link

Link CLI

Link CLI lets agents get secure, one-time-use payment credentials from a Link wallet to complete purchases on your behalf — without storing your real card details.

The CLI can produce one of two credential types:

• A virtual card (PAN) for use with a standard web checkout form. The issued card works anywhere, and is not restricted to Link-enabled sellers or sellers that use Stripe.
• A Shared Payment Token (SPT) when the seller accepts programmatic payments through Machine Payment Protocols (MPP)

For now, this is only available to US Link accounts.

Installation

npm i -g @stripe/link-cli

Or run directly with npx:

npx @stripe/link-cli

Use with agents

Install the skill:

npx skills add stripe/link-cli

By default when called from an agent (non-TTY), all commands use toon output — a compact, LLM-friendly text format. All commands accept --format [format] for structured output. Other formats: json, yaml, md, jsonl.

List available commands:

link-cli --llms-full

Get a command's full schema with --schema. Example:

link-cli spend-request create --schema

MCP Server

Link CLI can run as a local MCP server. Add the following to your MCP client config (.mcp.json, etc.)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "link": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@stripe/link-cli", "--mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Quickstart

Run a guided onboarding and demo flow:

link-cli onboard

Login

The link-cli requires a Link account. You can log in to your existing one or register online.

link-cli auth login

You receive a verification URL and a short phrase. Visit the URL, log in to your Link account, and enter the phrase to approve the connection.

List payment methods

link-cli payment-methods list

Returns the cards and bank accounts saved to your Link account. Use the id field as payment_method_id in the next step. If you have no payment methods, add new ones in Link.

Create a spend request

Create a spend request with a payment method, merchant details, line items, and amounts:

link-cli spend-request create \
  --payment-method-id csmrpd_xxx \
  --merchant-name "Stripe Press" \
  --merchant-url "https://press.stripe.com" \
  --context "Purchasing 'Working in Public' from press.stripe.com. The user initiated this purchase through the shopping assistant." \
  --amount 3500 \
  --line-item "name:Working in Public,unit_amount:3500,quantity:1" \
  --total "type:total,display_text:Total,amount:3500" \
  --request-approval

The --request-approval flag triggers a push notification to the user for approval, then polls until the request is approved or denied.

Easily approve requests with the Link app.

Line items and totals

--line-item and --total use repeatable key:value format.

--line-item keys: name (required), quantity, unit_amount, description, sku, url, image_url, product_url

--line-item "name:Running Shoes,unit_amount:12000,quantity:1,description:Trail runners"

--total keys: type (required; one of: subtotal, tax, total), display_text (required), amount (required)

--total "type:subtotal,display_text:Subtotal,amount:12000" \
--total "type:total,display_text:Total,amount:12000"

Credential types

By default, a spend request provisions a virtual card. For merchants that support the Machine Payments Protocol (HTTP 402) and the Stripe payment method, instead pass --credential-type "shared_payment_token".

Execute payment

The approved spend request includes a card object with number, cvc, exp_month, exp_year, billing_address, and valid_until. Enter these into the merchant's checkout form.

link-cli spend-request retrieve lsrq_001

By default, retrieving a spend request doesn't include card details. Pass --include card to see unmasked card details.

To avoid leaking card credentials into agent transcripts or logs, use --output-file to write the full card to a secure local file while stdout shows only redacted data (brand, last4, expiry):

link-cli spend-request retrieve lsrq_001 --include card --output-file /tmp/link-card.json --format json

The file is created with 0600 permissions. If the file already exists, the command fails unless --force is passed. When --output-file is set, the JSON output replaces the card object with redacted fields and adds a card_output_file path.

For agent polling, pass --interval and optionally --max-attempts:

link-cli spend-request retrieve lsrq_001 --interval 2 --max-attempts 150