setup-polar

name: setup-polar description: | Interactive onboarding wizard to set up Polar payment integration from scratch. Use this skill when: (1) User wants to "set up Polar" or "integrate Polar" in their project; (2) User is starting fresh with Polar and needs guided setup; (3) User asks "how do I get started with Polar"; (4) User wants to add payments/subscriptions/checkout to their app using Polar; (5) User needs help creating their first Polar product and checkout. This skill walks through MCP installation, authentication, product creation, and generates framework-specific integration code.

Polar Setup Wizard

Interactive setup guide to get Polar payments working in your project.

Setup Flow

Follow these steps in order:

Step 1: Check MCP Availability

First, check if the Polar MCP server is available. Try listing products or organizations using MCP tools.

If MCP tools work: Skip to Step 3.

If MCP not available: Continue to Step 2.

Step 2: Install Polar MCP

Guide the user to install the Polar MCP server based on their environment:

Claude Code:

# Production
claude mcp add --transport http "Polar" "https://mcp.polar.sh/mcp/polar-mcp"

# Sandbox (recommended for setup)
claude mcp add --transport http "Polar Sandbox" "https://mcp.polar.sh/mcp/polar-sandbox"

Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Polar Sandbox": {
      "url": "https://mcp.polar.sh/mcp/polar-sandbox"
    }
  }
}

After installation, the user must:

1. Restart their editor/CLI
2. Authenticate when prompted (redirects to polar.sh)

Once authenticated, verify MCP works by listing organizations.

Step 3: Gather Project Context

Ask the user:

1. Framework: What framework are you using?

   • Next.js (App Router)
   • Next.js (Pages Router)
   • Express.js
   • FastAPI (Python)
   • Other

2. Environment: Start with sandbox or production?

   • Sandbox (recommended for new setups)
   • Production

3. Product type: What are you selling?

   • Subscription (recurring)
   • One-time purchase
   • Both

Step 4: Create Organization (if needed)

Use MCP to check if user has an organization. If not, guide them to create one at:

• Sandbox: https://sandbox.polar.sh/start
• Production: https://polar.sh/start

Step 5: Create First Product

Use MCP to create a test product. Example for subscription:

Create a product with:
- Name: "Pro Plan"
- Monthly price: $29
- Organization: [user's org]

Store the returned product ID for checkout integration.

Step 6: Generate Integration Code

Hand off to the polar-integration skill to generate the Checkout, Customer Portal, and Webhooks endpoints for the framework selected in Step 3. That skill has the canonical, framework-agnostic recipes plus per-framework variations.

Before invoking it, make sure the user has these environment variables ready (use whatever loader their framework provides):

POLAR_ACCESS_TOKEN=    # from polar.sh/settings (or sandbox)
POLAR_WEBHOOK_SECRET=  # created in Step 7
POLAR_SERVER=sandbox   # omit or set to "production" when going live

Pass along the product ID from Step 5 so checkout links can be tested in Step 8.

Step 7: Set Up Webhooks

1. Start the local development server.
2. Start ngrok against the dev server's port:

   ngrok http <port>
   

3. Copy the ngrok URL (e.g., https://abc123.ngrok.io).

Use MCP to create a webhook endpoint, or guide the user to the dashboard:

• Sandbox: https://sandbox.polar.sh → Settings → Webhooks
• Add endpoint: https://[ngrok-url]/<webhook-path> (use the path from the route generated in Step 6).
• Select events: order.paid, subscription.created, subscription.canceled.
• Copy the webhook secret into the env var loader from Step 6.

Step 8: Test the Integration

1. Start the dev server.
2. Visit the checkout URL with the product ID from Step 5 (path and query shape come from the route generated in Step 6).
3. Complete checkout using test card: 4242 4242 4242 4242.
4. Verify the webhook was received in terminal logs.
5. Check the success page displays correctly.

Step 9: Next Steps

Once basic setup works, suggest:

1. Add customer portal - Let users manage subscriptions (Recipe 2 in polar-integration).
2. Link to your auth - Pass externalCustomerId in checkout.
3. Add benefits - License keys, file downloads, Discord roles.
4. Go production - Switch POLAR_SERVER from sandbox to production.