Setup Solo Subscriptions - The Dodo Suite Wiki

Subscriptions on your solo site

Prerequisites:

You must have a Custom Domain set up. Quick tunnels change their URL every time SDT starts, which breaks PayPal webhooks. If you're currently using a quick tunnel, switch to a stable domain first.
You should have an idea of what kind of subscriptions you want to offer. Most common; one tier with access to all PAID website pages and/or a one-time payment for life-time access.

You can also choose to do different subscription tiers with access to different PAID website pages. Subscriptions unlock specific website pages. You'll determine which pages later in this section. Not recommended to change tier settings once you have active subscriptions.

Other Important Notes:

Subscriptions only affect access on YOUR website. If someone subscribes to your website, it does not give them access to PAID pages on another Dodo Site. If for some reason you ever change your domain, you must go through this guide again to update your PayPal webhooks. It does not update itself.

If you have existing subscribers through another tool, it is your responsibility to communicate that you're ending that service and migrating. The Discord tab in the Monetization Tools panel offers migration assistance but this is only to help get people set up on the new site where they can re-subscribe when their 'trial period' runs out. Essentially you should → send out a message to your subscribers stating you're migrating subscriptions to PayPal only → use the migration tool to share sign-up links which includes choosing a tier and time length to auto-assign (that way their already-paid subscription isn't lost) → direct players to make sure their OLD subscription is CANCELLED so they don't get double charged.

Step 1 — Enable Monetization Tools

Open SuperDodoTerminal ()
Open SDT General Settings () from the main control panel
Under UI PREFERENCES, check Enable monetization tools

Click Save
You should now see a () on the main control panel
Click to open the Monetization Tools panel. You can find some additional information on the Monetization wiki page, it's currently just a basic overview.

Click the 'PayPal' tab. This is where you'll connect PayPal
Click Open PayPal Dashboard or visit developer.paypal.com and log in (or sign up) to get started.

You must change your account type to Business to use subscriptions. Find how to do that here. If you have any issues accessing the developer portal you'll need to use PayPal chat or phone support to fix access. You cannot set up subscriptions without this panel. I've personally had to contact chat numerous times to fix my access, it very randomly will say NO ACCESS for no reason beyond to be annoying. Use PayPal support for issues here!!! This will be annoying to set up but then you don't have to look at it again unless you change subscription options ;)

Step 2 — Create a PayPal Developer App and Connect it to SDT

Navigate to Apps & Credentials

Click Create An App

Name the App, this is private but if there's a chance you'll ever offer team subscriptions, the name for this one should be easy to tell it's for your Solo site.

Copy the Client ID and paste it in the PayPal tab in Monetization Tools
Copy the Secret Key 1 (this is your Client Secret, treat it like a password) and paste it in the PayPal tab in Monetization Tools

Keep the PayPal developer page open, you'll need it again in a moment.

Set up the Webhook:

Click Generate URL — this creates a webhook URL based on your stable domain
Click Copy URL to copy the generated webhook URL

Go back to the PayPal page you left open and scroll down

Click Add Webhook

Paste the webhook URL you just copied from SDT into PayPal's Webhook URL field
For webhook events, select All Events (or at minimum: all Billing Subscription events and Payment Sale events)
Scroll down and click Save

PayPal will now show you a Webhook ID, copy it
Back in SDT, paste the Webhook ID into the Webhook ID field (this is NOT the URL — it's the ID PayPal gave you after creating the webhook)
Click Save PayPal Setup

Set up Return URLs (for after checkout):

In SDT's PayPal Setup tab, you'll see two auto-generated return URLs below the webhook section
Success Return URL — Copy this. In PayPal, when creating/editing your billing plans, paste this into the Return URL field. This sends buyers back to your confirmation page after a successful subscription.
Cancel Return URL — Copy this. Paste into PayPal's Cancel URL field. This sends buyers back to your subscriptions page if they cancel checkout.

Step 3 — Create Billing Plans on PayPal

Go to paypal.com/billing/plans
Click Create Plan

Click Create a subscription product. Your actual plans live inside this, this is not a plan or tier. If you ever add team subscriptions down the line, you can create a second subscription product to hold its subscriptions separately.

Product name = recommend using the domain name here so it's easy to tell apart
Product description = leave blank or vague; something like "Your website name" support subscribers is fine, you'll input the descriptions your players see on the website in SDT
Product ID = leave blank so it generates one
Product type = Services
Industry category = you pick, I use Hobbies, toys, and games :)
Product page URL = enter https://www.yourdomain.com/subscriptions.html exactly, replace yourdomain with your actual domain name.
Product image URL = leave blank

Click Next
You'll be taken to the last screen showing your subscriptions, select the one you just created and click Next

Select Fixed Pricing

Name the plan (leave the description blank, you fill this out in SDT)
Click Next

Define the plan pricing, the following screenshot includes the settings I use(excluding price), you can customize this to fit your needs.

Click Next
Review the plan details, update anything that needs updated.
Click Turn Plan On
On the next page, click Do this later → the app suite has its own checkout experience built in (https://www.yourdomain.com/subscriptions.html, logged in players click subscribe and it redirects to PayPal)
You should be returned to the plans page automatically with a success message

You'll also see the plan you created with a plan ID which looks something like P-6U90599430114510XKLPOULQ this is what you copy for SDT
If you need additional plans added, click the subscription product you created

This is where you add additional plans/tiers if needed, you can see the plan IDs from this page too

Most people will only use "1 month" subscription cycles, that means plans renew monthly. You can offer other options but you have to make a plan for each individual cycle length + assign the islands to each cycle length in SDT as outlined below. If you're new to this I recommend starting with only 1 month cycles, and only change things if players ask for more options :)

Step 4 — Set Up Subscription Tiers in SDT and connect plans

Now go back to the Monetization Tools panel, click the subscriptions tab
Click Manage Tier Plans

Click Add Plan

Checkmark Plan is on when you're ready for it to be shown on the website - recommended to come back and checkmark this after you assign islands if your site is already being used by players.
Tier = The name you want shown for this subscription plan
Length = must match what you set in PayPal
Cost = the price you put in PayPal for this plan
PayPal Plan ID = paste the Plan ID from PayPal, thats the P-6U90599430114510XKLPOULQ value listed with the plan name
Description = what subscribers get, the subscription page will list the islands that come with this plan (from island assignments) + list their online/offline status AND lets you click to view the map you have assigned to that island, so you can use this description for other things.
Availability = whether services are 24/7 or scheduled
Role = if you're running Discord, you'll input the role you want auto-assigned to the player's account upon successful subscription here, this role will also be assigned permission for each island's Discord channel
Repeat for as many plans/cycle lengths you created in PayPal
Close the Tier Plans panel when done

Assign islands to tiers:

Click Manage Island Assignments

You'll see all of your current island PROFILES listed here. If you follow the recommended naming system (Island name + console number) you can track which console each profile/island is for. Useful if you want to designate certain switches as subscriber-only, just mark all profiles ending in its console number as paid

Mark which islands you want hidden from non-subscribed users using the Paid column
The Active column indicates if this profile is currently assigned to an island tile
The Host column comes from the island host information panel for that profile
Assign the islands to the tiers you want them in using the Tier column.
Write a description for each unique island map in the Description column. You don't need to copy/paste the description to duplicate islands like my screenshot shows (I'll tell you why in a few steps)
Use the Availability to indicate when this island is open, common options: 24/7; scheduled; random
If you're running a discord channel make sure the Discord Channel column looks right, this is read-only. Edit the channels assigned per island in its island detail panel.
Use the Island Map column to upload what map shows up when players click the island name on the subscription page. You can upload a specific image to be used (something more advertise-y if desired) or you can have it use the map set in its island host details.

Click Close
Click Save Tiers & Islands
Now go back to Tier Plans so you can set which islands actually show up under the plan; if you don't do this you could have doubles listed when they shouldn't be.

Click List

On this screen checkmark the islands you want actually listed on the subscription tile. You can use the fields on the right to set a custom/pretty name of your choosing.
Click Save
Repeat for each plan/tier you have.
Click Close
Optional: Write a Subscription Page Intro message (shown above island listings on the subscription page) → click Save Intro Text

It's at this point in writing the wiki that I've realized I didn't include this in the visible UI, it's there now but I don't want to redo the last 5 screenshots so; this is likely what you see on the subscriptions tab.

Enable Auto-rename paid island channels if you want less work when setting up.

Step 5 - Test it

Visit your website's subscription page
- If you don't see the Premium icon in your menu bar, check that the Subscriptions page is actually enabled in DodoBuilder
Run at least 1 test subscription to confirm the connection works
Check the analytics tab in SDT Monetization Tools to verify webhook events are coming through
If nothing shows up, click Refresh Health on the PayPal Setup tab to check your connection status
If things work as expected, you're all done and ready to host :) (or move on to the next section)

Set-up issues for subscriptions can vary widely. If something isn't working right go back and double check the setup steps, if you still can't figure it out reach out via (invite link coming soon) or Github