April 2019 Summaries

The Checkly team has released a public API, which required refactoring and additions to their existing Hapi.js-based API backend. The new API uses OAuth 2.0 based authentication and provides a stable, predictable, and versionable set of endpoints with hard-enforced schema documentation. The API key based authentication system was also implemented using the hapi-auth-bearer-token NPM module. Additionally, the team refactored their models using Objection.js, which improved the separation of concerns and reduced duplicated code. The public API is designed to be consumed by different audiences than the existing web app API, with a focus on providing a stable and predictable interface. The Swagger & Slate based documentation was generated for the new API, allowing users to access detailed information about the available endpoints and their parameters. The team also implemented validation of plan limits at the routing level using pre-routing handlers and plugins specific to the Hapi.js ecosystem. Overall, the public API provides a more robust and user-friendly interface for accessing Checkly's data.

Stripe has released a new update to their Billing product that addresses EU VAT handling for SaaS companies. The company does not handle VAT internally but provides a taxRate field that must be filled by the user. Handling VAT can be challenging, and while Stripe offers no solution, third-party services like Chargebee and Octobat provide features to simplify this process. A company has developed their own integration using an NPM package called Sales Tax Node.js, which calculates VAT based on country and VAT number. The integration involves two services: Stripe for subscriptions and payments, and the Sales Tax NPM package for VAT calculation. The company uses a wrapper class to handle the integration, setting the origin country to determine the base VAT rate and using convenience functions to provide correct information to the front end. This integration may save SaaS companies $50 or more per month by reducing their tax liabilities.

When starting Checkly, the author struggled with typical SaaS billing and prorating concepts, despite understanding them intellectually. To simplify the process, they chose Stripe Billing as their subscription billing provider due to its popularity among SaaS companies. The core Stripe Billing entities include products, pricing plans, users, and subscriptions. The author implemented tiered pricing, which allows for discounts on higher volumes of usage. They also integrated Stripe Billing with their Hapi.js-based API, handling tasks such as creating customers, subscriptions, and invoices. To handle recurring payments, they listened to the `invoice.payment_succeeded` webhook from Stripe, updating account information accordingly. This setup provides a basic yet effective solution for managing billing cycles in Checkly's SaaS product.