Set up Stripe

Stripe setup for your AI agent, screen by screen: create a restricted key in Stripe with the permissions your agent needs, then connect that key to eesel.

Connecting Stripe, screen by screen. You create a key in Stripe, a long code that lets eesel act in your Stripe account with only the permissions you pick, and paste it into a form from Pipedream, the service that holds the connection for eesel. You do it once, and every step on this page is done by a person in a browser. For what your teammate does with Stripe, see the Stripe overview.

Before you begin

• You need access to Developers > API keys in the Stripe dashboard. Owners and administrators have it.

• Decide whether to start in test mode, Stripe's practice copy of your account, which Stripe also calls a sandbox. It is the safe place to set instructions and approvals. Moving to live means removing the connection in eesel and connecting again with a key from the real account.

• Have the Pipedream key form open in eesel. It opens from Integrations > Stripe > Connect, then Continue. Leave it open while you work in Stripe.

The Pipedream key form, waiting for the key.

Walkthrough

1

Open API keys in Stripe

In the Stripe dashboard open Developers in the bottom left, then the API keys tab. Choose Create restricted key.

API keys in the Stripe dashboard.

2

Say what the key is for

Stripe asks how the key will be used. Pick Providing this key to a third-party application and choose Continue.

The third-party option.

3

Name it and create it

Name the third party eesel and enter https://www.eesel.ai as the URL. Left unticked, Customize permissions for this key gives the key full access. Ticking it shows, on the same screen, a list of the things in Stripe the key may touch, each set to None, Read or Write. Set Customers, Invoices, Payment Intents (Stripe's name for payments), Refunds and Subscriptions to Write. Set Balance, Charges, Payouts, Prices and Payment Methods to Read, so your agent can check your balance, find the charge behind a refund, and pick a price and card for a new subscription. Leave everything else on None. Stripe has no setting between Write and Read, so Write on Customers also lets the key delete a customer. If your agent only needs to look customers up, set Customers to Read. Then choose Create restricted key.

Name and URL for the key.

4

Copy the key

Stripe names the key API key for eesel and lists it under Restricted keys. Copy the key from its row.

The restricted key, ready to copy.

5

Paste it into eesel

Back in the Pipedream form, paste the key and choose Continue. The key goes to Pipedream and never into the chat.

The key pasted into Pipedream.

Connected.

Check it worked. Back on the Stripe integration page in eesel, the header reads Connected, the left sidebar lists Stripe, and the Actions list shows the Read and Write groups. The Stripe overview picks up from here.

Troubleshooting

Stripe says the key has no access to something?

The restricted key was narrowed too far. The usual gaps are Balance (checked when you first test the connection), Charges (needed to refund a payment) and Prices (needed to start a subscription), which all need Read. Open Developers > API keys in Stripe, choose the key's menu and edit its permissions, or create a new key and connect again.

Nothing happened in Stripe after an action?

Check which mode the key belongs to. A test-mode key acts on the practice copy of your account, and a live key acts on the real one. Stripe's dashboard shows a Sandbox banner when you are looking at the practice copy.

Related pages

• Stripe for what your teammate does once it is connected

• Actions and Approvals for choosing what your agent may do