ThriveCart (thrivecart.com) platform help — checkout/cart platform for creators selling digital products, courses & subscriptions — order bumps, 1-click upsells/downsells, A/B testing, dunning, and a built-in affiliate center; sold as a lifetime (one-time) license. Event-driven — standard webhooks + an Event Subscription API and a REST API (token/OAuth, 60 req/min); webhook auth is a shared secret (order.success and subscription events), not HMAC. Use when granting product/course access on an order.success webhook, the 'lifetime deal' surprising you with an annual Pro+ renewal, affiliate/tax/dunning/custom-domain features missing on Standard, ThriveCart Learn being deprecated (move to ThriveAcademy/external LMS), files shared because there's no download protection, or choosing Standard vs Pro+ vs Ultimate. Do NOT use for checkout-conversion strategy across tools (use /sales-checkout), course/membership strategy (use /sales-membership), or affiliate-program design across tools (use /sales-affiliate-program).
Standardmäßig ist der Prompt ausgewählt, der zuerst die Quelle prüft. Sie können zu einem direkten Befehl wechseln oder eine lokale Kopie herunterladen.
Quelldateien prüfen
Lesen Sie SKILL.md und alle von SkillsMP angezeigten Begleitdateien, bevor Sie sich für eine Installation entscheiden.
Mit Codex oder Claude installieren Kopieren Sie diesen Prompt, fügen Sie ihn in Codex, Claude oder einen anderen Assistant ein und lassen Sie die Skill-Seite prüfen und installieren.
Ein direkter Befehl überspringt den Prüf-Prompt. Prüfen Sie die Quelle, bevor Sie ihn ausführen.
ThriveCart (thrivecart.com) platform help — checkout/cart platform for creators selling digital products, courses & subscriptions — order bumps, 1-click upsells/downsells, A/B testing, dunning, and a built-in affiliate center; sold as a lifetime (one-time) license. Event-driven — standard webhooks + an Event Subscription API and a REST API (token/OAuth, 60 req/min); webhook auth is a shared secret (order.success and subscription events), not HMAC. Use when granting product/course access on an order.success webhook, the 'lifetime deal' surprising you with an annual Pro+ renewal, affiliate/tax/dunning/custom-domain features missing on Standard, ThriveCart Learn being deprecated (move to ThriveAcademy/external LMS), files shared because there's no download protection, or choosing Standard vs Pro+ vs Ultimate. Do NOT use for checkout-conversion strategy across tools (use /sales-checkout), course/membership strategy (use /sales-membership), or affiliate-program design across tools (use /sales-affiliate-program).
argument-hint
[describe what you need help with in ThriveCart]
license
MIT
version
1.0.0
tags
["sales","checkout","payments","platform"]
github
https://github.com/thrivecart
ThriveCart Platform Help
Step 1 — Gather context
If references/learnings.md exists, read it first for accumulated platform knowledge.
What are you trying to do?
A) Grant product/course access (or revoke) from purchase events via webhook/API
B) Route purchases into a CRM/ESP (Zapier or native integration)
C) Understand pricing — Standard vs Pro+ vs Ultimate, the $295/yr renewal, what's gated
D) Deal with ThriveCart Learn deprecation (move courses to ThriveAcademy or an external LMS)
E) Configure a module — bumps, upsells/downsells, A/B test, dunning, affiliate center
F) Fix a problem — webhook auth, duplicate orders, missing features, no download protection
Webhook or REST? Reacting to a purchase → webhooks (standard = all events; Event Subscription API = targeted). Pulling/reconciling history → REST API (token, 60 req/min).
Skip-ahead rule: if the user's prompt already provides enough context, skip to Step 2.
Step 2 — Route or answer directly
If the question is about...
Route to...
Checkout-conversion strategy across tools (which cart, AOV optimization)
/sales-checkout {question}
Course/membership strategy or picking an LMS (Learn replacement)
/sales-membership {question}
Designing an affiliate program across tools (commissions, recruiting)
/sales-affiliate-program {question}
Subscription churn / dunning strategy across tools
/sales-membership {question}
Connecting ThriveCart to other tools generically (iPaaS)
/sales-integration {question}
When routing, give the exact command, e.g. "This is a cart-selection question — run: /sales-checkout ThriveCart vs SamCart for my course business".
Step 3 — ThriveCart platform reference
Read references/platform-guide.md for the full reference — the module map (what's API/webhook vs UI-only), the lifetime-pricing model with the Pro+ $295/yr renewal and what each tier gates, the order/subscription data model with JSON shapes, and quick-start recipes (grant access on purchase; send orders to a CRM; reconcile via REST).
Read references/thrivecart-api-reference.md for the integration surface — API-token vs OAuth auth, the 60 req/min limit, standard webhooks vs the Event Subscription API, the event-type list (order.success, order.subscription_*, affiliate.*), the webhook payload shape, and secret-based webhook validation (no HMAC).
Answer using only the relevant section. Don't dump the full reference.
Step 4 — Actionable guidance
Focus on the user's specific situation:
Drive everything off purchase events. Grant access on order.success; revoke on order.refund /
order.subscription_cancelled. Use standard webhooks for everything, or the Event Subscription API
to receive only the events you care about.
Validate the secret — there's no HMAC. ThriveCart authenticates webhooks with a shared
thrivecart_secret you configure; reject any POST whose secret doesn't match, keep it private, and
dedupe on order_id since events can repeat.
Match on product id, not name. Names change; the numeric base_product (and bump/upsell ids) are stable.
"Lifetime" has a $295/yr asterisk. Affiliates, sales tax, dunning, custom checkout domain, and advanced
reporting are Pro+ ($295/yr from year 2). Standard is genuinely one-time but minimal — budget the renewal.
Don't build on ThriveCart Learn. It's deprecated (no new features) — deliver courses via ThriveAcademy
or grant access to an external LMS off the purchase webhook. (LMS choice → /sales-membership.)
Protect delivery yourself. ThriveCart has no download/link protection — gate files behind login in
your own app/LMS rather than emailing a shareable link.
If you discover a gotcha, workaround, or tip not covered in references/learnings.md, append it there.
Gotchas
Best-effort from research (2026-06) — review these, especially pricing and the Learn deprecation, which change.
"Lifetime" isn't fully lifetime. Pro+ (affiliates, tax, dunning, custom domain, advanced reporting) renews at $295/yr from year 2 — model real cost, not just the one-time headline.
ThriveCart Learn / Learn+ are deprecated. No new features; ThriveAcademy replaces them. Don't build new course delivery on Learn.
No download/link protection. Delivered file links can be shared freely — gate real access in your own app off order.success.
Webhook auth is a shared secret, not HMAC. Validate thrivecart_secret on every call and keep it private; there's no signature header.
Events can repeat — dedupe on order_id. Don't double-provision; make handlers idempotent.
Standard plan is bare. No affiliate center, sales tax, dunning, or custom checkout domain — those need Pro+.
60 requests/minute per account on the REST API — batch/reconcile within that, back off on limits.
History of instability + billing bugs. Ownership changes caused past downtime/Stripe issues; reportedly stabilized, but test the full purchase + billing flow before a launch.
Related skills
/sales-samcart — SamCart platform help (the subscription-priced competitor: modern templates, Subscription Saver dunning, Affiliate Center on Pro; $79–199/mo vs ThriveCart's lifetime license)
/sales-checkout — Checkout-conversion strategy across tools (ThriveCart vs SamCart vs Lemon Squeezy; order bumps, upsells, cart recovery)
/sales-membership — Course/membership strategy + picking an LMS (the ThriveCart Learn replacement decision)
/sales-affiliate-program — Designing an affiliate program across tools — pairs with ThriveCart's built-in Affiliate Center (Pro+)
/sales-email-marketing — Post-purchase email sequences off ThriveCart purchase events
/sales-do — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do -a claude-code
Examples
Example 1: Grant course access when someone buys (developer/automation)
User says: "When someone buys my course on ThriveCart, auto-enroll them in my external LMS."
Skill does: Walks Recipe 1 — handle the order.success webhook, validate the thrivecart_secret (no HMAC), then grant access by the buyer's email + numeric base_product (match on id, not name); revoke on order.refund/order.subscription_cancelled. Notes deduping on order_id, using the Event Subscription API to receive only order.success, and that ThriveCart Learn is deprecated so an external LMS or ThriveAcademy is the path.
Result: Purchases auto-enroll buyers reliably.
Example 2: Why is my "lifetime" cart asking for $295/year?
User says: "I bought ThriveCart as a one-time deal — why am I being charged $295/year now?"
Skill does: Explains the 2025 model change — the base Standard ($495) is one-time, but the creator essentials (affiliate center, sales tax, dunning, custom checkout domain, advanced reporting) are Pro+, which renews at $295/yr from year 2. Helps them decide whether they need Pro+ features or can stay on Standard, and frames pricing as best-effort to verify live.
Result: User understands the real cost structure.
Example 3: My customers are sharing the download link
User says: "People are passing around the file link to my paid PDF from ThriveCart."
Skill does: Identifies that ThriveCart has no download/link protection — a known limitation. Recommends gating the file behind login in your own app/membership/LMS, granting access off the order.success webhook (and revoking on refund), rather than delivering a raw shareable link. Routes membership/LMS setup to /sales-membership.
Result: Files are protected behind authenticated access tied to the purchase.
Troubleshooting
My webhook fires but I can't trust it / anyone could POST to it
Symptom: You're unsure a webhook really came from ThriveCart.
Cause: ThriveCart doesn't sign webhooks with HMAC — authenticity is a shared secret you set in the webhook config.
Solution: Configure a secret on the notification, and on every inbound POST reject any request whose thrivecart_secret doesn't match. Keep the secret out of client code/logs. Also dedupe on order_id so retries don't double-provision.
Access isn't granted (or is granted twice) on purchase
Symptom: Buyers don't get access, or get provisioned multiple times.
Cause: Listening to the wrong event, matching on product name (which changes), or not handling repeated deliveries.
Solution: Grant on order.success (revoke on order.refund/order.subscription_cancelled), match the offer by the stable numeric base_product/bump/upsell id, and make the handler idempotent on order_id. Reconcile periodically via the REST API to catch missed webhooks (mind the 60/min limit).
Features I expected are missing / it's costing more than "lifetime"
Symptom: No affiliate center, tax, dunning, or custom domain; surprise annual charge.
Cause: You're on Standard (those are Pro+), and Pro+ renews $295/yr from year 2 — the "lifetime" deal is partial.
Solution: Upgrade to Pro+ for affiliates/tax/dunning/custom-domain/advanced reporting if you need them, and budget the $295/yr. If your courses are on Learn, plan a move to ThriveAcademy or an external LMS, since Learn is deprecated.
