Set up Stripe deposit links safely with a restricted key

This article walks you through connecting Stripe so Otto can draft deposit links for your gigs, using a key that can only do that one job and nothing else. Your money never passes through the app - clients pay Stripe directly.

Why a restricted key

Your standard Stripe secret key can do everything: refunds, payouts, changing your account. Otto does not need any of that. Stripe lets you create a restricted key that is limited to exactly the permissions you choose. Booked Solid OS insists on one: the app rejects any Stripe key that does not start with rk_, which is how Stripe marks restricted keys. A standard secret key will simply not be accepted.

Create the key in Stripe

1. In your Stripe dashboard, create a restricted key (not your standard secret key).
2. Give it write access to Payment Links and Checkout Sessions only.
3. Set everything else to None.
4. Name it Booked Solid deposits so you can recognize it later in your Stripe dashboard.
5. Copy the key. It starts with rk_.

Paste it into Booked Solid OS

1. Open the Connections tab and find Stripe under the Payments heading.
2. Choose Paste key and paste the rk_ key.

Your key is encrypted with your computer's own secure storage and never shown in full again - the app only ever displays a masked preview (the first 3 and last 4 characters). The row shows an amber Key saved badge, which means the key is stored and will be proven the first time it is used.

What Otto can and cannot do with it

• The Stripe integration is hard-locked to read-only plus draft approval, no matter what you set on Settings -> Permissions. Anything it wants to send goes through the Draft flow for your approval first.
• The app never moves money. It drafts payment links; your clients pay Stripe directly, and the money lands in your Stripe account as usual.

If it does not work

• Key rejected: the app says "Use a restricted Stripe key (it starts with rk_), not the account secret key." If your key starts with sk_, that is a standard secret key - go back to Stripe and create a restricted one.
• Paste key button is missing: the panel will say "Secure storage is unavailable on this machine, so pasted keys cannot be saved safely." Keys cannot be stored until your computer's secure storage is working again.
• "Needs reconnect": if your computer's keychain changed, saved keys can no longer be unlocked on this machine. Re-add the key with Paste key.
• Turning the Stripe add-on on fails: it needs the free Node.js tool installed first (nodejs.org).
• Done with Stripe? Use Remove key on the same row.

Still stuck? Email bookedsolid@kivimedia.freshdesk.com and a person will help.