create Method

Overview

The create method creates a customer record in the payment processor system. Storing customer details streamlines future transactions and can improve authorization rates by establishing a payment history.

Business Use Case: A new user signs up for your e-commerce platform. Create their customer profile to enable faster checkout on future purchases and to organize their payment history.

Purpose

Why create customer records?

Scenario	Benefit
Faster checkout	Returning customers skip entering details
Payment history	Track all payments by customer
Fraud scoring	Established customers have better risk profiles
Subscriptions	Required for recurring billing setup

Key outcomes:

• Customer ID for future transactions
• Stored customer profile at processor
• Foundation for payment method storage

Request Fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
merchant_customer_id	string	Yes	Your unique customer reference
email	string	No	Customer email address
name	string	No	Customer full name
phone	string	No	Customer phone number
description	string	No	Internal description
metadata	dict	No	Additional data (max 20 keys)

Response Fields

Field	Type	Description
merchant_customer_id	string	Your customer reference (echoed back)
connector_customer_id	string	Connector's customer ID (e.g., Stripe's cus_xxx)
status	CustomerStatus	Current status: ACTIVE
status_code	int	HTTP-style status code (200, 422, etc.)

Example

SDK Setup

from orchestratorx_prism import CustomerClient

customer_client = CustomerClient(
    connector='stripe',
    api_key='YOUR_API_KEY',
    environment='SANDBOX'
)

Request

request = {
    "merchant_customer_id": "cust_user_12345",
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "name": "John Doe",
    "phone": "+1-555-123-4567",
    "description": "Premium plan subscriber"
}

response = await customer_client.create(request)

Response

{
    "merchant_customer_id": "cust_user_12345",
    "connector_customer_id": "cus_xxx",
    "status": "ACTIVE",
    "status_code": 200
}

Common Patterns

Customer Onboarding Flow

sequenceDiagram
    participant App as Your App
    participant CS as Prism
    participant PP as Payment Provider

    Note over App: User signs up
    App->>CS: 1. create customer
    CS->>PP: Create customer record
    PP-->>CS: Return connector_customer_id
    CS-->>App: Return customer ID
    Note over App: Store customer ID

Flow Explanation:

1. Create customer - When a user creates an account, call create with their profile information.

2. Store IDs - Save both merchant_customer_id and connector_customer_id in your database.

3. Use for payments - Reference this customer in future payment operations.

Best Practices

• Create customers at account signup, not first purchase
• Use consistent merchant_customer_id format
• Store connector_customer_id for future reference
• Include email to enable customer communications from processor

Error Handling

Error Code	Meaning	Action
409	Customer exists	Use existing customer or update instead
422	Invalid data	Check email format, name length, etc.

Next Steps

• Payment Method Service - Store payment methods for customer
• Payment Service - Process payments with customer ID
• Recurring Payment Service - Set up subscriptions for customer