• Go to dashboard.stripe.com and create/log in to your account
• Complete identity verification so you can receive payouts to your bank
• Go to Settings → Business details — fill in your business name, address, and bank account
• In the top-left, switch from Test mode → Live mode when you're ready to charge real cards

In Stripe Dashboard:

• Go to Products → Add product
• Name: PDF Trend Lab Lifetime Access
• Price: $197.00 USD — select One time
• Click Save product
• Copy the Price ID — it looks like price_1AbCdEf...

In Stripe Dashboard → Developers → API keys:

• Publishable key (starts with pk_live_ or pk_test_) — goes in store.html
• Secret key (starts with sk_live_ or sk_test_) — goes in your backend .env only — NEVER in frontend HTML

Open store.html and find these two lines near the top of the <script> tag:

var STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY = 'pk_test_YOUR_KEY_HERE';  ← replace this
var BACKEND_URL = 'https://your-backend.yourdomain.com';  ← replace this
var DEMO_MODE = true;  ← change to false when live

Also find the price reference and update it:

priceId: 'price_YOUR_STRIPE_PRICE_ID'  ← replace with your Price ID

Option A — Railway (recommended, free to start):

• Go to railway.app → New Project → Deploy from GitHub
• Upload the stripe-backend/ folder as a GitHub repo, or use Railway's CLI
• Add all environment variables from .env.example in Railway's Variables tab
• Railway gives you a URL like https://pdf-trend-lab-backend.up.railway.app

Option B — Manual (any server/VPS):

cd stripe-backend
npm install
cp .env.example .env
nano .env        # fill in your real keys
npm start

STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_live_YOUR_SECRET_KEY
STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=pk_live_YOUR_PUBLISHABLE_KEY
STRIPE_PRICE_LIFETIME=price_YOUR_PRICE_ID
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=whsec_YOUR_WEBHOOK_SECRET
FRONTEND_URL=https://yourdomain.com
PORT=4000

In Stripe Dashboard → Developers → Webhooks → Add endpoint:

• Endpoint URL: https://your-backend-url.com/webhook
• Events to listen for: payment_intent.succeeded and charge.refunded
• Click Add endpoint → copy the Signing secret (starts with whsec_)
• Paste it into your .env as STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET

Option A — Netlify (free, drag & drop):

• Go to netlify.com → drag your store.html onto the deploy area
• Connect your custom domain in Site Settings → Domain management
• Netlify auto-provisions SSL (HTTPS) for free

Option B — Your existing domain host:

• Upload store.html to your web host's public_html folder via FTP or cPanel
• Rename to index.html if you want it as the homepage

In store.html, change:

var DEMO_MODE = true;

to:

var DEMO_MODE = false;

This switches the payment button from demo mode (fake success after 2 seconds) to real Stripe card charging.

• Stripe account identity verified + bank account connected
• Product created in Stripe Dashboard at $197 one-time
• STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY updated in store.html (live key, not test)
• BACKEND_URL updated in store.html to your deployed server
• DEMO_MODE = false in store.html
• Backend server running with all .env variables filled in
• Stripe webhook configured, pointing to your backend /webhook
• store.html deployed to your domain with HTTPS (SSL)
• Tested a real payment with a live test card (4242 4242 4242 4242)
• Switched Stripe from Test mode → Live mode for real payments
• Refund policy, privacy policy, and terms pages linked or added

When a customer pays, the payment_intent.succeeded webhook fires. In server.js you'll see the TODO comment — this is where you:

• Send a welcome email with login credentials (use SendGrid, Resend, or Mailgun)
• Create their account in your system (or mark order as fulfilled)
• Grant access to PDF Trend Lab app (index.html)