Does FastAPI Work With Stripe?
FastAPI and Stripe work together seamlessly for building modern payment-enabled APIs with minimal friction.
Quick Facts
How FastAPI Works With Stripe
FastAPI integrates with Stripe through the official Stripe Python SDK, which works out-of-the-box with FastAPI's async/await patterns. You install stripe via pip, initialize it with your API key, and call Stripe methods from FastAPI route handlers. FastAPI's dependency injection system works perfectly for passing Stripe client instances, and you can use Pydantic models to validate webhook payloads from Stripe. The developer experience is excellent because FastAPI's automatic OpenAPI documentation means your payment endpoints are self-documenting, and async support means payment processing won't block other requests. Most developers handle webhook signatures with a custom middleware or dependency to verify Stripe's request authenticity, then process events asynchronously using background tasks or a task queue like Celery.
Best Use Cases
Quick Setup
pip install fastapi stripe uvicorn python-dotenvfrom fastapi import FastAPI, HTTPException, Request
from pydantic import BaseModel
import stripe
import os
app = FastAPI()
stripe.api_key = os.getenv("STRIPE_SECRET_KEY")
class PaymentRequest(BaseModel):
amount: int
currency: str = "usd"
description: str
@app.post("/create-payment-intent")
async def create_payment_intent(req: PaymentRequest):
try:
intent = stripe.PaymentIntent.create(
amount=req.amount,
currency=req.currency,
description=req.description,
idempotency_key=f"payment-{req.description}"
)
return {"client_secret": intent.client_secret}
except stripe.error.StripeError as e:
raise HTTPException(status_code=400, detail=str(e))
@app.post("/webhook")
async def stripe_webhook(request: Request):
payload = await request.body()
sig_header = request.headers.get("stripe-signature")
try:
event = stripe.Webhook.construct_event(
payload, sig_header, os.getenv("STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET")
)
except ValueError:
raise HTTPException(status_code=400, detail="Invalid payload")
if event["type"] == "payment_intent.succeeded":
print(f"Payment succeeded: {event['data']['object']['id']}")
return {"status": "received"}Known Issues & Gotchas
Webhook signature verification is required but sometimes overlooked
Fix: Always verify X-Stripe-Signature header using stripe.Webhook.construct_event(). Never trust webhook data without verification to prevent unauthorized transactions.
Stripe API calls can fail due to network timeouts or rate limits
Fix: Wrap Stripe calls in try-except blocks catching stripe.error.StripeError and implement exponential backoff for retries. Use FastAPI's HTTPException for proper error responses.
Idempotency keys are easy to forget, causing duplicate charges
Fix: Always pass idempotency_key parameter to mutation operations like stripe.Charge.create() or stripe.PaymentIntent.create().
Testing with real Stripe keys in development exposing credentials
Fix: Use Stripe test keys (sk_test_*) in development and environment variables to manage credentials. Use pytest fixtures with mocked Stripe responses for unit tests.
Alternatives
- •Django REST Framework + Stripe (more mature ecosystem, heavier framework)
- •Flask + Stripe (simpler setup but less built-in async support)
- •Node.js Express + Stripe (JavaScript ecosystem, similar complexity to FastAPI)
Resources
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