GROWTH PATTERN

Adding Freemium Gating to Rails + Stripe Apps

Rails + Stripe manages subscriptions well, but free users can access all features without hitting conversion triggers because usage isn't tracked.

Rails + Stripe

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What's Missing in Standard Rails + Stripe Architecture

Stripe webhooks tell you about payment events, but they don't track whether a paying customer is actually using your product. You need separate infrastructure to monitor usage and enforce subscription limits.

Standard Rails + Stripe Flow vs Optimized Skene Flow

Standard Flow
1

User subscribes via Stripe

2

Subscription status stored in your database

3

Features accessible but no usage limits enforced

Skene Flow
1

Track usage in your database 'subscriptions' and 'usage' tables

2

Detect when free tier user hits limit (e.g., 10 files uploaded)

3

Block feature access and trigger upgrade prompt email

4

Track conversion from free to paid

Visual comparison of the flows:

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How Skene Fixes This

This Skene Prompt installs usage tracking that correlates your database feature usage with Stripe subscription tiers. When free users hit limits (like 100 API calls), it automatically blocks features and sends upgrade prompts.

Implementation Comparison

Using Skene Infrastructure

Install via Prompt

cursor.mdc
@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 Rails + Stripe.

Copy Skene Prompt for Cursor

Generated skene.config.ts

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
  }
});

Frequently asked questions