Stripe checkout wont accept metadata - php

Question

I have integrated Stripe checkout (the latest version) and need to send additional data so I can reconcile a later webhook.
Stripe rejects the metadata with the following error
Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'Stripe\Error\InvalidRequest' with message 'Received unknown parameter: metadata'
My partially redacted code looks like this
$object = \Stripe\Checkout\Session::create([
'success_url' => 'www/payment_processor.php?action=success',
'cancel_url' => 'www/payment_processor.php?action=cancel',
'payment_method_types' => ['card'],
'customer_email' => $email,
'metadata' => ['user_id' => $user_id],
'line_items' => [[
'amount' => $amount,
'currency' => $currency,
'name' => 'Purchase',
'description' => $description,
'quantity' => 1,
]]
]);
I expect the metadata to be accepted and returned with the webhook, as described in the Stripe documentation.

Answer 1

For anyone still coming across this issue, simply placing a client_reference_id or metadata parameter did not work for me even with the 2020-08-27 API.
Adding payment_intent_data with metadata is what got it to work for me. You can try adding the following code:
'payment_intent_data'=>['metadata' => ["order_id" => $orderID, "type" => "myProduct"],

Answer 2

You can do this
stripe.checkout.sessions.create({
payment_intent_data: {
application_fee_amount: this.booking_fee,
metadata: {
key1 : value1,
key2 : value2,
.
.
key N : value N
}
}
})

Answer 3

First sentence of the linked documentation states:
Updateable Stripe objects—including Account, Charge, Customer, PaymentIntent, Refund, Subscription, and Transfer —have a metadata parameter.
You are creating neither of those, you are creating a Session
Update
As Oliver Dixon pointed out, Stripe Sessions now do have a meta data property (although they are still not stated in the meta data article)

Answer 4

You cannot attach metadata to a Session, but you can attach metadata to either the payment_intent or setup_intent that will be created in the session.
See the documentation, you pass it as payment_intent_data.metadata.
Note that Stripe warns you not to put sensitive data in metadata, so if you want to store a client name etc, you're better off putting it in a database under a unique key and then pass the key as client_reference_id.

Answer 5

As of October 2020 the session object has metadata.

Answer 6

The other answers are correct that metadata doesn't exist on the Session object. client_reference_id is an alternative but it has to be unique and it must be a string.
If you just want metadata to show up on the purchase in the Stripe Dashboard, use the payment_intent_data attribute when creating your session. That's how you attach metadata to a purchase made during a session. Relevant documentation here.

Answer 7

The Stripe Session object does not accept metadata as a parameter. See here for the details.
The reference you give in your question is for a Stripe Charge object which does accept metadata.

Answer 8

If you are like me and came across the need to bundle some information for example customer id, order id etc, across over to stripe. There's a parameter called payment_intent_data which is an associative array. Within payment_intent_data you have a property called description which you can use to embed some extra information. The description you put here will show up on the description field when you do a csv payment export on stripe.
https://stripe.com/docs/api/checkout/sessions/create#create_checkout_session-payment_intent_data-description
$stripe_session = \Stripe\Checkout\Session::create([
'submit_type' => 'pay',
'billing_address_collection' => 'required',
'customer' => $customer,
'client_reference_id' => $customer ,
'payment_intent_data'=>['description' =>'This is my description'],
'payment_method_types' => ['card'],
'line_items' => [[
'name' => $event->title,
'description' => $description/*This description does not go on csv export, it's more or less cosmetic */,
'amount' => ($fee),
'currency' => 'gbp',
'quantity' => 1,
]],
'success_url' => 'example.com',
'cancel_url' => 'example.com',
]);

Answer 9

Metadata must be nested in the Session creation object:
Stripe's docs incorrectly list metadata as a parent (https://stripe.com/docs/api/checkout/sessions/create) when in fact it's a child:
https://support.stripe.com/questions/using-metadata-with-checkout-sessions
payment_intent_data.metadata
subscription_data.metadata
client_reference_id is associated with the Session only, and does not get stored in Stripe as metadata.