Send your first Stripe API request

This guide walks you through a simple interaction with the Stripe API—creating a customer. For a better understanding of Stripe API objects and how they fit together, take a tour of the API or visit the API reference. If you’re ready to start accepting payments, see our quickstart.

You can begin exploring Stripe APIs using the Stripe Shell. The Stripe Shell allows you to execute Stripe CLI commands directly within the Stripe docs site. As it operates in a sandbox environment only, you don’t have to worry about initiating any real money-moving transactions.

1. To create a customer using the Stripe Shell, enter the following command:

   Command Line

   stripe customers create --email=jane.smith@email.com --name="Jane Smith" --description="My First Stripe Customer"

   If everything worked, the command line displays the following response:

   {
     "id": 
   "cus_LfctGLAICpokzr",
     "object": 
   "customer",

   See all 31 lines

2. (Optional) Run the same command by passing in your API secret key in a sandbox:

   Command Line

   stripe customers create --email=jane.smith@email.com --name="Jane Smith" --description="My First Stripe Customer" --api-key sk_test_BQokikJOvBiI2HlWgH4olfQ2

   If everything worked, the command line displays the following response:

   {
     "id": 
   "cus_LfdZgLFhah76qf",
     "object": 
   "customer",

   See all 32 lines

Whenever you make a call to Stripe APIs, Stripe creates and stores API and Events objects for your Stripe user account. The API key you specify for the request determines whether the objects are stored in a sandbox environment or in live mode. For example, the last request used your API secret key, so Stripe stored the objects in a sandbox.

• To view the API request log:

  • Open the Logs page.
  • Click 200 OK POST /v1 customers.

• To view the Event log:

  • Open the Events page.
  • Click jane.smith@email.com is a new customer.

When you sign up for a Stripe account, we create three types of API keys for you:

We also support managed API keys issued by certain hosting platforms. Managed keys are secret API keys that a hosting platform delivers directly to your hosted applications. You don’t need to handle managed keys directly; your hosting provider issues and rotates them for you.

You’re responsible for managing your API keys safely. Read our guide to best practices for protecting API keys.