AI Payment Operations Assistant (MCP Server)

An MCP server that lets an AI assistant handle payment support — look up customers, review charges, and issue refunds — by orchestrating between Stripe and an internal orders database, with human approval required before any money moves.

Stack: Python · MCP SDK · Stripe API · SQLAlchemy · pytest
Safety: Stripe TEST MODE only — no real money moves

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Why This Exists

Stripe ships an official MCP server — but it only knows Stripe. Real companies wrap the payment provider with internal data and business rules. This server is that orchestration layer:

• Joins Stripe payment data with internal order records via stripe_customer_id
• Enforces refund policy (no refunds older than 90 days)
• Requires human confirmation before moving money
• Writes a full audit log of every refund to the orders DB

That's the layer every company has to build itself. The provider can't.

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Architecture

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Tools

Tool	Type	What it does
lookup_customer	Read	Merges internal DB record + live Stripe status by email
list_payments	Read	Lists recent Stripe PaymentIntents for a customer
get_order_history	Read	Returns full order history from internal DB
issue_refund	Write	Two-step: preview → confirm → refund Stripe + log DB
create_payment_link	Write	Generates a Stripe test payment link
revenue_summary	Read	Aggregates paid orders over a date range
flag_for_review	Write	Flags a charge in the audit log for manual review

Plus 2 resources (customer://email, payment://charge_id) and 2 prompts (daily_revenue_report, find_refund_candidates).

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Safety Design

Three layers — never trust the model alone for money-moving actions:

1. Human-in-the-loop gate — issue_refund requires confirmed=True, which the model only sets after explicitly asking the user
2. Server-side business rule — refunds older than 90 days are rejected regardless of what the model requests
3. Least-privilege Stripe key — restricted key scoped to Charges + Customers + Refunds only, limits blast radius

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Database Schema

customers
  id (uuid, pk)
  email (unique)
  name
  stripe_customer_id    ← join key to Stripe

orders
  id (uuid, pk)
  customer_id (fk)
  stripe_charge_id      ← Stripe PaymentIntent ID (pi_xxx)
  amount_cents
  currency
  status (paid / refunded / partially_refunded)
  created_at

refund_log              ← audit trail
  id (uuid, pk)
  order_id (fk)
  stripe_refund_id
  amount_cents
  reason
  refunded_by ("ai-assistant")
  created_at

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Setup

1. Clone and install

git clone https://github.com/srik4442/Payment-Ops-mcp.git
cd Payment-Ops-mcp
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

2. Get a Stripe test key

1. Create a free account at stripe.com (test mode, no card needed)
2. Go to Developers → API keys → Create restricted key
3. Grant Write access to: Charges and Refunds, Customers, Payment Intents, Payment Links, Products
4. Copy the rk_test_... key

3. Configure environment

cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env and add your key:
# STRIPE_API_KEY=rk_test_your_key_here
# DATABASE_URL=sqlite:///./payments.db

4. Seed test data

python scripts/seed.py

Creates 5 test customers in both your local DB and Stripe, each with 2–3 test charges.

5. Connect Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "payment-ops": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/.venv/bin/python",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/src/mcp_server.py"],
      "env": {
        "STRIPE_API_KEY": "rk_test_your_key_here",
        "DATABASE_URL": "sqlite:////absolute/path/to/payments.db"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. You should see the payment-ops server connected.

6. Run the demo

Type into Claude Desktop:

"A customer, sarah@example.com, emailed about a double charge. Look into it and refund the most recent payment."

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Tests

python -m pytest tests/ --cov=src -v

24 tests · 99% coverage on business logic · Stripe client fully mocked (no real API calls in tests)

tests/test_payment_service.py::TestLookupCustomer::test_lookup_customer_merges_db_and_stripe PASSED
tests/test_payment_service.py::TestIssueRefund::test_issue_refund_preview_when_not_confirmed PASSED
tests/test_payment_service.py::TestIssueRefund::test_issue_refund_writes_refund_log_when_confirmed PASSED
tests/test_payment_service.py::TestIssueRefund::test_issue_refund_rejected_for_charge_older_than_90_days PASSED
...

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Tech Decisions

Why MCP instead of a backend script?
A script automates one fixed workflow. MCP exposes capabilities to any AI client so a human can drive novel, multi-step support tasks in natural language — without pre-coding every path.

Why SQLite?
Zero-config for a portfolio project. The ORM (SQLAlchemy) makes swapping to Postgres a one-line config change.

Why test mode only?
Test mode uses the identical Stripe API and code path as live — the only difference is the key prefix. It's the correct professional choice for a portfolio project. Switching to production is one environment variable.

Why a restricted Stripe key?
Least-privilege: the key can only touch Charges, Customers, and Refunds. Even if the key were compromised, the blast radius is contained. This is standard practice in production payment systems.

Why store pi_xxx IDs (PaymentIntent) instead of ch_xxx (Charge)?
Modern Stripe workflows are built around PaymentIntents. Refunds issued via payment_intent parameter work reliably across all payment methods, while legacy charge IDs can cause mismatch issues.

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Demo

Prompt typed into Claude Desktop:
"A customer, sarah@example.com, emailed about a double charge. Look into it and refund the most recent payment."

STEP 1  Claude calls lookup_customer("sarah@example.com")
        → queries Orders DB → finds Sarah + Stripe customer ID

STEP 2  Claude calls list_payments(customer="cus_xxx")
        → queries Stripe (test mode) → returns recent charges

STEP 3  Claude PAUSES:
        "I found a duplicate $49.99 charge. Refund the most recent one? Please confirm."
        → human-in-the-loop gate before any money moves

STEP 4  You reply "yes"
        → Claude calls issue_refund(confirmed=True)
        → refund issued in Stripe
        → order status updated + audit row written to DB

STEP 5  Claude confirms:
        "Refunded $49.99 to Sarah (re_3To18wCLuf9LMqJ11xb4XutS).
         Logged in orders DB as duplicate-charge reversal."

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Safety Notice

This project runs entirely in Stripe test mode. No real money moves. The rk_test_ prefix on the API key ensures this at the Stripe level regardless of any code-level mistakes.

Never commit a live key (sk_live_ / rk_live_) to this repository.

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Resume Bullet

AI Payment Operations Assistant (MCP Server) · Python, MCP SDK, Stripe API, SQLAlchemy, pytest

• Built a Model Context Protocol server that lets AI assistants perform payment support operations by orchestrating between the Stripe API and an internal order database, exposing 7 tools, resources, and prompt templates
• Implemented human-in-the-loop confirmation and server-side business rules to gate money-moving actions, with a full refund audit log written to the database for every transaction
• Applied production payment patterns — least-privilege restricted API keys, idempotency, and prompt-injection mitigation — and validated orchestration logic with a mocked-Stripe pytest suite at 99% coverage