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Overview

Dodo Payments handles all subscription management, billing, and payment processing for your application. This guide walks you through setting up your account and obtaining the necessary API credentials.

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Create Your Dodo Payments Account

1

Sign up for Dodo Payments

Go to Dodo Payments Dashboard and create a new account.Fill in your business details and verify your email address.
2

Get your API key

Once logged in, navigate to Settings → API Keys.Copy your API key - this is your DODO_PAYMENTS_API_KEY.
Your API key has full access to your Dodo Payments account. Never expose it in client-side code or commit it to version control.
3

Get your webhook secret

In the same Settings section, navigate to Webhooks.Copy the webhook secret - this is your DODO_WEBHOOK_SECRET.
You’ll use this secret to verify that webhook events are genuinely from Dodo Payments and haven’t been tampered with.
4

Set your environment

Dodo Payments provides two environments:
  • test_mode: For development and testing (no real charges)
  • live_mode: For production (real payments)
For initial setup, use test_mode:
DODO_PAYMENTS_ENVIRONMENT=test_mode

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Environment Variables

Add these values to your .env.local file: 
# Dodo Payments Configuration
DODO_PAYMENTS_API_KEY=your-dodo-api-key
DODO_WEBHOOK_SECRET=your-webhook-secret
DODO_PAYMENTS_ENVIRONMENT=test_mode

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Create Subscription Products

Before your application can offer subscriptions, you need to create products in Dodo Payments.
1

Navigate to Products

In your Dodo Payments dashboard, go to Products → Create Product.
2

Configure product details

Fill in the basic product information:
  • Product name: e.g., “Pro Plan”, “Enterprise Plan”
  • Description: Brief description of what the plan includes
  • Price: The recurring subscription price
  • Currency: Select your currency (e.g., USD, EUR)
  • Billing cycle: Choose the interval:
    • Daily
    • Weekly
    • Monthly
    • Yearly
3

Add product features via metadata

The starter kit uses product metadata to dynamically display features in the pricing UI.In the Metadata section, add a JSON object with a features array:
{
  "features": [
    "Unlimited projects",
    "Advanced analytics",
    "Priority support",
    "Custom integrations",
    "99.9% uptime SLA"
  ]
}
These features will automatically appear in your application’s pricing page.
4

Save the product

Click Save to create the product.Repeat this process for each subscription tier you want to offer (e.g., Basic, Pro, Enterprise).

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Product Metadata Structure

The application expects product metadata in this format: 
{
  "features": [
    "Feature 1",
    "Feature 2",
    "Feature 3"
  ]
}
The features array is required for the pricing page to display correctly. Without it, the product will still work but won’t show any features in the UI.

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Test vs Live Mode

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Test Mode

  • Use for development and testing
  • No real payment processing
  • Use test card numbers (provided by Dodo Payments documentation)
  • All data is isolated from production

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Live Mode

Before switching to live mode, ensure:
  • Your webhook endpoint is properly secured and deployed
  • You’ve thoroughly tested all payment flows in test mode
  • Your business information is complete in Dodo Payments settings
  • You’ve reviewed and understood Dodo Payments’ pricing and fees
To switch to live mode, update your environment variable: 
DODO_PAYMENTS_ENVIRONMENT=live_mode

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Next Steps

Database Setup

Configure your database schema with Drizzle

Webhooks

Deploy webhook handlers to process payment events

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