable to the active environment:

stripe projects env add <name> --variable --env-key <ENV_KEY>

Remove a variable binding from the active environment without deleting the stored variable:

stripe projects env remove <name> --variable

List and delete project variables:

stripe projects variables list --json
stripe projects variables delete <name> --yes

Error Handling

Error code	Cause	Recovery
BROWSER_AUTH_REQUIRED	No Stripe session and browser sign-in needed	Tell the user to run stripe projects init themselves, in a terminal where they can finish the browser sign-in — you cannot fix this, and re-running it yourself will not clear it
PROJECTS_SESSION_UNUSABLE	A Stripe CLI session exists, but Projects cannot read live-mode credentials from it	Report the message and remedy verbatim and stop. Do NOT retry, and do NOT run stripe login — it reports you are already logged in and exits 0
ACCOUNT_NOT_ELIGIBLE	Account not onboarded for Projects	Tell the user to run stripe projects switch-account to choose an account, or continue setup for this account; report the remedy the CLI printed and stop
TOS_ACCEPTANCE_REQUIRED	Developer or provider terms not accepted	Re-run with --accept-tos
PROVIDER_NOT_LINKED	Provider requires OAuth linking	Run stripe projects link <provider> — may open a browser
PLAN_REQUIRED	Deployable needs a plan provisioned first	Provision the plan listed in the error, then retry
UNKNOWN_ERROR	Unexpected failure	Show the full error message to the user and suggest running with --debug for diagnostics
Service not in catalog	Query returned 0 results	Inform user; suggest stripe projects catalog --json to browse alternatives
CLI not found	Stripe CLI not installed	Install using Homebrew (macOS) or follow https://docs.stripe.com/stripe-cli/install