Subscriptions and billing

Empeiro keeps the provider's management account separate from each customer organization. The provider Owner configures Stripe and sees customer subscription status under Platform. A customer administrator sees only their organization's Billing page. Stripe hosts Checkout, the billing portal, and payment details. Empeiro stores a protected Stripe customer/subscription reference, the plan, and the subscription state that Stripe confirmed. Ticket access is not currently metered or blocked by a subscription state; do not treat this screen as an enforced licensing system.

Provider Owner: set up Stripe

1. In your own Stripe account, create a Product and an active recurring Price for each plan you intend to offer: Team, Business, or Company. Decide the real amount, currency and interval in Stripe; Empeiro does not invent these. Enterprise is not a self-service plan in this version. Copy each price_… ID. Use test-mode Prices with an sk_test_… key and live-mode Prices with an sk_live_… key.
2. In Stripe Developers → Webhooks, add an endpoint at https://YOUR-EMPEIRO-HOST/api/billing/stripe/webhook. Subscribe it to checkout.session.completed, customer.subscription.created, customer.subscription.updated, and customer.subscription.deleted. Copy that endpoint's whsec_… signing secret. Use the same Stripe mode as the secret key. Consult Stripe's webhook setup for the Dashboard's current labels.
3. Sign in to Empeiro's management account as an Owner. Open Platform → Stripe billing. Paste your Stripe secret key, webhook signing secret, and the recurring Price IDs for the plans you want. Leave an existing secret field empty to keep the saved value. Select Save. Saving resets checkout readiness until you test again.
4. Select Test. Empeiro reads the Stripe account and each supplied Price; it checks mode, active state, recurrence and fixed amount. It does not create a charge. Read the exact result on the card. Correct any failed key or Price and test again. The card displays the verified price amounts and intervals.
5. In Stripe, send a test webhook to the endpoint and confirm successful delivery there. Empeiro's Test button verifies API access and prices; the card becomes Configured only after Empeiro receives a correctly signed event in the same Stripe mode. Refresh Platform to see that result. Configure the Stripe customer portal in Stripe before asking customers to use Manage payment and subscription.

The Stripe secret key and webhook secret are encrypted on Empeiro's server and never shown again in the page. A saved key alone does not make checkout available. Changing setup resets API and webhook readiness. In test mode, customer pages explicitly label that a checkout is not a real purchase. Do not paste a publishable key (pk_…) into the secret key field.

Customer administrator: start a subscription

1. Sign in to your own organization as an administrator, then open Billing in the left menu. Ordinary requesters and agents without administrator rights cannot use billing actions.
2. Review the actual amount, currency and interval displayed for each offered plan. If billing says Checkout is not available yet, ask the provider Owner to finish setup.
3. Select Continue to Stripe on the intended plan. Stripe opens its hosted Checkout; review the price and complete the payment instructions there. Stripe, not Empeiro, collects your payment details.
4. Return to Billing. A browser redirect does not prove payment or activate a subscription by itself. The status changes when Empeiro receives and validates Stripe's signed subscription event. If it has not arrived, refresh after checking your Stripe confirmation. Contact the provider if the status remains unchanged.

Customer administrator: manage the subscription

When a Stripe customer exists for the organization, select Manage payment and subscription in Stripe. The hosted portal lets you view billing information and use whatever payment, invoice, cancellation or plan-change controls the provider has enabled in Stripe. Return to Billing and refresh to see the subscription status confirmed by Stripe's webhook. If cancellation is scheduled for the period end, Empeiro shows that date.

The provider's Platform → Stripe billing → Customer subscriptions list shows only customer organizations with a Stripe subscription record, their plan and latest confirmed state. It does not display card numbers. The provider's Organizations page remains the place to add a customer and invite its first administrator; this release is invitation-only and has no public self-service purchase/signup flow. If an organization is removed, its Empeiro billing record is deleted; any Stripe subscription must be canceled separately in Stripe before removal so Stripe does not continue billing the customer.