Stripe Link CLI

Stripe Link CLI is the consumer-side half of Stripe's 2026 agent payments push. It connects to a user's Link wallet, then lets an AI agent ask for a scoped, one-time-use credential to make a specific purchase. The user sees the request in their Link app, approves or declines, and only then does the agent receive the card details.

It ships as both a regular CLI binary and as an MCP server, so any Claude or MCP-compatible agent can drive it directly.

Key things to know

Two credential types

Default is a virtual card (PAN + CVC + expiry) for any standard checkout. Pass --credential-type "shared_payment_token" instead for merchants on the Machine Payments Protocol.

Always user-approved

Every spend request triggers a notification to the user's Link app. No silent charges, no pre-authorized recurring spend.

Test mode built in

Pass --test on any command to run with the 4242 4242 4242 4242 test card without touching a real payment method.

Setup & usage

Install

npm i -g @stripe/link-cli
# or run on demand
npx @stripe/link-cli

.mcp.json (Claude / Claude Code / any MCP client)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "link": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@stripe/link-cli", "--mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Create a spend request

link-cli spend-request create \
  --payment-method-id csmrpd_xxx \
  --merchant-name "Stripe Press" \
  --merchant-url "https://press.stripe.com" \
  --context "Purchasing book from press.stripe.com..." \
  --amount 3500 \
  --request-approval

Commands

link-cli auth login — connect to a Link account via verification URL
link-cli auth status — check session & for available updates
link-cli payment-methods list — show saved cards / banks
link-cli spend-request create — propose a purchase
link-cli spend-request retrieve — fetch status + credentials
link-cli spend-request request-approval — push approval to user's Link app
link-cli mpp pay — pay an HTTP 402 / MPP merchant
link-cli mpp decode — inspect a WWW-Authenticate header
link-cli demo / onboard — guided test-mode flows

Caveats

Currently US-only — Link wallets in other countries are not yet supported.
Hard cap of $500 per spend request at launch.
Spend request context field requires 100+ characters of free-text reasoning.
Card details written redacted to stdout; full PAN goes to --output-file (chmod 0600) only.

vs. CardForAgent

Link CLI is a consumer-side tool: it asks a human user to approve every purchase via the Link app. CardForAgent is a hosted MCP server backed by your own Stripe Issuing balance — useful when the agent runs unattended and you want pre-set per-card limits instead of per-purchase taps. The two are complementary; many setups use Link CLI for high-trust spending and CardForAgent for capped autonomous tasks.