All PostsJan 30, 2026ShipAI Team1 min read

Auth + Billing Launch Checklist (Before First Paid User)

A concise, implementation-focused checklist for the two systems that break launches most often.

AuthBillingLaunch

Contents

If auth or billing fails, launch confidence drops immediately.

Use this checklist before opening paid access.

Authentication

  • social and email flows tested end-to-end,
  • protected routes verified for unauthenticated users,
  • session expiry behavior validated,
  • role-based access checks covered by tests.

Billing

  • product IDs and webhook secrets validated,
  • upgrade/downgrade states tested,
  • failed payment handling confirmed,
  • usage limits enforced for all plans.

Data integrity

  • entitlement state is idempotent,
  • webhook handlers tolerate retries,
  • subscription state can be recomputed from source-of-truth events.

Recovery readiness

  • manual replay path for failed webhooks
  • internal script to correct user entitlement state
  • support response template for billing edge cases
  • automated replay tooling
  • dashboard with subscription anomaly alerts
  • one-click account state re-sync

When this list is complete, you can scale without fearing every checkout event.

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