What's Missing in Standard FastAPI + Stripe Architecture
Stripe handles subscription billing perfectly, but it doesn't track usage or enforce feature limits. You'd need to manually check subscription status and implement your own usage tracking in your database. Stripe webhooks fire for payment events, but not for usage milestones.
Standard FastAPI + Stripe Flow vs Optimized Skene Flow
User subscribes via Stripe
Subscription status stored in your database
Features accessible but no usage limits enforced
Track usage in your database 'subscriptions' and 'usage' tables
Detect when free tier user hits limit (e.g., 100 API calls)
Block feature access and trigger upgrade prompt email
Track conversion from free to paid
Visual comparison of the flows:
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How Skene Fixes This
The Skene infrastructure for FastAPI + Stripe tracks usage in your database and integrates with Stripe to enforce subscription limits. It automatically gates features and sends upgrade prompts when free tier limits are reached.
Implementation Comparison
Using Skene Infrastructure
Install via Prompt
@task: Initialize Skene.
@action: Analyze my local code, validating subscription via `npx skene login`, and generate `skene.config.ts` to implement the Freemium Gating pattern for FastAPI + Stripe.Copy Skene Prompt for Cursor
Generated skene.config.ts
// skene.config.ts - The Automated Way
import { defineLoop } from '@skene/sdk';
export default defineLoop({
type: 'freemium',
opinion: 'Enforce usage limits for free tier users and trigger upgrade prompts',
steps: [
{
trigger: {
type: 'api',
endpoint: '/api/features/*',
method: 'POST'
},
condition: {
type: 'usage',
limit: {
free: 100,
paid: Infinity
},
period: '30d'
},
action: {
type: 'block',
message: 'You've reached your free tier limit. Upgrade to continue.',
upgradePrompt: {
type: 'email',
provider: 'resend',
template: 'upgrade_prompt'
}
}
}
],
recovery: {
retries: 0 // No retries for blocking actions
}
});