What the connection status means
The Stripe card on Settings > Payment Providers carries a status badge, and a separate site-wide notice can appear when a sync fails. Here is every state and what to do about each one.
Every state
| State | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Not Connected | No valid Stripe key is stored. This is what a fresh install shows, and it is also what shows if stored credentials could not be decrypted (for example after the site's security keys were rotated). | Paste a key on Settings > Payment Providers, or through the setup wizard, and click Connect. |
| Connected (Test) | A test-mode key (sk_test_ or rk_test_) is connected. Everything SSA shows comes from Stripe's sandbox. | Nothing, while you are still testing. See Test mode versus live when you are ready to switch. |
| Connected (Live) | A live-mode key (sk_live_ or rk_live_) is connected. SSA is syncing your real Stripe data. | Nothing. |
| Key does not match the selected environment | An inline alert appears as you type when the key's prefix contradicts the Test / Live segment you have selected. | Paste the correct key, or switch the segment to match the key. |
| Reconnect required | A red notice on every admin page: SSA could not authenticate with your payment provider. A sync failed with an authentication, permission, or invalid-request error, meaning the key was revoked or lost a permission after it was connected. | Go to Settings > Payment Providers and reconnect, following Rotate or disconnect a key. |
How the status is worked out
SSA counts a provider as connected when its row is active and its decrypted credentials contain an API key. If the stored credentials cannot be decrypted at all, the provider is left out of the active list entirely, so the card falls back to Not Connected rather than showing an error, and reconnecting is the only fix.