Deirdre

[sharp cosmos]

Hi

However, I don't want to manage everything I would have to if I turned auto_advance on (sending emails, attempting payments etc.). Is it advisable to switch auto_advance off before responding to the invoice.created webhook, send my usage record, and then switch it on again? Does anyone have any other suggestions?
What I can honestly tell, is to do a test, but this is looks like a tunning for something that may happens ("if something goes wrong on my end")... You should keep the integration design as it without modifying it and monitor it... if there is something wrong you treat it later on single case and not updating all the integration, that's my personal feedback

but you can test that scenario using test clocks.

[fallow oasis]

If my whole system goes down though, and I have auto_advance on, my customers will get invoices for $0, so I need to have a design that can handle this scenario

[sharp cosmos]

This should be particular and handled quickly so that your system go back... but nevermind you can try to test auto_advance using test clock

[fallow oasis]

I need better error handling than trusting that things are handled and go back to normal quickly. Is your only advice on the design I suggested above that I test it myself?

[sharp cosmos]

yes, because this is a particular use case on something that shouldn't happens so you need to test this custom integration. The goal behind using Stripe billing/auto advance is to keep the chain automatic as much as possible. So each part of the chain must be up and operating including your system. But I agree with you as you want to make your integration more ribust, that' why I invited you to test it with the rules you'll be implementing for activating/Deactivating auto_advance.