Writing Work About Newsletter Login
Module 6, Lesson 13: Adding Stripe Payments with Claude Code: A Real Walkthrough

Module 6, Lesson 13: Adding Stripe Payments with Claude Code: A Real Walkthrough

12 min read min

How do you handle payments when your app needs a subscription and you don't want to wait on Apple or Google's developer setup? 
You start with Stripe. In this lesson I move into Phase 4, which covers calendar, document vault, and premium AI features, and I hit a blocker right away: nothing works until payments exist. I walk through why I'm choosing Stripe over native in-app purchases for now, how I hand the whole phase to Claude Code at once instead of issue by issue, and how I set up Stripe in test mode so I'm not paying app store fees just to test a checkout flow.

Why does Phase 4 start with a payments decision instead of a payments feature?

Phase 4 is where the app becomes a real product: a working calendar, a document vault, and a premium AI tier. But almost none of that can be tested end to end without a way to actually charge someone. So before I let Claude Code touch calendar or document code, I have it look at the blocker underneath everything else, which is Stripe.

Where We Are in the Course

Phase 3 wrapped up with the PDF report, messaging, and OCR all tested on a real device, including a stopgap fix for a camera scan that didn't work on-device. Now I'm moving into Phase 4, which is my last major build phase: full calendar, a document vault, and premium AI features. I've been evolving how I hand off work to Claude Code as the project's grown, from issue by issue early on to full phases at once now, and this lesson is where I make that shift explicit.

Before We Start

From previous lessons:

  • Phase 3 (PDF report, messaging, OCR) is built and tested on a real device. Module 6, Lesson 12
  • You've got a working pattern for reviewing YouTrack issues and handing them to Claude Code with clarifying questions built in. Module 6, Lesson 1
  • You're running Novita AI instead of OpenAI to keep AI costs down, a decision from earlier in the course

Tools / setup you'll need:

  • Claude Code, connected to your project, with a custom MCP config
  • A YouTrack project with your Phase 4 issues logged
  • A Stripe account, in test mode
  • Your own domain, if you want a proper universal link back from Stripe Checkout

By the end of this lesson, you'll:

  • Have handed a whole phase to Claude Code at once instead of working issue by issue
  • Understand why I chose Stripe over native in-app purchases for now
  • Have Stripe running in test mode, with keys and webhook secret wired into your project
  • Have a dependency-ordered plan for building the rest of Phase 4 once the payments blocker clears

Paid members

This content is for Paid Members

Unlock full access to Dele Tosh and see the entire library of members-only content.

Subscribe