Stripe Plugin (E-commerce)

[next coyote]

Hello, I have been using Directus for some time. It is a fantastic tool for website development, but it does have some limitations when it comes to setting up online stores. That's why I'm currently working on creating a relatively straightforward plugin that will provide support for Stripe integration and order flow.

https://github.com/nexthis/directus-stripe

[timid coral]

Noice!

This one has been on my todo list for a while

What Stripe functionality are you planning on supporting? Specifically?

[topaz token]

I’m working on stripe in my front end right now for checkout and connect. Interested to learn more.

[thorny hearth]

Nice, are you planning on creating payments from the directus dashboard ? or just apis to use in the frontend

[next coyote]

This is my initial assumption; if I decide to proceed, I will add it to the repository at the next opportunity.

[next coyote]

1. I need to think more about "amount" because some product doesn't need it, for example: course access key. Product should have a checkbox with the option whether it is physical or virtual (if all items are virtual, user shouldn’t provide the address)

2. I need to add the ability to add an address by an "anonymous" client and inject the address in the case of a regular user

3. For now, I'm having some trouble reconciling my roles in Directus with the ability to add orders "anonymously"

[frigid vapor]

Had to get my readers out for that flow chart 😂

I do quite a bit of work with payment gateways and e-commerce specifically, so if you're seeking any suggestions on the flow I'd be happy to add to it. Or if you want to make it flexible for other payment processors for any reason, or leave room open for that, there are considerations.

[next coyote]

@frigid vapor
Hey, I'd be happy to listen to any advice because I don't have much experience in e-commerce myself (usually, I've been writing applications). Regarding the plugin's concept, I would like it to be universal in the sense that in the future, we can create:

{provider}/payment/:id
and
{provider}/webhook

That's why I don't want to integrate functions that are only available for Stripe.

if anyone want to edit schema (I'll add it to github)
app.diagrams.net

[frigid vapor]

What app are you using to edit your flow chart?

[next coyote]

https://app.diagrams.net/

[frigid vapor]

Appreciate it.

[next coyote]

You don't have to log in or pay for anything, so I think it's a good option for a public project

[frigid vapor]

It's all good. I'll try to find some time today to check it out. In the interim I would be happy to DM with you and help answer any questions you may have.

[next coyote]

First and foremost, I am focusing heavily on the API, but I'm not ruling out the possibility in the future if there is a need for it.

[next coyote]

@timid coral
What do you think about this project?

[topaz token]

^ this im sure 🙂

[iron widget]

Wouldn’t it make sense to just use something like MedusaJS for e-commerce and Directus for, well… content. It seems like a better plugin would be a directus/medusa integration.

Perhaps for syncing products or whatever to the CMS, but meh idk…

This seems like trying to retro fit something into directus which doesn’t belong in directus.

A full e-commerce solution just seems out the scope of directus. There maybe other use cases for a stripe plug-in in directus, but e-commerce just doesn’t seem like it.

[timid coral]

The real challenging part for eCommerce is business logic.

Not necessarily the data model.

I use Directus to power subscriptions and payments for my own platform. Is that eCommerce - kinda not really.

🙂

For simple ecommerce use cases - Directus may be all you need.

For more complicated ecommerce use cases - Directus makes a great companion PIM to serve product data to Shopify, Medusa, Commerce Layer, and others.

[iron widget]

@timid coral this is kinda what I'm saying, it would probably make a lot of sense to have an integration between medusa/directus really :/

[thorny hearth]

Off topic, I always wonder why would anyone use Directus for example to manage Medusa for example products while medusa has it's own admin and management panel, and I see this approach is widely used but I don't get the purpose of it or i am missing something 😅

[iron widget]

E-commerce isn’t just about selling products, it’s about being marketable, directus would be used to manage other content outside of products etc

The extra content like a blog or whatever just helps get people to your site

(It’s a lot more complex really, but that’s the gist)

[topaz token]

I'm using Directus to build a bounty system using stripe. Not really ecommerce or subscriptions, but I am using directus to keep track of everything 🙂 on my main work project im using directus as a codex to provide our ecommerce with default info. So like bryant said a companion. (microservcies ftw!)

[iron widget]

Wouldn't it make sense to use something like supabase or whatever for something like this though?

I feel like what I like about Directus is that it handles CMS really well, does it make sense to use it everywhere when there are other tools out there that would likely be more appropriate?

idk, I could be wrong here, don't know the scope of your project

[topaz token]

I dont see the need for supabase imho for my stack. Directus can do anything I set my mind too. No need to introduce additional layers where I dont have to. I dont use Directus as a CMS I guess. In any of my projects I dont besides certain collections I suppose

[iron widget]

Yeah that’s my point, if you’re not using it as a CMS, wouldn’t it be better to use something like supabase which is designed to be a BaaS

[topaz token]

I mean possibly yes. So many ways to do a thing now. But you use the tools you like and I love Directus. 🙂

[iron widget]

well from experience it's always been using the right tool for the job 😛 but yeah I see what u mean 😛

[timid coral]

Would be curious to know – what parts of Supabase you're using that we don't provide in Directus?

Question comes up fairly often of how to use Directus with Supabase and they can certainly work together because the underlying foundation is just a Postgres database.

But there's also a lot of overlap as well right...

• Database
• Auth
• APIs
• Realtime

[iron widget]

I'm not using supabase currently, I'm just saying supabase is a BaaS by design, and it's almost always better to pick a tool thats suitable just for that task alone, instead of trying to find a tool that does everything

thats the point I was making

[timid coral]

Totally get the point you're making. And to be fair I have used Supabase and like it. Also I'm going to make a note to maybe have a chat internally about our messaging and positioning.

These are my own thoughts and feelings here (just making that clear) but to me the 'best tool for the job' conversation is a lot more personal and nuanced than it used to be.

My personal philosophy has shifted a lot more towards "less tools" and "building and maintaining velocity".

Here's a long winded lego analogy to illustrate my point.

Both Supabase and Directus come with some BaaS bricks in the box. I get my foundation database bricks, my permission bricks, my user auth bricks, etc.

But if a project lives long enough – you inevitably need / want to build something that requires more than just the BaaS bricks.

Let's take this bug bounty example for instance.

Non-developer internal team members will need some Admin bricks to edit the data or content stored in the database.

You need some Dashboard bricks to build visualizations to understand your data and make better decisions.

You need Automation bricks to help make your workflow more efficient by streamlining approvals or payouts.

Supabase doesn't make these bricks. Now that I need them, I have to build those bricks myself or go buy them from somebody else. The other bricks are also made a bit differently so they don't stick together well. So now I also have to use glue to ensure my project remains together and functioning.

With Directus – I have all the bricks available to me at the start - in the same box. They're made to fit together.

If I don't need those other bricks right now - they don't get in my way. I just put them aside until I do need them.

[topaz token]

Honestly that is the best way to explain why as soon as I found Directus and understood what it was, is why its apart of my stack now and for any clients. I can do anything with it.

A fresh deploy of Directus is the foundation to build a house, mansion, hospital, or w/e. Its just the foundation. I like this analogy! Spot on Bryant!

[iron widget]

Sure, makes a lot of sense, i guess the implementation would be down to preference at the end of the day.