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Overview

Stripe Actions enable your AI agent to handle customer billing inquiries, subscription management, and account updates directly within the chat interface. These actions provide secure, real-time access to customer payment information, streamlining support operations and improving the customer experience.
Prerequisites: Before using Stripe Actions, you must:
  1. Set up the Stripe integration with your Chatbase account
  2. Configure identity verification for secure customer authentication
  3. Set up contacts with valid stripe_account fields for each customer

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Available Stripe Actions

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How Stripe Actions work

Stripe Actions use Chatbase’s identity verification system to securely access customer-specific data:
  1. User authentication: Customers are identified using window.chatbase("identify", {...}) with their unique user ID
  2. Contact matching: The system matches the authenticated user ID to a contact record containing their Stripe account ID
  3. Secure data access: Actions retrieve only the data associated with the authenticated customer’s Stripe account
  4. Real-time responses: The AI agent answers immediately using live Stripe data
Stripe Actions need an identified customer, so they don’t run in Action Preview or Compare. To test them in the Playground, start the conversation with Chat as user and set the User ID to a customer whose contact record has a valid stripe_account. To test the real thing end to end, embed the JavaScript script on your site and run the action there.

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How to create a Stripe action

Every Stripe action is created the same way. The action sections below list only what differs: which action to pick and any extra configuration it needs.
1

Navigate to Actions

Go to your Chatbase dashboard and select your AI agent. Click Build > Actions in the left sidebar.
2

Create the Action

Click Create action, then on the Stripe card select the action named in its section below.
3

Configure General Settings

Action Name: A unique, descriptive name for the action.When to use: Detailed instructions for when the AI agent should use this action.To restrict the action to procedure steps only, turn on Only use in procedures. When it’s on, the When to use field is hidden, because the AI agent no longer decides when to call the action.
4

Configure the action's own settings

Manage subscriptions adds a step for defining the available plans and cancellation policy. Every other action skips straight to channels.
5

Choose Channels

Use Channels to control where the action is available. Toggle the action on or off for each configured channel, then click Save. Some channels may be incompatible with the action and won’t be available for selection.
6

Enable and Test

Ensure the action is toggled to Enabled, then test it in the embedded widget on your site.

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Actions

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1. Get subscription information

Retrieve and display customer subscription details, including current plan, status, billing cycle, and pricing information.

Best for:

Answering questions about current subscription status, plan details, renewal dates, and subscription history.
Common Use Cases:
  • “What’s my current plan?”
  • “When does my subscription renew?”
  • “How much am I paying monthly?”
  • “Is my subscription active?”

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Settings

Action: Stripe Get Subscription Info.
Selecting the get subscription action from the Stripe options
Test the action in the embedded widget to ensure it correctly retrieves subscription data for authenticated customers.
The AI agent returning subscription details in chat

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2. Get invoice history

Retrieve and display customer invoice history, payment details, and billing records.

Best for:

Providing access to billing history, payment confirmations, invoice downloads, and payment troubleshooting.
Common Use Cases:
  • “Show me my recent invoices”
  • “Was my payment processed?”
  • “Can you provide my billing history?”

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Settings

Action: Stripe Get Invoices.
Selecting the get invoices action from the Stripe options
Test the action with a sample customer request in the embedded widget.
The AI agent returning invoice history in chat

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3. Manage subscriptions

Comprehensive subscription management, including plan changes, upgrades, downgrades, and cancellations.

Best for:

Complete subscription lifecycle management: plan changes, adding payment methods, and cancellation handling.
Common Use Cases:
  • “I want to upgrade my plan”
  • “Upgrade my plan to the pro”
  • “I need to cancel my subscription”
  • “What plans are available?”

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Settings

Action: Stripe → Manage Subscriptions.
Configuring the subscription management action

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Define available plans

Configure which subscription plans and options are available for customers to choose from.
Set up available plans with their behavior.
Configuring available subscription plans and options
Test every scenario before going live: upgrading from basic to premium with proper proration, downgrading with the right billing adjustments, and the complete cancellation flow. All subscription changes should be immediately reflected in both Stripe and the customer experience.
The AI agent managing a subscription in chat
Manage subscriptions changes what a customer pays. Consider turning on Only use in procedures and putting your eligibility checks in a procedure ahead of the step that calls it, so plan changes and cancellations happen at a point you control.

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4. Change billing information

Allow customers to update their billing address and other account information.

Best for:

Self-service billing updates, address changes, and other account information updates.
Common Use Cases:
  • “I need to update my billing address”
  • “Update my billing email address”
  • “Update my billing phone number”

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Settings

Action: Stripe → Change customer information.
Selecting the change billing information action
Test the action with various scenarios to ensure only authenticated customers can make changes, and verify that billing updates are reflected in both Stripe and the customer’s account.
The AI agent updating billing information in chat

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Limitations

  • Stripe Actions require an authenticated customer. Every action reads or writes the signed-in customer’s own Stripe record, so identity verification must be configured and the customer must be identified.
  • Each customer needs a contact record with a valid stripe_account. Without it, the action has no Stripe customer to act on.
  • In the Playground, they only run through Chat as user. Start the conversation with Chat as user and a User ID that matches a contact with a valid stripe_account. Action Preview and Compare can’t identify a customer, so the actions don’t run there.

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Troubleshooting

Possible causes:
  • The action is disabled in the dashboard, or turned off for the channel
  • The customer is not properly authenticated
  • The contact record is missing or has an invalid stripe_account
  • The When to use description is too vague to match what the customer asked
Solutions:
  • Enable the action and check its Channels step
  • Check your identity verification implementation
  • Validate that the contact record has the correct stripe_account field
  • Rewrite When to use with the phrases customers actually type
Possible causes:
  • Invalid Stripe customer ID in the contact record
  • The Stripe account has no subscription or invoice data
  • Stripe API permissions are insufficient
  • Network connectivity issues
Solutions:
  • Verify the Stripe customer ID exists and is active
  • Check that the Stripe account has relevant data
  • Review the Stripe integration permissions
  • Test Stripe API connectivity directly
Possible causes:
  • User hash validation is failing
  • external_id doesn’t match user_id
  • The contact record is not found
  • Identity verification was never called
Solutions:
  • Verify hash generation matches the expected format
  • Ensure external_id exactly matches the authenticated user_id
  • Create a contact record for the customer
  • Implement the identity verification flow properly

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Best Practices

Security First

Always validate customer identity before processing any billing-related request. Never allow unauthenticated access to financial data.

Testing Coverage

Test all actions with various scenarios, edge cases, and error conditions before going live: in the Playground through Chat as user, then from your real site with the embed in place.

Keep High-Stakes Actions on Rails

Put plan changes and cancellations behind a procedure with eligibility checks, so the AI agent doesn’t decide on its own when a customer qualifies.

Clear Action Triggers

Write specific When to use descriptions so the AI agent distinguishes a question about a plan from a request to change it.