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Quick Start

Get licensing working in your app in under 10 minutes using paycheck.dev.

1. Create an Account​

Sign up at paycheck.dev and create your organization.

2. Create a Project​

Each app you sell gets its own project. Projects have:

  • Unique Ed25519 signing keys (auto-generated)
  • Payment provider configuration
  • Products (pricing tiers)

In the console:

  1. Go to Projects → New Project
  2. Enter your app name
  3. Set the redirect URL (where customers land after payment)

3. Configure Payment Provider​

Connect Stripe or LemonSqueezy to receive payments.

Stripe​

  1. Go to Project Settings → Payments
  2. Enter your Stripe secret key
  3. Add webhook endpoint: https://api.paycheck.dev/webhook/stripe
  4. Copy the webhook signing secret to Paycheck

LemonSqueezy​

  1. Go to Project Settings → Payments
  2. Enter your LemonSqueezy API key
  3. Add webhook endpoint: https://api.paycheck.dev/webhook/lemonsqueezy
  4. Copy the webhook signing secret to Paycheck

4. Create a Product​

Products are your pricing tiers (free, pro, enterprise, etc.).

  1. Go to Products → New Product
  2. Set name, tier, and features
  3. Link to your Stripe Price ID or LemonSqueezy Variant ID

5. Get Your Public Key​

Download your project's public key from Project Settings → Keys.

This key is embedded in your app at build time for offline JWT validation.

6. Integrate the SDK​

Rust​

cargo add paycheck-sdk
use paycheck_sdk::{PaycheckClient, DeviceType};

let client = PaycheckClient::builder()
    .api_url("https://api.paycheck.dev")
    .public_key(include_str!("../public_key.pem"))
    .build()?;

// Check for existing license
if let Some(license) = client.load_license()? {
    if license.is_valid() {
        println!("Licensed: {}", license.tier);
    }
}

// Activate with code from email
let license = client.activate("MYAPP-AB3D-EF5G", DeviceType::Machine)?;

JavaScript​

npm install @anthropic/paycheck-sdk
import { PaycheckClient } from '@anthropic/paycheck-sdk';

const client = new PaycheckClient({
  apiUrl: 'https://api.paycheck.dev',
  publicKey: PUBLIC_KEY,
});

// Check license
const license = await client.loadLicense();
if (license?.isValid()) {
  console.log(`Licensed: ${license.tier}`);
}

// Activate
const newLicense = await client.activate('MYAPP-AB3D-EF5G', 'uuid');

7. Add Buy Button​

Link customers to your payment page:

<a href="https://api.paycheck.dev/buy?product_id=YOUR_PRODUCT_ID">
  Buy Now
</a>

Or use the SDK:

let checkout_url = client.get_checkout_url("prod_xxxxx")?;

What Happens Next​

  1. Customer clicks buy → redirected to Stripe/LemonSqueezy
  2. Customer pays → webhook creates license
  3. Customer redirected to your app with activation code
  4. Customer enters code → SDK exchanges for JWT
  5. App validates JWT locally → customer is licensed

Next Steps​