Use Hooks to Create Stripe Customers

Hooks allow you to trigger your own code under certain conditions. This tutorial will show you how to create a Stripe account when an item is created in Directus and write the customer ID back to the record.

Install Dependencies

Open a console to your preferred working directory and initialize a new extension, which will create the boilerplate code for your display.

shell

npx create-directus-extension@latest

npx create-directus-extension@latest

A list of options will appear (choose hook), and type a name for your extension (for example, directus-hook-create-stripe-customer). For this guide, select JavaScript.

Now the boilerplate has been created, install the stripe package, and then open the directory in your code editor.

cd directus-endpoint-stripe
npm install stripe

cd directus-endpoint-stripe
npm install stripe

Build the Hook

Create a collection called Customers with a field called stripe_id and the following required fields: first_name, last_name and email_address (unique). This hook will be used to create a new customer in Stripe whenever a new customer is created in Directus.

Open the index.js file inside the src directory. Delete all the existing code and start with the import of the stripe package:

import Stripe from 'stripe';

import Stripe from 'stripe';

Create an initial export. This hook will need to intercept the save function with action and include env for the environment variables and services to write back to the record:

export default ({ action }, { env, services }) => {};

export default ({ action }, { env, services }) => {};

Inside the function, define the internal ItemsService Directus API function from the services scope. Also include the MailService to send yourself an email if the Stripe API fails.

export default ({ action }, { env, services }) => {
	const { MailService, ItemsService } = services; 
};

export default ({ action }, { env, services }) => {
	const { MailService, ItemsService } = services; 
};

Next, capture the items.create stream using action and pull out the key, collection, and payload:

action('items.create', async ({ key, collection, payload }, { schema }) => {});

action('items.create', async ({ key, collection, payload }, { schema }) => {});

When using filters and actions, it’s important to remember this will capture all events so you should set some restrictions. Inside the action, exclude anything that’s not in the customers collection.

action('items.create', async ({ key, collection, payload }, { schema }) => {
	if (collection !== 'customers') return; 
});

action('items.create', async ({ key, collection, payload }, { schema }) => {
	if (collection !== 'customers') return; 
});

Instantiate Stripe with the secret token:

const stripe = new Stripe(env.STRIPE_TOKEN);

const stripe = new Stripe(env.STRIPE_TOKEN);

env looks inside the Directus environment variables for STRIPE_TOKEN. In order to start using this hook, this variable must be added to your .env file. This can be found in the developers area on your Stripe dashboard.

Create a new customer with the customer's name and email as the input values.

stripe.customers
	.create({
		name: `${payload.first_name} ${payload.last_name}`,
		email: payload.email_address,
	})
	.then((customer) => {})
	.catch((error) => {});

stripe.customers
	.create({
		name: `${payload.first_name} ${payload.last_name}`,
		email: payload.email_address,
	})
	.then((customer) => {})
	.catch((error) => {});

If successful, update the record with the new customer id from stripe. The API call returns the customer object into the customer variable, be sure to look up what other data is included in this response.

Use the ItemsService to update the customer record. Initialize the service and perform the API query:

stripe.customers
	.create({})
	.then((customer) => {
		const customers = new ItemsService(collection, { schema: schema }); 
		customers.updateByQuery({ filter: { id: key } }, { stripe_id: customer.id }, { emitEvents: false }); 
	})
	.catch((error) => {});

stripe.customers
	.create({})
	.then((customer) => {
		const customers = new ItemsService(collection, { schema: schema }); 
		customers.updateByQuery({ filter: { id: key } }, { stripe_id: customer.id }, { emitEvents: false }); 
	})
	.catch((error) => {});

By setting emitEvents to false, the items.update event will not trigger, which prevents flows or hooks from running as a result of this item update.

Add an exception if the Stripe API fails.

stripe.customers
	.create({})
	.then((customer) => {})
	.catch((error) => {
		mailService.send({ 
			to: 'sharedmailbox@directus.io', 
			from: 'noreply@directus.io', 
			subject: `An error has occurred with Stripe API`, 
			text: `The following error occurred for ${payload.first_name} ${payload.last_name} when attempting to create an account in Stripe.\r\n\r\n${error}\r\n\r\nPlease investigate.\r\n\r\nID: ${key}\r\nEmail: ${payload.email_address}`, 
		}); 
	});

stripe.customers
	.create({})
	.then((customer) => {})
	.catch((error) => {
		mailService.send({ 
			to: 'sharedmailbox@directus.io', 
			from: 'noreply@directus.io', 
			subject: `An error has occurred with Stripe API`, 
			text: `The following error occurred for ${payload.first_name} ${payload.last_name} when attempting to create an account in Stripe.\r\n\r\n${error}\r\n\r\nPlease investigate.\r\n\r\nID: ${key}\r\nEmail: ${payload.email_address}`, 
		}); 
	});

Build the hook with the latest changes.

npm run build

npm run build

Add Hook to Directus

When Directus starts, it will look in the extensions directory for any subdirectory starting with directus-extension-, and attempt to load them.

To install an extension, copy the entire directory with all source code, the package.json file, and the dist directory into the Directus extensions directory. Make sure the directory with your extension has a name that starts with directus-extension. In this case, you may choose to use directus-extension-hook-create-stripe-customer.

Ensure the .env file has STRIPE_TOKEN variable.

Restart Directus to load the extension.

Required files

Only the package.json and dist directory are required inside of your extension directory. However, adding the source code has no negative effect.

Summary

With Stripe now integrated in this hook, whenever a new customer is created, this hook will create a customer in Stripe and write back the customer ID to Directus. Now that you know how to interact with the Stripe API, you can investigate other endpoints that Stripe has to offer.

Complete Code

index.js

import Stripe from 'stripe';

export default ({ action }, { env, services }) => {
	const { MailService, ItemsService } = services;

	action('items.create', async ({ key, collection, payload }, { schema }) => {
		if (collection !== 'customers') return;
		const stripe = new Stripe(env.STRIPE_TOKEN);

		stripe.customers
			.create({
				name: `${payload.first_name} ${payload.last_name}`,
				email: payload.email_address,
			})
			.then((customer) => {
				const customers = new ItemsService(collection, { schema: schema });
				customers.updateByQuery({ filter: { id: key } }, { stripe_id: customer.id }, { emitEvents: false });
			})
			.catch((error) => {
				mailService.send({
					to: 'sharedmailbox@directus.io',
					from: 'noreply@directus.io',
					subject: `An error has occurred with Stripe API`,
					text: `The following error occurred for ${payload.first_name} ${payload.last_name} when attempting to create an account in Stripe.\r\n\r\n${error}\r\n\r\nPlease investigate.\r\n\r\nID: ${key}\r\nEmail: ${payload.email_address}`,
				});
			});
	});
};

import Stripe from 'stripe';

export default ({ action }, { env, services }) => {
	const { MailService, ItemsService } = services;

	action('items.create', async ({ key, collection, payload }, { schema }) => {
		if (collection !== 'customers') return;
		const stripe = new Stripe(env.STRIPE_TOKEN);

		stripe.customers
			.create({
				name: `${payload.first_name} ${payload.last_name}`,
				email: payload.email_address,
			})
			.then((customer) => {
				const customers = new ItemsService(collection, { schema: schema });
				customers.updateByQuery({ filter: { id: key } }, { stripe_id: customer.id }, { emitEvents: false });
			})
			.catch((error) => {
				mailService.send({
					to: 'sharedmailbox@directus.io',
					from: 'noreply@directus.io',
					subject: `An error has occurred with Stripe API`,
					text: `The following error occurred for ${payload.first_name} ${payload.last_name} when attempting to create an account in Stripe.\r\n\r\n${error}\r\n\r\nPlease investigate.\r\n\r\nID: ${key}\r\nEmail: ${payload.email_address}`,
				});
			});
	});
};

Data Model

Fields

Flows

Extension Types

Sandboxed Extensions

Extension Services

Use Hooks to Create Stripe Customers

Install Dependencies

Build the Hook

Add Hook to Directus

Summary

Complete Code

Fields

Follow the White Rabbit 🐇

Use Hooks to Create Stripe Customers ​

Install Dependencies ​

Build the Hook ​

Add Hook to Directus ​

Summary ​

Complete Code ​

Use Hooks to Create Stripe Customers

Install Dependencies

Build the Hook

Add Hook to Directus

Summary

Complete Code