Getting started with the Stripe Shell
Tags: webdev, productivity, stripe, tutorial
Published: 2022-04-28 15:17:03

{% youtube 92c4VmsFVpU %}

## What you’ll learn

The native [Stripe command line interface](https://stripe.com/docs/stripe-cli/overview) (CLI) is one of the most powerful tools for your toolchain when building and testing your Stripe integration. And now the Stripe CLI is available directly in the browser, also known as [Stripe Shell](https://stripe.com/docs/stripe-shell/overview). By watching this video tutorial and using the resources linked in this post, you’ll learn the essentials for using the Stripe Shell and the Stripe CLI to build and test your Stripe integration.

## Prerequisites

If you’d like to follow along, all you need is a Stripe account which you can [sign up for here](https://dashboard.stripe.com/register?redirect=%2Fsignup).

## Invoking Stripe Shell

Stripe Shell is available from anywhere in [stripe.com/docs](https://stripe.com/docs/). There are a few ways to invoke the Stripe Shell. The two fastest are to use the global toggle button located in the lower right corner of the browser window, or to use the keyboard shortcut control and backtick (ctrl + `).

## What you can do with the Stripe CLI

With the CLI you can:

* [List, retrieve, create, and update resources in your account](https://stripe.com/docs/cli/resources)
* [Manually trigger events](https://stripe.com/docs/cli/trigger)
* [Listen for events and forward them to your local development environment](https://stripe.com/docs/cli/listen)
* [Create your own sophisticated fixtures to create resources in your account](https://stripe.com/docs/cli/fixtures)
* [Tail your account logs to see how your system is interacting with the API](https://stripe.com/docs/cli/logs/tail)

Since Stripe Shell runs in the browser there are a couple of features that are only available in the native command line interface (like being able to forward events). But being able to trigger events, listen to events on your account, and query and manipulate resources from anywhere in the docs is immensely powerful. If you would like to take advantage of features like log tailing and forwarding events to your local dev server, we highly recommend installing the [native Stripe CLI](https://stripe.com/docs/stripe-cli#install).

## Pro tips

When using the Stripe Shell there are a number of handy [keyboard shortcuts](https://stripe.com/docs/stripe-shell/keyboard-shortcuts) to make using the Shell even easier and to boost your productivity.

## What to watch next

For a deep dive into the native Stripe CLI, see [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psq5N5C-FGo&t=438s) from [@cjav_dev](https://twitter.com/cjav_dev).


### About the author

![Matthew Ling](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/c8rpgkqr91ivs8sxr73g.png) 

Matthew Ling ([@mattling_dev](@mattling_dev)) is a Developer Advocate at Stripe. Matt loves to tinker with new technology, adores Ruby and coffee and also moonlighted as a pro music photographer. His photo site is at [matthewling.com](https://matthewling.com) and developer site is at [mattling.dev](https://mattling.dev).


### Stay connected

In addition, you can stay up to date with Stripe in a few ways:

📣 Follow us on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/StripeDev)
💬 Join the official [Discord server](https://stripe.com/go/developer-chat)
📺 Subscribe to our [Youtube channel](https://www.youtube.com/StripeDevelopers)
📧 Sign up for the [Dev Digest](https://go.stripe.global/dev-digest)