What can an AI agent do with
Send payouts?
It can send money from your Stripe balance to your bank account or debit card, and cancel payouts that are still pending.
How to spot it
On a Stripe connection or settings screen, this is Payouts: Write.
With it, an agent can
- Create payouts from your Stripe balance
- Cancel a pending payout that was created by hand
- Update payouts
- Read payout details
It cannot, on its own
- It cannot pay out more than your Stripe balance covers
- It cannot cancel the automatic payouts Stripe sends on your schedule
- A sandbox key cannot send real money
What a bad day looks like
It could pay out money you meant to keep in Stripe to cover refunds.
Set it up safer
- Leave Payouts at None unless managing payouts is the agent's job
- Give Payouts: Read or Balance: Read if it only reports on cash
Narrower permissions on Stripe:
- Read your balance
Balance: Read
Ask the company selling the agent
- Why does it need to create payouts?
- When would it cancel a payout?
Source
Checked against Stripe documentation on 2026-09-28. All Stripe permissions →
Thinking about a specific agent?
Tell us what it connects to, what it is allowed to do and who approves its work. You get a plain-language label of what it can touch and what to ask the seller. It takes a couple of minutes, and your answers stay in your browser unless you choose to post a test job.
Or have a person go through the AI apps on up to 3 of your business services with you and get a written report, for $249.
This page explains what a permission allows. It does not describe, test or rate any product. Permission details are summarized in our own words from the provider's documentation, linked on the page; providers change their documentation, so check the source before you rely on a detail.