Setting Up Your Development Environment

Before we dive into integrating Stripe with your Next.js application, let's ensure your development environment is properly set up. This involves having Node.js installed and creating a new Next.js project.

First, you'll need Node.js. If you don't have it installed, download the latest LTS (Long-Term Support) version from the official Node.js website (https://nodejs.org/). Node.js comes bundled with npm (Node Package Manager), which we'll use to install project dependencies.

Next, let's create a new Next.js project. Open your terminal or command prompt and run the following command. Replace my-stripe-app with your desired project name.

The create-next-app command will prompt you with a few questions to configure your project. For this guide, you can generally accept the defaults, but feel free to customize as needed. Once the project is created, navigate into your project directory:

To verify that your Next.js development server is running, execute this command:

This will start the development server, and you should be able to access your new Next.js application at http://localhost:3000 in your web browser. You're now ready to integrate Stripe!

graph TD
    A[Node.js Installation] --> B(Create Next.js App)
    B --> C{Configure Project}
    C -- Defaults --> D[Navigate to Project Directory]
    D --> E[Run Development Server]
    E --> F[Access http://localhost:3000]