Recipes · Builders

Stripe

Revenue pulse for indie builders

Schedule Stripe report emails, then forward the CSV when the mail is link-only, so Instinct can cite yesterday's cash pulse.

Recommended: Scheduled reports · forward ~2 min setup

Outcome

Instinct can speak to yesterday's charges, payouts, and disputes in founder language: "slow day," "refund spike," "payout landed": without you opening the Dashboard mid-focus. Ideal for indie hackers who want a pulse, not a BI stack.

What gets sent

  • Scheduled report ready notifications (with download links / report context) for Balance and similar Dashboard reports
  • Optional: your Stripe user notification emails (successful/failed payments, disputes, payouts) if you forward them
  • Not ideal as a feed: full data-export zips meant for compliance archives

How to send

Goal: one email lands in your bot today.

Copy your bot address from Instinct → Settings.

On Instinct: Copy your bot address from Settings

Stripe Dashboard → Reports → open Balance (or the report you care about).

On Stripe: Open Reports, then Balance

Click Schedule… → frequency Daily → choose columns/currency → save.

On Stripe: Schedule a daily Balance report to yourself

Stripe emails you when the report file is ready (often by the next day midday for complete daily windows).

On Inbox: Forward the report (attach CSV when link-only)

Forward those emails to your bot address, or set an inbox rule: From Stripe + subject contains report → forward to the bot.

On Instinct: Confirm the report mail arrived

If the email is link-only, download the CSV and forward it as an attachment to Instinct with subject Stripe balance: {date}: required if you want citeable numbers.

Subject: "Stripe pulse: {YYYY-MM-DD}" Attached: Balance summary CSV for {date}. Notes: {one line: e.g. "refund-heavy day"}
Other ways · High-signal Stripe alerts

In Stripe, review communication preferences for payment/payout/dispute emails.

Forward high-signal alerts (disputes, failed payments, payouts) to your bot address; skip noisy per-charge mail if volume is high.

For richer custom digests, schedule a Sigma query email to yourself and forward that instead.

Tips & gotchas

  • Report emails often contain links, not data: attach the CSV when you want Instinct to cite numbers reliably.
  • Don't forward emails that include full cardholder PII beyond what you need; treat Stripe reports as sensitive.
  • Daily schedules cover complete days; don't expect true real-time tick-by-tick revenue in email.

Paste the address from Instinct → Settings. Don't email the placeholder.