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MCP Stripe Billing in VS Code

Check your Stripe balance and build payment links from chat. stripe_balance reads your live Stripe account balance and stripe_payment_link creates a shareable payment link for a price you name; both call the Stripe REST API directly with the STRIPE_SECRET_KEY environment variable you set — no SDK, no dashboard, the answer lands in the conversation.

Both tools hit the live Stripe API, so do NOT auto-approve stripe_payment_link; a wrong link in agent mode is a real chargeable artifact. Balance reads are safe to approve.

What you get in VS Code

The contract suite covers the key-missing path (a structured error telling you to set STRIPE_SECRET_KEY, never a stack trace) and asserts the request shapes against the documented Stripe REST API; live balance reads were verified against a real account during development.

Install it in VS Code

The file is .vscode/mcp.json, and the key inside it is servers.

If you also run Claude Desktop, the shortest path there is one click: stripe-billing.mcpb from the latest release opens as an extension, with no JSON and no terminal. VS Code reads its own config, so here it is:

// .vscode/mcp.json  (the key is "servers")
{
  "servers": {
    "stripe-billing": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-servers/servers/stripe-billing/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Or from a terminal:

code --add-mcp '{"name":"stripe-billing","command":"node","args":["/absolute/path/to/mcp-servers/servers/stripe-billing/dist/index.js"]}'

The node command above wants a built file. From a clone, once:

git clone https://github.com/theluckystrike/mcp-servers.git
cd mcp-servers && npm install
npm run build -w packages/mcp-license -w servers/stripe-billing

That writes servers/stripe-billing/dist/index.js, and its absolute path is the one argument the config needs.

The npm packages are not published yet, so the form below returns a 404 today. It is here because it is what the entry becomes the day the publish lands, with nothing else changed:

code --add-mcp '{"name":"stripe-billing","command":"npx","args":["-y","@theluckystrike/mcp-stripe-billing"]}'

VS Code asks you to confirm you trust the server and its capabilities before it starts. Nothing runs until you answer.

Nothing is published to npm yet, so the working install paths are the ones above: the .mcpb bundle from the latest release, a clone and build, or the hosted URL.

No install: the hosted endpoint

There is no hosted endpoint for this one yet. MCP Stripe Billing runs locally over stdio with the config above, which is also the only form in which it reads and writes files on your own disk. Thirty of the servers in this collection are served at https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/<name> over MCP streamable HTTP; https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/connect lists them and prints a ready URL for each.

VS Code notes worth knowing first

The top-level key is "servers", not "mcpServers". A config pasted from a Claude Desktop or Cursor README parses cleanly, contributes no servers, and gives you no error to read, which makes it the most expensive one-word mistake here. Alongside it an "inputs" array holds secrets. The newer Agent Host reads a workspace .mcp.json instead.

Free: Everything: two tools, no metering, no key. Bring your own STRIPE_SECRET_KEY. Pro is $19 once, verified offline.

Questions

Why does my mcp.json do nothing?

The key is servers, not mcpServers. A config copied from a Claude Desktop README parses cleanly and contributes nothing. Rename it. On the newer Agent Host, use a workspace .mcp.json instead.

Do I have to edit the file at all?

No. code --add-mcp takes the server object on the command line, and MCP: Add Server in the palette asks whether the target is Workspace or Global.

Where do the MCP Stripe Billing tools show up?

In Chat, behind the tools picker, once the server has started. Adding or changing one raises a prompt asking you to confirm you trust it; if the picker is empty, that prompt is usually still waiting.

Related

MCP Stripe Billing in detail · The same server in Cursor and Windsurf · Every server in VS Code · Guides · VS Code docs · Buy Pro