Debugging your AWS/Stripe integration just got easier

For developers building on AWS, you have various choices for processing payments within your application. Most developers choose a payment processing service to handle this part of their application flow, which involves integrating with a third-party vendor outside of the AWS environment.

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James Beswick
•7 min read•advanced•
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•View Original
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Overview

The article discusses how developers can simplify the debugging process of their AWS and Stripe integration using Stripe's Workbench. It highlights the challenges of log management in AWS and presents Workbench as a solution for accessing and analyzing logs efficiently.

What You'll Learn

1

How to efficiently access and search logs for your Stripe integration using Workbench

2

Why using Stripe's Workbench can simplify debugging API calls

3

When to utilize the Events and Event Destinations tabs in Workbench for debugging

Key Questions Answered

How can developers access logs for their Stripe API calls more efficiently?
Developers can use Stripe's Workbench to access and search logs at scale without needing to set a logging level. Workbench stores all available information by default and allows users to drill down into individual API calls, making it easier to find specific logs and errors.
What are the benefits of using a third-party payment processor like Stripe?
Using a third-party payment processor like Stripe allows developers to avoid the security risks associated with handling credit card information, manage spiky workloads effectively, and simplify the complexity of global payments and multiple payment methods.
What challenges do developers face when logging API calls in AWS?
Developers face challenges such as sparse or verbose log information, the need to search through numerous log files for specific API calls, and the lack of an aggregated view of API calls over time, especially when using AWS Lambda and CloudWatch.
How does Workbench help in debugging event delivery failures?
Workbench provides tabs for Events and Event Destinations, allowing developers to view recent events, successful and failed deliveries, and retry attempts. This simplifies the debugging process by aggregating event delivery activity and providing detailed insights into failures.

Technologies & Tools

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Backend
AWS Lambda
Used for running applications that make calls to Stripe's API.
Monitoring
Amazon Cloudwatch
Stores logs for AWS Lambda invocations.
Payment Processing
Stripe
Handles payment processing and provides APIs for developers.

Key Actionable Insights

1
Utilize Stripe's Workbench for centralized log management to enhance your debugging process.
By using Workbench, developers can avoid the hassle of sifting through multiple log files in AWS, allowing for quicker identification of issues and more efficient debugging.
2
Implement a strategy for logging API calls that balances verbosity and essential information.
During development, verbose logging can be beneficial, but in production, it's crucial to capture enough detail to diagnose issues without overwhelming the log storage.
3
Take advantage of the Events tab in Workbench to monitor and troubleshoot event delivery issues.
This tab provides a comprehensive view of event statuses, helping developers quickly identify and resolve issues related to asynchronous processes.

Common Pitfalls

1
Limiting log information in production can hinder debugging efforts.
While it is common to restrict logs to essential information in production for cost optimization, this can lead to insufficient data for diagnosing issues when they arise.