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Besides your product, I thank you all at Stripe for setting an example of what real API/SDK documentation is.

taurath 7y ago
Its the basis upon which I form my opinion as to what "good docs" look like. It makes you incredibly spoiled when trying to use some of Stripe's competitors.
- stickfigure 7y ago
  I've integrated 8+ payments APIs over my career. IMO, Stripe's "secret sauce" is the quality of the API and the documentation. It's so compelling that I repeatedly choose Stripe over other payments systems that offer network effects like PayPal and Amazon. I sometimes get asked by customers if we take PayPal. I tell them truthfully "no, it's just too much trouble". It doesn't seem like "better developer experience" is much of a moat, but based on how bad the competition is - year after year - it sure seems to be. I wonder what other services could be "disrupted" the same way.
  - rhaksw 7y ago
    I had the same experience my first go at integrating Stripe. I was able to accept donations in all the ways I wanted: - using Netlify (free hosting, includes lambda) - custom amounts - one-time payment or recurring - form on my own site code is here: https://github.com/revddit/revddit/blob/master/lambda-src/donate.js https://github.com/revddit/revddit/blob/master/lambda-src/do... https://github.com/revddit/revddit/blob/master/src/pages/common/donate/index.js https://github.com/revddit/revddit/blob/master/src/pages/com...
  - speedplane 7y ago
    > I repeatedly choose Stripe over other payments systems that offer network effects like PayPal and Amazon. For one of the first SaSS products I ever worked on, I (naively) chose Amazon payments. Within six months, Amazon introduced backwards incompatible changes. Six months later, they did it again. For another project I started 5 years ago, I used Stripe. We're still using the same 5 year old API and it works perfectly, even though Stripe has added new features and bells and whistles in their newer versions. Their commitment to backwards compatibility is probably the best I've seen of any fast moving API.
- tnolet 7y ago
  Totally agree. I implemented stuff like Paypal and Adyen. Bit of a horror show. But even Stripe's API has some gotcha's. I documented how I implemented Stripe for the SaaS I run quite extensively at https://blog.checklyhq.com/our-stripe-billing-implementation-the-one-webhook-to-rule-them-all/ https://blog.checklyhq.com/our-stripe-billing-implementation...
mcbutterbunz 7y ago
A quick look at the documentation and I'm impressed and a little jealous. Do you know if this is a proprietary API doc generator similar to Swagger?
- nemothekid 7y ago
  As far as I can tell, Stripe invented this type of documentation that you see everywhere else now.
- jabo 7y ago
  Here’s a framework that helps generate documentation similar to Stripe’s: https://github.com/slatedocs/slate https://github.com/slatedocs/slate
speedplane 7y ago
> I thank you all at Stripe for setting an example of what real API/SDK documentation is. It's not just their documentation, Stripe's versioning, backwards compatibility support, and fast improvements probably make it the single best API I've ever worked with. I have new projects that use the latest and greatest Stripe API and features, but also older projects that use their 5 year old APIs, and both work without a hitch.
- DaiPlusPlus 7y ago
  Meanwhile, PayPal’s CSV transaction export feature is still underdocumented and shows that an account’s transaction history is not immutable: https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/65917/calculating-balance-with-my-downloaded-paypal-transaction-history https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/65917/calculating-...
- CSMastermind 7y ago
  > It's not just their documentation, Stripe's versioning, backwards compatibility support, and fast improvements probably make it the single best API I've ever worked with. I completely agree - I consider Stripe the gold standard for an API. Best I've ever used.
  - p0nce 7y ago
    Now if the fee was under 3% instead of being the very same price as Paypal, that would be a nice welcome bit of competition.
    - forgot-my-pw 7y ago
      Their newly announced corporate credit card has good benefits (US only): https://stripe.com/en-ca/corporate-card https://stripe.com/en-ca/corporate-card At least you get some cash back from expenses.
reacweb 7y ago
And thank you also for your CTFs. I almost finished CTF 2 (I had the 3/4 of last password) and I learned a lot during this CTF. I am very proud of my T-Shirt.

Its the basis upon which I form my opinion as to what "good docs" look like. It makes you incredibly spoiled when trying to use some of Stripe's competitors.

stickfigure 7y ago
I've integrated 8+ payments APIs over my career. IMO, Stripe's "secret sauce" is the quality of the API and the documentation. It's so compelling that I repeatedly choose Stripe over other payments systems that offer network effects like PayPal and Amazon. I sometimes get asked by customers if we take PayPal. I tell them truthfully "no, it's just too much trouble". It doesn't seem like "better developer experience" is much of a moat, but based on how bad the competition is - year after year - it sure seems to be. I wonder what other services could be "disrupted" the same way.
- rhaksw 7y ago
  I had the same experience my first go at integrating Stripe. I was able to accept donations in all the ways I wanted: - using Netlify (free hosting, includes lambda) - custom amounts - one-time payment or recurring - form on my own site code is here: https://github.com/revddit/revddit/blob/master/lambda-src/donate.js https://github.com/revddit/revddit/blob/master/lambda-src/do... https://github.com/revddit/revddit/blob/master/src/pages/common/donate/index.js https://github.com/revddit/revddit/blob/master/src/pages/com...
- speedplane 7y ago
  > I repeatedly choose Stripe over other payments systems that offer network effects like PayPal and Amazon. For one of the first SaSS products I ever worked on, I (naively) chose Amazon payments. Within six months, Amazon introduced backwards incompatible changes. Six months later, they did it again. For another project I started 5 years ago, I used Stripe. We're still using the same 5 year old API and it works perfectly, even though Stripe has added new features and bells and whistles in their newer versions. Their commitment to backwards compatibility is probably the best I've seen of any fast moving API.
tnolet 7y ago
Totally agree. I implemented stuff like Paypal and Adyen. Bit of a horror show. But even Stripe's API has some gotcha's. I documented how I implemented Stripe for the SaaS I run quite extensively at https://blog.checklyhq.com/our-stripe-billing-implementation-the-one-webhook-to-rule-them-all/ https://blog.checklyhq.com/our-stripe-billing-implementation...

mcbutterbunz 7y ago

A quick look at the documentation and I'm impressed and a little jealous. Do you know if this is a proprietary API doc generator similar to Swagger?

nemothekid 7y ago
As far as I can tell, Stripe invented this type of documentation that you see everywhere else now.
jabo 7y ago
Here’s a framework that helps generate documentation similar to Stripe’s: https://github.com/slatedocs/slate https://github.com/slatedocs/slate

speedplane 7y ago

> I thank you all at Stripe for setting an example of what real API/SDK documentation is. It's not just their documentation, Stripe's versioning, backwards compatibility support, and fast improvements probably make it the single best API I've ever worked with. I have new projects that use the latest and greatest Stripe API and features, but also older projects that use their 5 year old APIs, and both work without a hitch.

DaiPlusPlus 7y ago
Meanwhile, PayPal’s CSV transaction export feature is still underdocumented and shows that an account’s transaction history is not immutable: https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/65917/calculating-balance-with-my-downloaded-paypal-transaction-history https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/65917/calculating-...
CSMastermind 7y ago
> It's not just their documentation, Stripe's versioning, backwards compatibility support, and fast improvements probably make it the single best API I've ever worked with. I completely agree - I consider Stripe the gold standard for an API. Best I've ever used.
- p0nce 7y ago
  Now if the fee was under 3% instead of being the very same price as Paypal, that would be a nice welcome bit of competition.
  - forgot-my-pw 7y ago
    Their newly announced corporate credit card has good benefits (US only): https://stripe.com/en-ca/corporate-card https://stripe.com/en-ca/corporate-card At least you get some cash back from expenses.

reacweb 7y ago

And thank you also for your CTFs. I almost finished CTF 2 (I had the 3/4 of last password) and I learned a lot during this CTF. I am very proud of my T-Shirt.