# subscription-integration

A skill for the Dodo Payments subscription lifecycle after checkout: trials, plan changes, pause, and recovery from failed payments.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 1000 installs · ★ 12
- Author: dodopayments
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/dodopayments/skills/tree/HEAD/dodo-payments/subscription-integration/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-20
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/subscription-integration

## What it does

The skill maps what happens to a subscription once checkout is done: eight statuses from `pending` to `expired`, the transitions between them, and the webhook events each one fires. A trial is set with `trial_period_days` — the subscription reports `active` right away, but nothing is charged until the trial end date. A failed renewal lands in `past_due` if you configured a grace period, otherwise it goes straight to `on_hold`.

Plan changes run through `changePlan` with a proration mode. On an upgrade the customer gets credit for unused time on the old plan and is billed for a full new cycle. Pause and resume use the `status` field on the update endpoint, and it has to be sent alone — combine `paused` or `active` with any other field and the API rejects the call with `422`. Worth knowing before you wrap the SDK.

You need a `DODO_PAYMENTS_API_KEY` and the `dodopayments` Node package. The skill also covers updating a payment method while a subscription sits in `on_hold`, usage history for metered plans, and credit balances. It does not start the purchase itself — that is what `checkout-integration` is for.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add dodopayments/skills --skill subscription-integration -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/subscription-integration/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/subscription-integration/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add dodopayments/skills --skill subscription-integration -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/subscription-integration/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add dodopayments/skills --skill subscription-integration -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/subscription-integration/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install dodopayments/skills subscription-integration
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/subscription-integration/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add dodopayments/skills --skill subscription-integration -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/dodopayments/skills --path dodo-payments/subscription-integration
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/subscription-integration/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add dodopayments/skills --skill subscription-integration -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/dodopayments/skills/tree/HEAD/dodo-payments/subscription-integration/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- create a subscription with a trial through a Checkout Session
- tell `past_due` apart from `on_hold` in webhook handling
- switch plans mid-cycle and get the proration right
- pause a subscription and resume it later
- restore access after a failed renewal

## Example prompts
- Show me how to create a subscription with a 14-day trial via Checkout Session
- A customer wants to upgrade mid-month — how does proration work here?
- The subscription went on_hold, walk me through updating the payment method

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: 27407edd53f26e3d.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE 27407edd53f26e3d
````text
---
name: subscription-integration
description: Dodo Payments subscription lifecycle after checkout, covering trials, statuses like active, on_hold, and cancelled, plan upgrades and downgrades, proration, cancellation, failed-payment recovery, mandates, and on-demand charges. Use when managing recurring billing, plan changes, dunning, or off-session charging; use checkout-integration to start the purchase.
---

# Dodo Payments Subscription Integration

Implement recurring billing with trials, plan changes, and on-demand charging. Subscriptions are created through Checkout Sessions, managed via the subscriptions API, and monitored through webhooks.

## When to use this skill

- Building a subscription product with recurring billing and trials
- Handling plan upgrades, downgrades, and migrations mid-cycle
- Implementing on-demand/off-session charging with mandates
- Managing failed payments and dunning recovery
- Building a customer self-service portal for subscription management

---

## Core Concepts

**Subscription lifecycle:** The eight subscription statuses are `pending`, `active`, `past_due`, `on_hold`, `paused`, `cancelled`, `failed`, and `expired`. A trialing subscription reports `active`; `subscription.renewed` is an event, not a status. A failed renewal moves a subscription to `past_due` (only if you configured a grace period; access is kept) or `on_hold` (access revoked); both are recoverable. `paused` is a deliberate freeze by you or the customer. `failed` is terminal and only happens when **initial creation** fails. Cancellation sets it to `cancelled` or schedules it to become `expired` at period end.

**Checkout Sessions:** The recommended path for creating subscriptions. A single-use hosted checkout that collects payment and customer data, then creates the subscription server-side.

**Proration:** When a customer changes plans mid-cycle, Dodo calculates credits or charges based on the time remaining. Proration mode controls whether the customer is billed immediately, credited, or neither.

**Mandates:** Authorization to charge a customer's payment method repeatedly (for subscriptions) or on-demand (for usage-based billing). Created during Checkout, can be updated if payment fails.

---

## Creating a Subscription

### Via Checkout Session (Recommended)

```typescript
import DodoPayments from 'dodopayments';

const client = new DodoPayments({
  bearerToken: process.env.DODO_PAYMENTS_API_KEY,
````
END THIRD-PARTY FILE 27407edd53f26e3d

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First 2446 of 16283 bytes. © dodopayments · MIT · https://github.com/dodopayments/skills/tree/HEAD/dodo-payments/subscription-integration/SKILL.md

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---
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