whisper-money/.github/skills/cashier-stripe-development/SKILL.md

name	description	license	metadata
cashier-stripe-development	Handles Laravel Cashier Stripe integration including subscriptions, webhooks, Stripe Checkout, invoices, charges, refunds, trials, coupons, metered billing, and payment failure handling. Triggered when a user mentions Cashier, Billable, IncompletePayment, stripe_id, newSubscription, Stripe subscriptions, or billing. Also applies when setting up webhooks, handling SCA/3DS payment failures, testing with Stripe test cards, or troubleshooting incomplete subscriptions, CSRF webhook errors, or migration publish issues.	MIT	author laravel

Cashier Stripe Development

When to Apply

Activate this skill when:

• Installing or configuring Laravel Cashier Stripe
• Setting up subscriptions, trials, quantities, or plan swapping
• Handling webhooks or SCA/3DS payment failures
• Working with Stripe Checkout, invoices, or charges
• Testing billing scenarios with Stripe test cards or tokens

Documentation

Use search-docs for detailed Cashier patterns and documentation covering subscriptions, webhooks, Stripe Checkout, invoices, payment methods, and testing.

For deeper guidance on specific topics, read the relevant reference file before implementing:

• references/subscriptions.md covers subscription creation, status checks, swapping, trials, quantities, and multiple products
• references/webhooks.md covers webhook setup, custom handlers, CSRF exclusion, and local development with the Stripe CLI
• references/testing.md covers Stripe test cards, payment method tokens, and feature test patterns

Basic Usage

Installation

php artisan vendor:publish --tag="cashier-migrations"
php artisan migrate
php artisan vendor:publish --tag="cashier-config"

Environment Variables

STRIPE_KEY=pk_test_...
STRIPE_SECRET=sk_test_...
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=whsec_...
CASHIER_CURRENCY=usd
CASHIER_CURRENCY_LOCALE=en_US

Billable Model

use Laravel\Cashier\Billable;

class User extends Authenticatable
{
    use Billable;
}

For a non-User model, register it in a service provider:

// In AppServiceProvider::boot()
Cashier::useCustomerModel(Team::class);

Creating a Subscription

use Laravel\Cashier\Exceptions\IncompletePayment;

try {
    $user->newSubscription('default', 'price_xxxx')->create($paymentMethodId);
} catch (IncompletePayment $e) {
    return redirect()->route('cashier.payment', [$e->payment->id, 'redirect' => route('home')]);
}

Always wrap subscription creation in a try/catch for IncompletePayment. When a card requires 3DS authentication, Cashier throws this exception. The cashier.payment route is auto-registered and handles the confirmation flow.

Verification

1. Run migrations and confirm stripe_id, pm_type, pm_last_four, and trial_ends_at columns exist on the billable model table
2. Test the webhook endpoint with stripe listen --forward-to localhost/stripe/webhook if you use the default path, or swap stripe for your configured CASHIER_PATH
3. Confirm $user->subscribed('default') returns the expected value for active and incomplete subscriptions

Common Pitfalls

• The migration publish tag is cashier-migrations, not cashier. Running migrate before publishing results in missing columns and tables.
• CASHIER_CURRENCY must be set explicitly. It defaults to USD, which silently breaks non-US apps.
• The Stripe CLI generates its own webhook signing secret. It is different from the Dashboard endpoint secret. Using the wrong one causes signature verification failures.
• The webhook route must be excluded from CSRF verification using your configured cashier.path. If you change CASHIER_PATH from stripe to billing, exclude billing/*, not stripe/*.
• canceled() returns true as soon as cancel() is called, but the user still has access during the grace period. Use ended() to confirm access is fully revoked.
• subscribed() returns true during the grace period even though the subscription is canceled.
• subscribed() returns false for incomplete and past_due subscriptions by default.
• Prices cannot be swapped and quantity cannot be updated while a subscription has an incomplete payment.
• When extending WebhookController, call Cashier::ignoreRoutes() in a service provider and re-register both cashier.payment and cashier.webhook under the configured cashier.path.
• Use Cashier::useCustomerModel() in a service provider to set a custom billable model. There is no CASHIER_MODEL env var.
• trial_ends_at is a local database column synced via webhooks. It will be stale if webhooks are not configured in production.
• In MySQL, the stripe_id column must use utf8_bin collation to avoid case-sensitivity issues.
• noProrate() has no effect when combined with swapAndInvoice(). That method always prorates.
• Methods like withPromotionCode() require the Stripe API ID such as promo_xxxx, not the customer-facing code. Use findPromotionCode() to resolve a code to its ID.
• Always use search-docs for the latest Cashier documentation rather than relying on this skill alone.