Payments & integrations

Stripe, email, Zapier and invoices.

Goal: actually get money coming in and connect your agent to the real world — payments,
email, and hundreds of other apps.

Collecting Money: Your Options

You don't need to build complex payment infrastructure. Choose based on your product:

💡 Start manually. For your first customers, a clean invoice or a Stripe Payment Link
is more than enough. Only build automated payments once you have returning customers.

💡 In Claude.ai: Use claude.ai to draft your invoice template, write the email you send
customers with their payment link, or compose onboarding messages. For the technical payment
setup itself (Stripe, webhooks), you need to work in your code editor or Claude Code.
Note: Stripe and Gumroad work globally, but local regulations and payment preferences vary
by country — check what applies in your market before going live.

Stripe in Brief (for Subscriptions)

Stripe is the standard for online payments. Here's how it works at a high level:

1. Create a (test) account at stripe.com and get your API keys.
2. Create a Product with a Price (e.g. $99/month).
3. Send customers to a Checkout or Payment Link.
4. Stripe sends a webhook to your server when payment is made — that's where you grant access.

Payment flow with Stripe

  Customer                 Stripe                    Your server
     │                       │                           │
     │── clicks checkout ──▶ │                           │
     │                       │── payment confirmed ────▶ │
     │                       │   (webhook POST)          │
     │                       │                    activate_customer()
     │◀── welcome email ─────────────────────────────────│

A minimal webhook handler (concept):

import stripe, os
from flask import Flask, request

stripe.api_key = os.environ["STRIPE_API_KEY"]
app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route("/webhook", methods=["POST"])
def webhook():
    event = stripe.Webhook.construct_event(
        request.data, request.headers["Stripe-Signature"],
        os.environ["STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET"],
    )
    if event["type"] == "checkout.session.completed":
        customer_email = event["data"]["object"]["customer_details"]["email"]
        # → grant access, start the agent service for this customer, send welcome email
        activate_customer(customer_email)
    return "", 200

Enable stripe and flask in requirements.txt (they're commented out) when you're ready to use this. Always test first with Stripe's test mode and test card numbers.

🔐 Always verify the webhook signature (as shown above). Without it, anyone could send
fake "payment completed" events to your server.

Connecting Your Agent to Email

Many agent businesses run on email: requests come in, replies go out. Two approaches:

• Simple (outbound): use a transactional email service (e.g. via their API) to send emails

from your agent as a tool (send_email from module 05).

• Processing incoming mail: have incoming email delivered via a service that sends a webhook

to your server, then pass the content to your agent.

For a customer service agent (like business_agent.py) this is the natural connection: inbox in, agent processes, reply out, escalate to you where needed.

Hundreds of Apps Without Code: Zapier

Want to connect your agent to Gmail, Google Sheets, Slack, your CRM, calendars — without building a custom integration for each one? Use Zapier, which connects 9,000+ apps. The pattern:

• A trigger in one app (new email, new form submission, new row) starts your agent.
• Your agent does the work.
• The result goes back into an app via Zapier (add a row, send a message, create a task).

This is the fastest way to plug your agent into an existing business workflow. Start with one trigger and one action; expand from there.

A Complete Income Flow

Here's what a working automated business looks like end to end:

Customer pays (Stripe)
      │  webhook
      ▼
Access activated ──▶ Customer data in database/Sheet
      │
      ▼
Work comes in (form / email / API)
      │
      ▼
🤖 Agent processes the work  ◀── guardrails (budget, checkpoints)
      │
      ▼
Result delivered (email / dashboard / file)
      │
      ▼
Monthly reporting ──▶ customer stays, you grow

You don't need to build all of this at once. Start with the middle step (the agent), handle the rest manually, and automate step by step as you grow.

Bookkeeping: Track It from Day One

As soon as money comes in, record:

• Revenue per customer/invoice.
• Costs (API, tools, hosting, payment fees).
• Sales tax / VAT where applicable (module 11).

A simple spreadsheet or bookkeeping tool is enough at the start. Not tracking it = problems at tax time. Module 11 goes deeper into the rules.

Your Assignment

1. Choose your payment method for the first customers (start: manual invoice or Payment Link).
2. Identify which integrations you actually need (email? spreadsheet? Slack?) — nothing more.
3. Sketch your income flow on paper, from payment to delivery.