/stripe-apps

UI extensions — layout and craft

UI extensions

UI extensions render custom UI inside the Stripe Dashboard, in a sandboxed iframe. This skill is the opinionated layout-and-craft layer: how to compose a full-page or drawer app so it feels native — placement, composition order, spacing, density, states, typography. It does not restate component APIs; those live on each component’s doc page, and they’re the source of truth.

How to use this skill (read first)

• Component API → fetch the component’s doc BEFORE you import it (required). SDK components are split across three import subpaths — @stripe/ui-extension-sdk/ui, /ui/next, and /ui/experimental — and importing from the wrong one yields an undefined component and a hard crash (Element type is invalid). You can’t tell a component’s subpath from its name — for example DataTable and DetailPage are under /ui/experimental and the charts under /ui/next, not the /ui you’d expect. So for every component you use: (1) fetch its doc — https://docs.stripe.com/stripe-apps/components/<name>.md (append ?app-sdk-version=9Next for Tabs, LineChart, BarChart; discover components from the index); (2) copy the exact import line and required props / data shape char-for-char; (3) re-check every import against the doc before you finish. Don’t infer an API from the component name — a wrong import path, prop, or data shape is a hard runtime error and the #1 reason these apps don’t render.
• Layout, styles, composition, and states → follow the codified rules here (§2–§3). These are Stripe’s craft defaults; no single component doc covers them. This is what the skill adds on top of the docs.

Constraints — the sandbox (these cause silent failures or crashes)

UI extensions run in a sandboxed iframe on React 17.0.2. Only SDK components render. Don’t reach for these:

Data access (for apps that read Stripe data — the examples here use mock data). Initialize the client with createHttpClient from @stripe/ui-extension-sdk/http_client plus the STRIPE_API_KEY constant (a sentinel, not a real key — it uses the app’s granted permissions), then call standard SDK methods. Every resource you call must be declared as a permission (stripe apps grant permission …) or the request fails with an invalid-request error. The current object is environment.objectContext (for example, .id = "cus_…"); the signed-in user is userContext, a top-level prop — not nested under environment. Full rules: how UI extensions work · Extensions SDK API reference.

1. Placement — pick your viewport

Decide where in the Dashboard the app lives; that determines the viewport and the root component. Full viewport list: viewports reference.

Rules of thumb: lead with full-page when the app is a destination with more than one section; use a page-specific drawer when the value is glanceable context on an existing object; only use drawer.default when the app truly applies everywhere. A full-page app can also register drawer/page-specific views — link between them.

2. Composition — the build order

The order and which component does which job (the API of each is in its linked doc).

Full-page app (walkthrough: full-page apps pattern):

1. Manifest — register the stripe.dashboard.fullpage viewport → your view. (The CLI’s add view adds a full-page view to an existing app; the full-page view needs @stripe/ui-extension-sdk ≥ 9.2.)
2. Shell — FullPageView; the header (app name + icon) comes from stripe-app.json. Add one pageAction only if there’s a single clear top-level action.
3. Routing — createRoutes + AppRouter; read the route with useAppRoute, navigate with useNavigation. Use a /:tabId? pattern so tabs are bookmarkable (routing).
4. Tabs — Tabs/Tab for top-level sections. Distinct areas only; don’t nest tabs.
5. Overview — OverviewPage with a primaryColumn (main content, charts) and a secondaryColumn (supporting modules). Group content into PageModules with titles; lead with a summary. (See the OverviewPage doc for the exact column/PageModule parent-child contract.)
6. List — DataTable: sortable columns, status cells, row → detail route, pagination, and an empty state.
7. Detail — DetailPage with breadcrumbs back to the list and two columns. The tab bar isn’t visible here; the breadcrumb is the way back.
8. Create / edit — FocusView drawer over the current view.

Drawer / page-specific app: root is ContextView; keep it single-column and dense (a drawer is narrow — don’t force multi-column). Use environment.objectContext for the current object. If you also have a full-page experience, link out to it rather than cramming a workflow into the drawer.

3. Layout and style rules (the codified craft)

These are the defaults that make an app feel native — they are not in any single component doc, so follow them here. Each is tagged [Required] (breaks/looks wrong otherwise), [Recommended] (Stripe’s craft default), or [Optional] (a style choice). Full styling reference: style your app.

[Required] css values are tokens, not web CSS. The css prop is not CSS. Every value is a design token or fraction, never a raw unit:

• Spacing (padding, margin, gap) → tokens only (xxsmall…xxlarge). Never "24px", "1rem", %.
• Layout → stack: "x" | "y" with gap. There is no display: "flex"/"grid".
• Width → a fraction ("1/2", "1/3", …) or "fill". Height → a bare number for pixels (for example, height: 180).
• Color/background → semantic tokens (backgroundColor: "surface" | "container", color: "secondary"), not hex.

Passing a raw CSS value (px, flex, hex) is a hard runtime error — the #1 way a naive build crashes. (style reference)

[Recommended] Spacing — Stripe’s token scale, tighter = more related. Spacing (padding/margin/gap) uses Stripe’s fixed token scale — match these defaults, never raw px. Use the smallest gap that still separates things:

[Recommended] Content aligns to the tab’s left edge — no wrapper padding. The Tabs bar and FullPageView already set the page’s content edge. Don’t wrap a tab’s panel content in a Box with padding (or paddingX/paddingLeft) — that inset pushes content off the tab’s left edge and breaks alignment with the tab labels above it. Use stack: "y" + gap for vertical rhythm between modules instead; content stays flush to the same left edge as the first tab.

// Incorrect — inset; content no longer aligns to the tabs
<Box css={{ stack: "y", gap: "large", padding: "large" }}>…</Box>
// Correct — flush to the tab's left edge
<Box css={{ stack: "y", gap: "large" }}>…</Box>

[Recommended] Page structure — one consistent column layout, OverviewPage rendered directly. Render OverviewPage directly as the tab’s content — not wrapped in a Box, and never with a full-width band stacked above it. OverviewPage is the layout; pick its shape by whether you pass secondaryColumn:

• One column → primaryColumn only (renders full-width).
• Two column → primaryColumn + secondaryColumn. Never mix the two — no full-width KPI row or band above a two-column split. The KPI stat row is the first PageModule of primaryColumn (full-width in one-column mode, primary-column width in two-column mode), not a separate row above the component. Group every module into the columns; don’t build a manual column layout.

[Required] DetailPage is its own root route — never inside FullPageView. A detail is a separate route you navigate to (for example, route("/members/:memberId", …)) that renders DetailPage at the root. DetailPage owns its page shell; nesting it in FullPageView double-stacks the header. The breadcrumb — not the tab bar — is the way back.

[Recommended] Overview composition & density — fill the page. An overview must read as a dense, width-filling dashboard, not a short column of big cards. This is the #1 thing that makes an overview look un-native, so compose it deliberately:

1. Top: a horizontal KPI stat row — 3–5 equal tiles side by side (see Stat tiles). Never stack KPI cards vertically full-width (one metric per row) — a column of oversized single-metric cards wastes the page and reads as un-native.
2. Below: use both columns. With OverviewPage, put the primary module (a trend LineChart, or the main list/table) in primaryColumn and supporting modules in secondaryColumn; otherwise split with stack: "x", gap: "xlarge" into a wider left (width: "2/3") and a narrower right (width: "1/3"). Don’t leave half the width empty.
3. Derive enough views to fill it. If the data is only a few metrics, add the breakdowns, trends, top-N lists, and recent-activity the data implies (for example, points-over-time trend, members-by-tier breakdown, top members, recent redemptions) rather than leaving whitespace. Aim for 3+ modules that fill the viewport.

Avoid: a single column of oversized full-width cards; a large empty right side or lower page; one metric per row. Match the density of a native Dashboard overview.

[Recommended] List pages — the table is the hero. A dedicated list/directory page (for example, a Members tab) is the table itself, full-width, as the primary content. The only things around it: search / filters (and segment tabs) above the table, pagination below, and an empty state. Do not put KPI stat tiles, charts, or dashboard modules on a list page — those belong on the overview. A native list page is dense with rows, not decorated with summary cards on top. Keep it: controls → full-width table (many rows) → pagination. (Overviews are multi-module and dense; list pages are single-purpose and focused — don’t blur the two.)

[Recommended] Stat tiles — a row of top-line KPI cards. A single row of equal surface cards (not a 2×2 grid), each a muted caption label above a large semibold value — use the card treatment from Cards & trays. Lay them out as a horizontal row with equal widths:

// row wrapper: <Box css={{ stack: "x", gap: "medium" }}> … one card per KPI …
<Box css={{ width: "fill", stack: "y", gap: "xxsmall", padding: "medium", borderRadius: "medium", backgroundColor: "surface" }}>
  <Inline css={{ font: "caption", color: "secondary" }}>{label}</Inline>
  <Inline css={{ font: "subtitle", fontWeight: "semibold" }}>{value}</Inline>
</Box>

Aim for ~3–5 cards in one row (for example, Total spend · MRR · Refunds · Disputes). For proportional data (a total split into parts), prefer a progress/MeterChart treatment over a chart — see Charts.

[Recommended] Two-column detail (key/value). Outer stack: "x", gap: "xlarge"; each column width: "1/2", stack: "y", gap: "medium"; each field stack: "y", gap: "xxsmall" with a semibold label above a regular value.

[Recommended] Charts & data viz — pick the representation that fits the data.

• Sizing: a chart needs an explicit height — wrap it in a Box with a pixel height (~180 per the chart-layout pattern) inside a PageModule.
• Trend over time → LineChart. Use a sensible granularity (monthly or weekly); daily points over a long range render as an unreadable, noisy line.
• A small breakdown / a total split into parts (for example, members-by-tier) → a List of rows (or a MeterChart for a proportional bar). A BarChart with only a few categories renders as a lonely narrow bar in an empty module — so use a list:

import { List, ListItem, Inline } from "@stripe/ui-extension-sdk/ui";
<List>
  {tiers.map((t) => (
    <ListItem key={t.name} id={t.name} title={<Inline>{t.name}</Inline>} value={<Inline>{`${t.count} members`}</Inline>} />
  ))}
</List>

Reserve BarChart for genuine multi-bar / time-series data, and let it fill width.

• Read the component’s doc for the exact data shape before wiring — charts are strict (wrong shape = hard runtime error).
• [Optional] a surface/container background makes a chart read as a card; not required.

[Recommended] Typography. font accepts only these presets — don’t invent values ("heading4", "title2", and similar are not valid and crash): body, bodyEmphasized, caption, heading, subheading, subtitle, title, kicker, lead. fontWeight accepts only regular | semibold | bold. For emphasis use fontWeight: "semibold"; use regular for body. Don’t use fontWeight: "bold" (the SDK accepts it, but Stripe’s design language reserves it — semibold is the native emphasis weight). Labels are font: "caption" + color: "secondary". (style reference)

[Recommended] Cards & trays — a background implies a radius. When a Box should read as a card or tray, set surface and radius together: a card = backgroundColor: "surface" + borderRadius: "medium" + padding: "medium"; group related cards on a tray = backgroundColor: "container" + borderRadius: "medium" + padding: "small". borderRadius accepts none | xsmall | small | medium | large | rounded; medium is the card default. A plain layout Box that isn’t a card gets no background or radius.

[Recommended] Loading. Put the loading state inside the tab/content region so the header and tab bar stay visible — don’t wrap Tabs or the whole view in a loading state. Center a Spinner (loading pattern).

[Recommended] Empty states. Give DataTable an empty state, and swap it by scenario: an object with a call to action when there’s genuinely no data; a plain string when active filters produce zero results (empty-state pattern).

[Required] Forms are uncontrolled. There is no react-hook-form or ref-based forms in the sandbox. Use uncontrolled inputs — defaultValue + onChange (or a plain React-17 useState controlled value) — for TextField, Select, and similar. A ref-based form library won’t work.

4. Component index

The complete, authoritative catalog is docs.stripe.com/stripe-apps/components — every component, grouped by Views · Layout · Navigation · Content · Forms · Charts. Start there to find the right component for anything not covered below (there are ~40; the table here is a curated shortcut for the common full-page jobs, not exhaustive). Then open that component’s own doc for its API. Pick by the job; read the doc for the API (props, data shape, allowed parents/children).

Full catalog: all components · design patterns