Set up PayPal Checkout

Integrate PayPal Checkout to accept PayPal, Venmo, Pay Later, and all major credit cards.

User experience

When a buyer reaches checkout, the PayPal buttons component renders the payment methods they're eligible for. Which buttons appear depends on the configuration you set in the JavaScript SDK.

When the buyer selects a payment method, a pop-up launches and walks them through the following steps:

1. Review order details. If the buyer is logged into PayPal, the pop-up pre-fills their default shipping address and the shipping option from your initial Orders API call.
2. Adjust if needed. The buyer can change their shipping address or select a different payment method before confirming.
3. Complete the purchase. The buyer confirms their order and authorizes the payment. PayPal then processes the transaction on its servers.

Integration flow

1. The <script> tag fetches the PayPal SDK when your checkout page renders.
2. When your customer clicks on a PayPal button, the createOrder callback tells your server to initiate an order with PayPal's server.
3. PayPal server sends the order ID to your server, which then relays it to the SDK's createOrder callback, prompting the SDK to launch the checkout window for the order ID.
4. The customer logs in using PayPal credentials and uses the order review page to verify order details and check out.
5. The onApprove callback launches after payment is confirmed.
6. Use the response to verify the payment was completed or catch any errors about their payment method.

Prerequisites

1. Create a PayPal developer account or log in with a PayPal business account.
2. PayPal uses two development environments: sandbox and production. The sandbox environment is for testing and simulates the live PayPal experience without affecting real money. Get a sandbox client ID and secret to build your integration.

Set up your development environment in Node.js

Take the following steps to set up your development environment in Node.js.

1. Build the server

This sample integration uses the npm package manager.

Navigate to the root folder of your project, then enter npm install to run the sample application. For more information, visit npm's documentation.

2. Install dependencies

In your project root folder, set up your integration by running npm install @paypal/paypal-server-sdk@1.0.0 dotenv express body-parser to install the following 4 libraries at the same time:

• @paypal/paypal-server-sdk@1.0.0 The PayPal Server SDK provides integration access to the PayPal REST APIs.
• dotenv separates your configuration and code by loading environment variables from a .env file into process.env.
• express is a Node.js web application framework that supports web and mobile applications.
• body-parser is used to parse incoming request bodies in a middleware before your handlers

This sample integration uses PayPal's Server SDK v1.0.0. For more details, visit the PayPal Server SDK documentation and log in to your account.

3. Verify package.json

The following code sample shows a typical package.json file for a PayPal integration. If you rename your server file from server.js to something else, update the filename references in the package.json script.

{
    "name": "paypal-checkout-integration-backend-node",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "private": true,
    "type": "module",
    "dependencies": {
        "@paypal/paypal-server-sdk": "^1.0.0",
        "body-parser": "^1.20.3",
        "dotenv": "^16.3.1",
        "express": "^4.18.2"
    },
    "scripts": {
        "server-dev": "nodemon server.js",
        "start": "npm run server-dev",
        "prod": "node server.js",
        "format": "npx prettier --write **/*.{js,jsx,md}",
        "format:check": "npx prettier --check **/*.{js,jsx,md}"
    },
    "devDependencies": {
        "concurrently": "^8.2.1",
        "nodemon": "^3.0.1"
    }
}

If you have trouble with your app, reinstall your local library and package files using npm install.

If you have an error about loading an ES module, add "type": "module" in your package.json file. This field isn't automatically added when package.json is created.

4. Set up environment variables

Store your PayPal client ID and client secret in an .env file at the root of your project:

PAYPAL_CLIENT_ID=your_app_client_id_here
PAYPAL_CLIENT_SECRET=your_app_client_secret_here

The dotenv package loads these values into your app at runtime. Never commit your .env file to version control. Add it to your .gitignore before your first commit.

Choose a payment option to integrate

PayPal checkout supports one-time payments and recurring payments.