Using Stripe actions in action flows

Before you can include external actions in your action flows, you must connect the action builder to the external system.


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Summary: ◀▼
You can connect action flows to Stripe using API keys to automate tasks like creating, updating, and searching customers, managing subscriptions, and handling invoices. Use a dedicated service account for connections and restrict API key permissions. This integration helps streamline customer and billing management by enabling you to perform Stripe actions directly within your workflows.


By connecting the action builder to external systems, such as Stripe, admins
can integrate Zendesk with external systems in automated workflows, improving
collaboration and maintaining a seamless experience across multiple platforms.
Note: The steps associated with external systems in action flows are
referred to collectively as external actions.

This article contains the following topics:
Connecting Stripe to action builder
Using Stripe actions in action flows




Connecting Stripe to action builder

Before you can include external actions in your action flows, you must connect the
action builder to the external system.
When connecting to external systems for use in action flows, the following best practices are recommended:
All external actions performed by an action flow are attributed to the user who connected the
external system. Therefore, it's a best practice to use a dedicated service
account rather than personal credentials when connecting to each external
system.
All integrations request access to necessary scopes. However, it's important that you review and validate the scopes before authorizing the connection to the external system.
When managing credentials for API key-based tools, such as OpenAI, it's best to store keys in a secure vault or credential manager.


To create an API key
The Stripe connection uses an API key for authentication. You can generate an API key
in your Stripe Dashboard under Developers > API keys. See the Stripe
documentation for details.


Important: Use restricted API keys with only the
permissions needed for your workflows. Stripe provides both test and live API
keys — use test keys during development and live keys only in production.


To connect action builder to Stripe
In Admin Center, click
Apps and integrations in the sidebar, then select Actions > Action
flows.

Create or edit an action flow.
Open the step sidebar.
Under External actions, click Stripe.
Click Connect.
Follow Stripe's prompts to enter your Stripe access token and complete the
connection.
Note: All external actions performed by
an action flow are attributed to the user who connected the external
system. Therefore, it is a best practice to use a dedicated service
account rather than personal credentials when connecting to each
external system.



After you've connected to the system, you'll see an indicator that it's connected and
details about the instance you're connected to, as well as the actions available for
Stripe.



Using Stripe actions in action flows

The following Stripe actions are available:
Create customer
Update customer
Lookup customer
Searching for
customers
Canceling a
subscription
Creating an
invoice
Looking up an
invoice
Searching for
invoices




Creating a customer

Use the Create customer action to create a new customer record in
Stripe.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Email Optional:
Name, Phone,
Description,
Metadata
Metadata accepts
JSON format for custom key-value pairs.



Output
Customer details including ID, email, name, creation
timestamp, and object type.








Updating a customer

Use the Update customer action to update an existing customer's
information.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Customer ID Optional:
Email, Name,
Phone,
Description,
Metadata



Output
Updated customer details including ID, email, name, and
object type.








Looking up a customer

Use the Lookup customer action to retrieve complete details for a specific
customer.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Customer ID



Output
Customer details including ID, email, name, phone,
description, balance, currency, default payment source,
creation timestamp, and metadata.








Searching for customers

Use the Search customer action to find customers matching search
criteria.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Query Query uses
Stripe search syntax (for example,
email:'user@example.com' or metadata['key']:'value').
See Stripe search query language documentation for
complete syntax.
Optional:
Limit



Output
Array of customer objects with total count, containing
customer IDs, emails, names, and creation
timestamps.








Canceling a subscription

Use the Cancel subscription action to cancel an active subscription.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Subscription ID Optional:
Cancel at period end,
Cancellation comment
Cancel
at period end options are Yes or No. Selecting Yes
schedules cancellation at the end of the current billing
period.



Output
Subscription details including ID, status, cancellation
timestamps, and billing period information.








Creating an invoice

Use the Create invoice action to create a new invoice for a customer.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Customer ID Optional:
Auto advance, Collection
method,
Currency,Description,Footer,Subscription,Default
payment method, Days until
due, Pending invoice items
behavior,
Metadata
Auto advance, Collection
method, and Pending invoice items behavior are dropdown
fields with predefined options. Currency uses
three-letter ISO codes (e.g., USD, EUR,
GBP).



Output
Invoice details including ID, customer, status, amounts,
currency, invoice number, hosted invoice URL, PDF link, and
timestamps.








Looking up an invoice

Use the Lookup invoice action to retrieve complete details for a specific
invoice.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Invoice ID



Output
Invoice details including ID, customer, status, currency,
collection method, amounts due/paid/remaining, subtotal,
total, invoice number, hosted URL, PDF link, due date, and
period timestamps.








Searching for invoices

Use the Search invoice action to find invoices matching search criteria.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Query Optional:
Limit
Query uses Stripe
search syntax (e.g., customer:'cus_ABC123' or
metadata['key']:'value'). See Stripe search query
language documentation for complete syntax.



Output
Array of invoice objects with total count and pagination
status, containing invoice IDs, customer IDs, status,
amounts, currency, creation timestamps, and URLs.








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