Stripe Projects Skill

Wraps the Stripe Projects CLI plugin so Hermes can provision SaaS services (Neon, Twilio, Vercel, etc.), generate and sync credentials into the user's .env, and manage billing across providers from one place.

Gated [linux, macos] while the broader payments cluster matures on Windows. The Stripe CLI itself is cross-platform; this gate is a posture for the cluster, not a hard limit.

When to Use

Trigger phrases:

• "set up <provider>", "provision <Neon|Twilio|Vercel|...>", "create a database"
• "give me a <Postgres|Redis|Twilio number|...> for this project"
• "manage my stack credentials", "rotate this key", "upgrade my plan"
• "what providers can I add?"

If the user already has a provider account, this skill can still connect it with stripe projects link <provider>. If the user wants to use an existing provider resource, such as an existing database or Vercel project, check provider support first; many providers currently support provisioning new resources but not importing existing ones.

Prerequisites

• Stripe CLI installed (Homebrew on macOS, package manager on Linux, or download from https://docs.stripe.com/stripe-cli/install)
• Stripe Projects plugin installed
• A Stripe account. If the user doesn't have one yet, the CLI can guide them through sign-in or account creation in the browser during setup.

Install

macOS:

brew install stripe/stripe-cli/stripe
stripe plugin install projects

Linux: follow the platform-specific install at https://docs.stripe.com/stripe-cli/install, then:

stripe plugin install projects

How to Run

All commands run through the terminal tool from inside the user's project directory (the CLI writes .env and .projects/vault/vault.json into the CWD).

Procedure

1. Initialize the project

cd <project-root>
stripe projects init

This creates .projects/vault/vault.json (encrypted credential store) and prepares the project to receive providers.

2. Discover available providers

stripe projects catalog

Lists every provider Stripe Projects supports — databases, hosting, auth, AI, analytics, messaging, etc.

3. Add a service

stripe projects add <provider>/<service>

Examples:

• stripe projects add neon/postgres
• stripe projects add twilio/sms
• stripe projects add runloop/sandbox

The CLI provisions the service in the user's own account with the provider, generates credentials, syncs them into .env, and records the resource in the vault. The user may need to confirm a tier selection or pricing prompt.

4. Verify

stripe projects list

Should show the newly added provider and its .env keys.

5. Manage / upgrade / remove

stripe projects upgrade <provider>     # tier change
stripe projects remove <provider>      # deprovision
stripe projects rotate <provider>      # rotate credentials

Pitfalls

• .env writes are real writes. The CLI appends to whatever .env is in the project root. If the user's .env is gitignored (normal), the keys land safely; if not, this skill could be a credential-leak vector. Always check .gitignore first.
• Per-project state. .projects/vault/vault.json is per-project. Provisioning the same service in two different projects creates two separate resources — and two bills.
• Billing happens on Stripe's side. Tier prompts during add/upgrade are real charges; surface them to the user before confirming.
• Provider availability changes. The catalog grows; if a provider the user names isn't listed, stripe projects catalog | grep <name> first instead of failing the add call.
• Credentials in vault are encrypted but .env is plaintext. Standard .env hygiene applies — never commit it.
• Removing a service does NOT always destroy the underlying resource. Some providers leave a paused/dormant resource behind. Check the provider's own dashboard after remove for high-cost services (managed databases especially).

Verification

stripe projects --version && stripe projects list

Exit code 0 inside an initialized project means the plugin is healthy.