Core Resources
Payment Methods
Products
Checkout
Payment Links
Billing
Capital
Connect
Fraud
Issuing
Terminal
Treasury
Entitlements
Sigma
Reporting
Financial Connections
Tax
Identity
Crypto
Climate
Forwarding
Webhooks

API Reference 

The Stripe API is organized around REST. Our API has predictable resource-oriented URLs, accepts form-encoded request bodies, returns JSON-encoded responses, and uses standard HTTP response codes, authentication, and verbs.

You can use the Stripe API in test mode, which doesn’t affect your live data or interact with the banking networks. The API key you use to authenticate the request determines whether the request is live mode or test mode.

The Stripe API doesn’t support bulk updates. You can work on only one object per request.

The Stripe API differs for every account as we release new versions and tailor functionality. Log in to see docs with your test key and data.

Just getting started?

Check out our development quickstart guide.

Not a developer?

Use Stripe’s no-code options or apps from our partners to get started with Stripe and to do more with your Stripe account—no code required.

Base URL
https://api.stripe.com
Client Libraries
Ruby
Python
PHP
Java
Node.js
Go
.NET

By default, the Stripe API Docs demonstrate using curl to interact with the API over HTTP. Select one of our official client libraries to see examples in code.

Authentication 

The Stripe API uses API keys to authenticate requests. You can view and manage your API keys in the Stripe Dashboard.

Test mode secret keys have the prefix sk_test_ and live mode secret keys have the prefix sk_live_. Alternatively, you can use restricted API keys for granular permissions.

Your API keys carry many privileges, so be sure to keep them secure! Do not share your secret API keys in publicly accessible areas such as GitHub, client-side code, and so forth.

All API requests must be made over HTTPS. Calls made over plain HTTP will fail. API requests without authentication will also fail.

Authenticated Request
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/charges \
  -u sk_test_4eC39Hq...arjtT1zdp7dcsk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc:
# The colon prevents curl from asking for a password.
Your API Key

A sample test API key is included in all the examples here, so you can test any example right away. Do not submit any personally identifiable information in requests made with this key.

To test requests using your account, replace the sample API key with your actual API key or sign in.

Connected Accounts 

To act as connected accounts, clients can issue requests using the Stripe-Account special header. Make sure that this header contains a Stripe account ID, which usually starts with the acct_ prefix.

The value is set per-request as shown in the adjacent code sample. Methods on the returned object reuse the same account ID.

Per-Request Account
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/charges/ch_3LmjFA2eZvKYlo2C09TLIsrw \
  -u sk_test_4eC39Hq...arjtT1zdp7dcsk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc: \
  -H "Stripe-Account: acct_1032D82eZvKYlo2C" \
  -G

Errors 

Stripe uses conventional HTTP response codes to indicate the success or failure of an API request. In general: Codes in the 2xx range indicate success. Codes in the 4xx range indicate an error that failed given the information provided (e.g., a required parameter was omitted, a charge failed, etc.). Codes in the 5xx range indicate an error with Stripe’s servers (these are rare).

Some 4xx errors that could be handled programmatically (e.g., a card is declined) include an error code that briefly explains the error reported.

Attributes

  • typeenum

    The type of error returned. One of api_error, card_error, idempotency_error, or invalid_request_error

    Possible enum values
    api_error
    card_error
    idempotency_error
    invalid_request_error

  • codenullable string

    For some errors that could be handled programmatically, a short string indicating the error code reported.

  • decline_codenullable string

    For card errors resulting from a card issuer decline, a short string indicating the card issuer’s reason for the decline if they provide one.

  • messagenullable string

    A human-readable message providing more details about the error. For card errors, these messages can be shown to your users.

  • paramnullable string

    If the error is parameter-specific, the parameter related to the error. For example, you can use this to display a message near the correct form field.

  • payment_intentnullable object

    The PaymentIntent object for errors returned on a request involving a PaymentIntent.

More

  • chargenullable string

  • payment_method_typenullable string

  • doc_urlnullable string

  • request_log_urlnullable string

  • setup_intentnullable object

  • sourcenullable object

  • payment_methodnullable object

HTTP Status Code Summary
200OKEverything worked as expected.
400Bad RequestThe request was unacceptable, often due to missing a required parameter.
401UnauthorizedNo valid API key provided.
402Request FailedThe parameters were valid but the request failed.
403ForbiddenThe API key doesn’t have permissions to perform the request.
404Not FoundThe requested resource doesn’t exist.
409ConflictThe request conflicts with another request (perhaps due to using the same idempotent key).
429Too Many RequestsToo many requests hit the API too quickly. We recommend an exponential backoff of your requests.
500, 502, 503, 504Server ErrorsSomething went wrong on Stripe’s end. (These are rare.)
Error Types
api_errorAPI errors cover any other type of problem (e.g., a temporary problem with Stripe’s servers), and are extremely uncommon.
card_errorCard errors are the most common type of error you should expect to handle. They result when the user enters a card that can’t be charged for some reason.
idempotency_errorIdempotency errors occur when an Idempotency-Key is re-used on a request that does not match the first request’s API endpoint and parameters.
invalid_request_errorInvalid request errors arise when your request has invalid parameters.

Handling errors 

Our Client libraries raise exceptions for many reasons, such as a failed charge, invalid parameters, authentication errors, and network unavailability. We recommend writing code that gracefully handles all possible API exceptions.

# Select a client library to see examples of
# handling different kinds of errors.