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Proposed (STA-806). The per-provider decision of 0339 open question 1 for terminals the payments service drives through the provider’s cloud, and for Tap to Pay on the staff app’s phone. The local-link family is 0377.

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Context

Wave 10 built a Stripe Terminal driver of TerminalGateway on the Stripe Connection: server-driven readers with on-reader tipping and cancel-then-reconcile. The owner answered that own-account payments in the US start with Stripe, and that Square and Adyen are built when the first design partner needs one (RV-53). Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android is a launch item in the US and for Academorix (US-36, RV-45) and needs an Apple entitlement per app bundle (R3-SO-12).

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Decision

  1. The split for this family. The provider’s cloud drives the reader. The TerminalGateway driver is the provider’s Connection on the server, reached through PaymentGateways; CardTerminal in @stackra/peripherals only records which reader a till uses and reports its state. The till never speaks the reader’s protocol.
  2. Stripe Terminal. Built. Server-driven readers, on-reader tipping and cancel-then-reconcile, for us and eu and wherever a pack offers Stripe. Stripe Terminal’s Tap to Pay is a SoftPos driver of the same family in the Expo staff app, using Stripe’s SDK as a native module.
  3. Square. Driver square (gateway and Terminal) is built when the first design partner on Square hardware signs (RV-53, R4-5); until then a US partner on other hardware moves to certified Stripe readers or waits.
  4. Adyen. Driver adyen (gateway and terminals through Adyen’s cloud terminal API) under the same trigger as Square, for us and eu.
  5. Tap to Pay needs an entitlement per app. Every app bundle that offers Tap to Pay, including each white-label app, holds the platform entitlement for it; launch-gate:<pack>:<product> lists it.
  6. Choice is data. As in 0377 decision 8: market-pack:<code>.payments.terminal-providers, managed or own Connections, tips from settings and rule sets.
  7. Values. Pack data: terminal providers per market, payments.byo-providers (us: Stripe, Square, Adyen, PayPal; eu: Stripe, Adyen) and the launch-gate rows. Settings and rule sets: tips. Code: the drivers.

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Consequences

  • A US or EU merchant can bring its own Stripe account and readers at launch; Square and Adyen follow demand.
  • White-label apps carry an extra store review step for the Tap to Pay entitlement.

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Enforcement

planned — each driver’s conformance suite against the provider’s test mode; the launch gate lists each certified driver and the Tap to Pay entitlement per app bundle.

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Supersedes and sources

Supersedes: none. Answers 0339 open question 1 for this family. Sources: notes/handover/build-wave10-2026-10-25.md (payments builder, not built item 1); notes/handover/review-round-3/owner-answers.md (RV-53); notes/handover/review-round-3/stackra-os.md (R3-SO-04, R3-SO-12); notes/handover/review-round-4/whole-plan.md (R4-5).