whop

Whop Platform Expert

Whop is a platform for selling digital products, memberships, courses, and community access.

When to Use

• Building membership/subscription products
• Integrating Whop checkout and payments
• Managing courses and educational content
• Gating content by membership status
• Handling webhooks for payment events
• Building Whop apps with OAuth

Quick Start

Authentication

const headers = {
  Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.WHOP_API_KEY}`,
  "Content-Type": "application/json",
};

const response = await fetch("https://api.whop.com/api/v5/me", { headers });

API Key Types:

• Company API Keys - Your own company data (Dashboard → Settings → API Keys)
• App API Keys - Multi-tenant apps (Dashboard → Developer → Your App)

Core Operations

Create Product

const product = await fetch("https://api.whop.com/api/v5/products", {
  method: "POST",
  headers,
  body: JSON.stringify({
    title: "Premium Membership",
    description: "Access to all content",
    visibility: "visible",
  }),
});

Create Plan

const plan = await fetch("https://api.whop.com/api/v5/plans", {
  method: "POST",
  headers,
  body: JSON.stringify({
    product_id: "prod_xxx",
    billing_period: 1,
    billing_period_unit: "month",
    price: 2999, // $29.99 in cents
    currency: "usd",
  }),
});

Create Checkout

const checkout = await fetch(
  "https://api.whop.com/api/v5/checkout-configurations",
  {
    method: "POST",
    headers,
    body: JSON.stringify({
      plan_id: "plan_xxx",
      success_url: "https://yourapp.com/success",
      cancel_url: "https://yourapp.com/cancel",
      metadata: { user_id: "123" },
    }),
  }
);

const { url } = await checkout.json();
// Redirect user to url

Membership Management

List Memberships

const response = await fetch(
  "https://api.whop.com/api/v5/memberships?valid=true",
  { headers }
);

const { data: memberships } = await response.json();

Check User Access

async function checkAccess(userId: string, productId: string): Promise<boolean> {
  const response = await fetch(
    `https://api.whop.com/api/v5/memberships?user_id=${userId}&product_id=${productId}&valid=true`,
    { headers }
  );

  const { data } = await response.json();
  return data.length > 0;
}

Validate License Key

async function validateLicense(licenseKey: string): Promise<boolean> {
  const response = await fetch(
    `https://api.whop.com/api/v5/memberships?license_key=${licenseKey}`,
    { headers }
  );

  const { data } = await response.json();
  return data.length > 0 && data[0].valid;
}

Cancel Membership

await fetch(
  `https://api.whop.com/api/v5/memberships/${membershipId}/cancel`,
  {
    method: "POST",
    headers,
  }
);

Payments

Get Payment

const payment = await fetch(
  `https://api.whop.com/api/v5/payments/${paymentId}`,
  { headers }
);

Refund Payment

await fetch(`https://api.whop.com/api/v5/payments/${paymentId}/refund`, {
  method: "POST",
  headers,
  body: JSON.stringify({
    amount: 1000, // Optional: partial refund in cents
  }),
});

Courses

Create Course

const course = await fetch("https://api.whop.com/api/v5/courses", {
  method: "POST",
  headers,
  body: JSON.stringify({
    product_id: "prod_xxx",
    title: "Complete Web Development",
    description: "Learn fullstack from scratch",
    visibility: "visible",
  }),
});

Create Chapter

const chapter = await fetch("https://api.whop.com/api/v5/course-chapters", {
  method: "POST",
  headers,
  body: JSON.stringify({
    course_id: "course_xxx",
    title: "Introduction to JavaScript",
    order: 1,
  }),
});

Create Lesson

const lesson = await fetch("https://api.whop.com/api/v5/course-lessons", {
  method: "POST",
  headers,
  body: JSON.stringify({
    chapter_id: "chapter_xxx",
    title: "Variables and Data Types",
    content: "Lesson content in markdown...",
    type: "video", // or 'text', 'quiz', 'assignment'
    video_url: "https://youtube.com/watch?v=...",
    order: 1,
  }),
});

Mark Lesson Complete

await fetch(
  `https://api.whop.com/api/v5/course-lessons/${lessonId}/mark-as-completed`,
  {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${userAccessToken}`,
    },
  }
);

Webhooks

Setup Endpoint

import crypto from "crypto";

export async function POST(req: Request) {
  const body = await req.text();
  const signature = req.headers.get("x-whop-signature");

  // Verify signature
  const hash = crypto
    .createHmac("sha256", process.env.WHOP_WEBHOOK_SECRET!)
    .update(body)
    .digest("hex");

  if (hash !== signature) {
    return new Response("Invalid signature", { status: 401 });
  }

  const event = JSON.parse(body);

  switch (event.action) {
    case "payment.succeeded":
      await handlePaymentSuccess(event.data);
      break;

    case "membership.activated":
      await grantAccess(event.data);
      break;

    case "membership.deactivated":
      await revokeAccess(event.data);
      break;

    case "dispute.created":
      await handleDispute(event.data);
      break;
  }

  return Response.json({ received: true });
}

Key webhook events:

Event	Trigger
payment.succeeded	Payment completed
payment.failed	Payment failed
membership.activated	Membership started
membership.deactivated	Membership ended
invoice.paid	Recurring payment succeeded
dispute.created	Chargeback initiated

OAuth Apps

Redirect to Whop OAuth

const authUrl = new URL("https://whop.com/oauth");
authUrl.searchParams.set("client_id", process.env.WHOP_CLIENT_ID!);
authUrl.searchParams.set("redirect_uri", "https://yourapp.com/callback");
authUrl.searchParams.set("scope", "memberships:read payments:read");

// Redirect user
window.location.href = authUrl.toString();

Handle Callback

export async function GET(req: Request) {
  const url = new URL(req.url);
  const code = url.searchParams.get("code");

  const response = await fetch("https://api.whop.com/api/v5/oauth/token", {
    method: "POST",
    headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      client_id: process.env.WHOP_CLIENT_ID!,
      client_secret: process.env.WHOP_CLIENT_SECRET!,
      code,
      grant_type: "authorization_code",
      redirect_uri: "https://yourapp.com/callback",
    }),
  });

  const { access_token, refresh_token } = await response.json();
  // Store tokens securely
}

Middleware (Access Control)

// middleware.ts
import { NextResponse } from "next/server";
import type { NextRequest } from "next/server";

export async function middleware(request: NextRequest) {
  const token = request.cookies.get("whop_user_token")?.value;

  if (!token) {
    return NextResponse.redirect(new URL("/login", request.url));
  }

  const response = await fetch("https://api.whop.com/api/v5/me/memberships", {
    headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${token}` },
  });

  const { data } = await response.json();
  const hasAccess = data.some((m: any) => m.status === "active" && m.valid);

  if (!hasAccess) {
    return NextResponse.redirect(new URL("/subscribe", request.url));
  }

  return NextResponse.next();
}

export const config = {
  matcher: ["/dashboard/:path*", "/premium/:path*"],
};

TypeScript Types

interface WhopMembership {
  id: string;
  user_id: string;
  product_id: string;
  plan_id: string;
  status: "active" | "paused" | "canceled" | "expired";
  valid: boolean;
  license_key: string;
  renews_at: string | null;
  expires_at: string | null;
  cancel_at_period_end: boolean;
}

interface WhopPayment {
  id: string;
  amount: number;
  currency: string;
  status: "succeeded" | "pending" | "failed";
  user_id: string;
  product_id: string;
}

Error Handling

async function safeWhopRequest(url: string, options: RequestInit) {
  const response = await fetch(url, options);

  if (!response.ok) {
    const error = await response.json();
    throw new Error(error.message || "Whop API error");
  }

  return response.json();
}

Error	Meaning
401 Unauthorized	Invalid API key
403 Forbidden	Insufficient permissions
404 Not Found	Resource doesn't exist
429 Too Many Requests	Rate limited

Security Best Practices

DO:

• Verify webhook signatures
• Store tokens encrypted
• Check membership status server-side
• Use HTTPS everywhere

DON'T:

• Expose API keys client-side
• Trust client-sent membership data
• Skip webhook verification
• Log sensitive data

Implementation Checklist

• Create Whop account and company
• Get API keys from Dashboard
• Set environment variables
• Create products and plans
• Implement checkout flow
• Add membership access checking
• Set up webhook endpoint
• Handle payment events
• Test end-to-end flow

Resources

• Dashboard: https://whop.com/dashboard
• API Docs: https://docs.whop.com
• API Base: https://api.whop.com/api/v5