Development Setup Fresh

Get familiar with the Stripe CLI and server-side SDKs. Stripe's server-side SDKs and command-line interface (CLI) allow you to interact with Stripe's REST APIs.

Install the Stripe CLI

The Stripe CLI streamlines your development environment and lets you make API calls, listen for webhooks, and trigger test events.

macOS (Homebrew)

brew install stripe/stripe-cli/stripe

Debian / Ubuntu

# Add Stripe's GPG key
curl -s https://packages.stripe.dev/api/security/keypair/stripe-cli-gpg/public | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/stripe.gpg > /dev/null

# Add the apt repository
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/stripe.gpg] https://packages.stripe.dev/stripe-cli-debian-local stable main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/stripe.list

# Install
sudo apt update
sudo apt install stripe

RPM-based Linux

echo -e "[Stripe]\nname=stripe\nbaseurl=https://packages.stripe.dev/stripe-cli-rpm-local/\nenabled=1\ngpgcheck=0" >> /etc/yum.repos.d/stripe.repo
sudo yum install stripe

Windows (Scoop)

scoop bucket add stripe https://github.com/stripe/scoop-stripe-cli.git
scoop install stripe

Authenticate the CLI

stripe login

This opens a browser window. Log in with your Stripe account to connect the CLI.

Verify installation

stripe --version

Install a server-side SDK

Node.js

npm install stripe

const stripe = require('stripe')('sk_test_YOUR_SECRET_KEY');

Python

pip install stripe

import stripe
stripe.api_key = 'sk_test_YOUR_SECRET_KEY'

Ruby

gem install stripe
# or add to Gemfile:
# gem 'stripe'

require 'stripe'
Stripe.api_key = 'sk_test_YOUR_SECRET_KEY'

PHP

composer require stripe/stripe-php

$stripe = new \Stripe\StripeClient('sk_test_YOUR_SECRET_KEY');

Go

go get github.com/stripe/stripe-go/v82

import (
  "github.com/stripe/stripe-go/v82"
)

stripe.Key = "sk_test_YOUR_SECRET_KEY"

Java

Add to build.gradle:

implementation 'com.stripe:stripe-java:27.1.0'

Stripe.apiKey = "sk_test_YOUR_SECRET_KEY";

Make your first API call

Create a customer to verify your setup:

stripe customers create \
  --email="test@example.com" \
  --name="Test User"

Or via curl:

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/customers \
  -u sk_test_YOUR_KEY: \
  -d email="test@example.com" \
  -d name="Test User"

Listen for webhooks locally

During development, forward webhook events to your local server:

stripe listen --forward-to localhost:3000/webhooks

This gives you a webhook signing secret to use in local testing. The CLI prints events to the terminal as they fire.

Trigger test events

Simulate specific events without a browser:

stripe trigger payment_intent.succeeded
stripe trigger customer.subscription.created
stripe trigger invoice.payment_failed

What to learn next

• API Tour — understand how objects relate
• Testing — test card numbers and scenarios
• SDKs — full SDK reference