Streamline Stripe Checkout Sessions with n8n Automation

Opening Problem Statement

Meet Sarah, an e-commerce operations manager who handles dozens of Stripe checkout sessions daily for her online store. Every week, she spends hours manually extracting data from Stripe’s dashboard, filtering orders by specific custom fields like “nickname” and “job_title,” and compiling reports. This manual process is time-consuming, prone to errors, and increasingly unsustainable as the store grows. Parsing nested custom fields to find relevant customer info adds complexity, making it difficult to quickly analyze recent checkout sessions.

Sarah often misses critical sales insights and customization details, impacting her marketing targeting and support follow-up. With such repetitive data wrangling draining hours each week, she needs an automated, reliable workflow to streamline retrieving and filtering Stripe checkout sessions — exactly what this n8n workflow offers.

What This Automation Does

This workflow connects directly to Stripe’s API to:

• Retrieve all checkout sessions created in the last 20 days using advanced date filtering and pagination to ensure no data is missed.
• Split the returned bulk data array of sessions into individual records for granular processing.
• Further split the nested custom_fields object within each session into separate components for easier filtering.
• Filter these custom fields to keep only those records where keys match “nickname” and “job_title,” enabling targeted customer follow-up.
• Enable visualization and structured handling of relevant customer customizations without manual data extraction.
• Save Sarah hours weekly by automating data retrieval, parsing, and filtering, reducing costly manual errors that disrupt business insights.

Prerequisites ⚙️

• n8n account – Access to the n8n automation platform to build and run the workflow.
• Stripe API credentials 🔑 – A Stripe account with API access and credentials pre-configured in n8n to authenticate requests securely.
• Basic familiarity with JSON data structures – Helpful to understand nested fields like custom_fields.
• Web browser – To interact with n8n’s web interface

Optional: For greater control and privacy, you can self-host n8n with providers like Hostinger.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Start with the HTTP Request node to fetch Stripe checkout sessions

In your n8n canvas, add an HTTP Request node and name it something descriptive like “Stripe | Get latest checkout sessions”.

Navigate to the node’s settings:

• Set the Method to GET.
• Enter the URL: https://api.stripe.com/v1/checkout/sessions.
• Under Authentication, select your Stripe API credentials stored in n8n.
• In the Query Parameters, specify JSON query with the following filter to get sessions created in the last 20 days (you can adjust this):

{
  "created": {
    "gte": {{ $today.minus(20, 'days').toSeconds() }},
    "lte": {{ $today.toSeconds() }}
  }
}

This uses JavaScript expressions within n8n to dynamically set the date range.

Enable pagination:

• Under Options, turn on pagination to fetch all pages. Set the Starting After parameter dynamically by referencing the last session ID to continuously retrieve sessions until has_more == false.

Expected outcome: When you execute this node, you’ll retrieve all checkout sessions within the last 20 days from Stripe with smooth handling of large result sets.

Step 2: Add a SplitOut node to separate data array

Add a SplitOut node named “split all data” next.

Configure it to split out the field data from the Stripe response, which contains the array of checkout sessions.

This breaks the bulk response into individual records, one per checkout session, enabling detailed downstream processing.

Common mistake: Forgetting to set the field to “data” will cause no splitting, so confirm the exact response path by inspecting the Stripe API output.

Step 3: Add second SplitOut node to handle custom_fields

Chain another SplitOut node named “split custom_fields” after the previous one.

This time, configure it to split the custom_fields field within each checkout session JSON object.

This nested splitting facilitates filtering specific customer metadata fields.

Step 4: Filter relevant custom fields

Use a Filter node called “Filter by custom_field” to narrow down to only those entries where the key equals nickname or job_title.

Set the filter conditions as follows:

• Combine with AND logic.
• Condition 1: custom_fields.key EQUALS “nickname”.
• Condition 2: custom_fields.key EQUALS “job_title”.

This ensures only sessions containing these specific custom metadata fields pass through.

Step 5: Add Sticky Notes for documentation

Add Sticky Note nodes at relevant points to document key configurations and purposes, such as explaining the pagination setup for Stripe API and clarifying the filtering logic.

Customizations ✏️

• Adjust date range: Modify the JSON query in the HTTP Request node to change the time window, e.g., last 7 days, 30 days, by altering gte and lte timestamps.
• Add more custom fields filters: In the Filter node, add OR conditions to include more keys as needed like “email” or “referral_code”.
• Output structured reports: Connect the Filter node’s output to Google Sheets or email nodes to automatically generate and send reports focused on important custom fields.

Troubleshooting 🔧

Problem: “Authentication failed” error

Cause: Incorrect or missing Stripe credentials in the HTTP Request node.

Solution: In your HTTP Request node, go to Authentication settings and select (or update) your Stripe API credentials. Test with a simple standalone request to verify.

Problem: “No data returned” or empty outputs

Cause: Date filters might be set incorrectly or no sessions exist in that period.

Solution: Confirm your created query parameters by running the API call manually in Stripe docs or on the node with different date ranges.

Pre-Production Checklist ✅

• Verify Stripe API credentials are correctly set in n8n with appropriate permissions.
• Test the HTTP Request node independently to ensure sessions are retrieved.
• Confirm the SplitOut nodes correctly parse the response by inspecting sample outputs.
• Validate the Filter node appropriately keeps only desired custom fields.
• Run end-to-end test with sample data to simulate real-world usage before going live.
• Back up your n8n workflow JSON before major edits for rollback if needed.

Deployment Guide

Once tested, activate the workflow within n8n by toggling the toggle in the top right to “Active.”

Schedule the workflow if you want it to run on a timed basis or manually trigger it for on-demand data synchronization.

Monitor execution via the n8n UI’s run history logs to catch any runtime errors or API limits.

FAQs

Can I use this workflow with other payment gateways?

This workflow is specifically designed for Stripe API syntax and pagination. Adapting it to other services requires modifying the HTTP request URL, authentication, and JSON structure.

Does this consume API credits or has limitations?

Stripe API calls count towards your Stripe account limits. Paging through large data sets increases calls but is necessary for complete data. Monitor Stripe usage in your dashboard.

Is my data safe using this workflow?

Yes, your Stripe credentials are stored securely in n8n’s credential manager and requests are sent over HTTPS. Always implement additional security best practices on your n8n host.

Conclusion

With this tailored n8n workflow, Sarah (and you) can efficiently retrieve and extract meaningful custom field data from Stripe checkout sessions without manual data dumps. This saves countless hours each week, reduces human error, and enables sharper marketing and support insights.

Try expanding this automation by adding report generation, sending alerts on certain customer segments, or integrating with other CRM tools. Empower your Stripe data handling with n8n’s automation magic today!