stripe-directory

Stripe Directory Search

Turn a vague market need into a short, relevant shortlist with stripe directory search. Use this even when the user never says “Stripe Directory” — any request to find vendors, tools, partners, or providers for a vertical, workflow, pain point, or job-to-be-done.

Most requests are discovery — find and compare services. That is the core job below. Some services are also MPP-supported (MPP = Machine Payment Protocol), meaning you (the agent) can pay their HTTP 402 (Payment Required) endpoint and consume them directly. When the user actually wants to use or buy a service, present those results and offer to purchase — see “Purchasing” at the end.

Process

1. Clarify only what’s missing: buyer/vertical, job-to-be-done, must-have capability, geography (only if it matters).

2. Search iteratively: stripe directory search "<query>" --format json

   • Short noun phrases, one angle per query; run 1-3, then broaden/narrow on results.
   • Angles to cover: vertical → workflow → pain point → adjacent. Two examples:
     • services/trades: vertical (electrician software, electrical contractor) → workflow (field service management, dispatch invoicing estimates) → pain point (job scheduling, quote automation) → adjacent (home services automation, contractor crm).
     • SaaS/software: vertical (b2b saas billing, developer tools) → workflow (subscription management, usage-based metering) → pain point (failed payment recovery, revenue recognition) → adjacent (analytics dashboards, customer onboarding).
   • Hard constraints → filters: --countries-supported=US, --has-stripe-app=true, --link-supported=true, --stripe-projects-supported=true.
   • If the user wants to use/buy a service, also pass --mpp-supported in at least one search to find results you can pay for programmatically.
   • Sparse niche? Raise --limit and try the next --page before concluding it’s empty.

3. Dedupe & score using display_name, description, url, username as evidence.

   • Prefer results whose description/site clearly match the target workflow.
   • Prefer more trust signals over fewer: Projects provider, Link enabled, Marketplace app, Stripe Verified. For buy/use intent, also prefer MPP-supported results.
   • Thin description but strong brand/domain match → keep in a weaker bucket, don’t discard.

4. Return a shortlist, not a dump — 5-10 strong matches, grouped:

   • direct / adjacent / needs manual review
   • Each entry: name · why it matched · URL (· which query surfaced it, when useful).
   • Projects providers: offer the follow-up. The JSON gives the exact commands under each result’s projects.catalog_command / projects.install_command (stripe projects catalog <provider>, stripe projects add <provider>).
   • MPP-supported results: note they’re purchasable and include mpp.slug / mpp.url.

5. Be honest about weak results — if sparse or generic, say so and adjust: broaden, narrow, or try synonyms rather than padding with noise.

Always report the exact queries (and filters) you ran so the user can keep iterating.

Purchasing (only when the user wants to buy or consume a service)

MPP-supported results are payable directly. Don’t drive to purchase unprompted. When the user wants to buy, present the full menu of payment methods and ask which they’d like to use before doing anything:

"Which payment method would you like to use?

• Link CLI — Stripe-native, test mode available (recommended)

• Tempo — crypto wallet
• Privy Agent Wallet CLI — crypto wallet
• mppx — debug-only fallback"

Once the user picks, silently run which <tool> 2>/dev/null to check if it’s installed. If not installed, offer to install it (for example, npm i -g @stripe/link-cli for Link CLI) and wait for confirmation before proceeding.

Always show the price and get explicit user approval before any money moves; prefer a no-charge test path first.

Short version:

1. Resolve the real callable endpoint from the result’s mpp.slug / mpp.url. mpp.url is often the mpp.dev landing form (https://mpp.dev/services#<slug>) — resolve the raw endpoint on mpp.dev if so. Read the HTTP 402 challenge to confirm the amount: curl -s -D - -o /dev/null <endpoint_url> (look for WWW-Authenticate).
2. Use the payer the user selected.
   • link-cli (Stripe-native Shared Payment Token, has a test mode, no crypto wallet, US Link accounts only; npm i -g @stripe/link-cli): auth login → mpp decode --challenge "<value>" (get network_id) → spend-request create --credential-type shared_payment_token --network-id <id> --amount <cents ≤50000> --context "<100+ chars>" --request-approval (blocks for approval) → mpp pay <endpoint_url> --spend-request-id <approved_id>.
   • Tempo: tempo wallet login / services / request.
   • Privy: @privy-io/agent-wallet-cli.
   • mppx: debug-only fallback.

Never invent results or skip the price/approval gate.