# mpesa-mcp > MCP server for East African fintech APIs — M-Pesa (Safaricom Daraja) and Africa's Talking Give your AI agent the ability to trigger M-Pesa payments, check transaction status, send SMS, and top up airtime across 20+ African telecom networks. [![Tests](https://github.com/gabrielmahia/mpesa-mcp/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/gabrielmahia/mpesa-mcp/actions) [![PyPI](https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/mpesa-mcp)](https://pypi.org/project/mpesa-mcp/) [![License: MIT](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-MIT-yellow.svg)](LICENSE) [![Glama Score](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/gabrielmahia/mpesa-mcp/badges/score.svg)](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/gabrielmahia/mpesa-mcp) [![smithery badge](https://smithery.ai/badge/@gabrielmahia/mpesa-mcp)](https://smithery.ai/server/@gabrielmahia/mpesa-mcp) [![Glama](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/gabrielmahia/mpesa-mcp/badge)](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/gabrielmahia/mpesa-mcp) [![NSA MCP Compliant](https://img.shields.io/badge/NSA%20CSI%20U%2FOO%2F6030316--26-MCP%20Security%20Compliant-blue)](https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/75/documents/Cybersecurity/CSI_MCP_SECURITY.pdf) [![mpesa-mcp MCP server](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/gabrielmahia/mpesa-mcp/badges/card.svg)](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/gabrielmahia/mpesa-mcp) ## Tested With ``` claude-sonnet-5 (recommended — call get_model_hint() for guidance) claude-opus-4-8 (for highest-accuracy compliance reasoning) ``` Claude Sonnet 5 (released June 30, 2026) finishes multi-step M-PESA workflows without stopping short and self-corrects tool-call errors without prompting. Terminal-Bench score 80.4% vs Sonnet 4.6's 67.0% — the benchmark most analogous to payment agent work. ## Why this exists M-Pesa processes more transactions per day than PayPal does in Africa. Africa's Talking reaches users in 20+ countries on basic phones via SMS and USSD. Neither has an MCP server. This means every AI agent built today — Claude, GPT, Gemini, or any MCP-compatible runtime — cannot trigger an M-Pesa payment or send a Kiswahili SMS without custom integration work. `mpesa-mcp` closes that gap in one `pip install`. ## Tools | Tool | Description | |---|---| | `mpesa_stk_push` | Trigger STK Push payment prompt on customer's M-Pesa phone | | `mpesa_stk_query` | Check status of an STK Push request | | `mpesa_transaction_status` | Query any M-Pesa transaction by receipt number | | `sms_send` | Send SMS to 1–1,000 recipients across African networks | | `airtime_send` | Send airtime top-up to any subscriber (KES, NGN, GHS, UGX, etc.) | ## Coverage - **M-Pesa:** Kenya (Safaricom Daraja v3) — STK Push, C2B, transaction status - **SMS/Airtime:** Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa, and 15+ more via Africa's Talking ## Glama (hosted MCP) mpesa-mcp is available as a hosted MCP server on [Glama](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/gabrielmahia/mpesa-mcp): [![mpesa-mcp MCP server](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/gabrielmahia/mpesa-mcp/badges/card.svg)](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/gabrielmahia/mpesa-mcp) [![mpesa-mcp score](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/gabrielmahia/mpesa-mcp/badges/score.svg)](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/gabrielmahia/mpesa-mcp) ## Security — NSA MCP Guidance Compliant `mpesa-mcp` was updated in response to **NSA CSI U/OO/6030316-26 (May 2026)** — the NSA Artificial Intelligence Security Center's Cybersecurity Information Sheet on Model Context Protocol security. The implementation below documents compliance against the NSA's MCP security framework, control by control. | NSA Control | Implementation | |---|---| | Parameter validation | KE phone regex `^254[17]\d{8}$` + amount bounds [1–150,000 KES] | | Audit logging | Structured log per tool call; phone numbers SHA-256 hashed | | Token lifecycle | OAuth token cached with expiry; auto-refreshed | | Error containment | Structured error dicts; no raw exception propagation | | HTTPS enforcement | All Daraja API calls HTTPS-only | | No hardcoded secrets | All credentials via environment variables | See [SECURITY.md](./SECURITY.md) for the full compliance table. > **Reference:** [NSA CSI_MCP_SECURITY.pdf](https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/75/documents/Cybersecurity/CSI_MCP_SECURITY.pdf) — May 2026, UNCLASSIFIED ## Install ```bash pip install mpesa-mcp ``` Or run directly with `uvx`: ```bash uvx mpesa-mcp ``` ## Configuration Set these environment variables before starting the server: ```bash # M-Pesa (Safaricom Daraja) MPESA_CONSUMER_KEY=your_consumer_key MPESA_CONSUMER_SECRET=your_consumer_secret MPESA_SHORTCODE=174379 # sandbox test shortcode MPESA_PASSKEY=your_passkey MPESA_CALLBACK_URL=https://yourdomain.com/mpesa/callback MPESA_SANDBOX=true # set false for production # Africa's Talking AT_USERNAME=sandbox # your AT username (sandbox for testing) AT_API_KEY=your_at_api_key ``` ### Sandbox credentials **M-Pesa sandbox:** https://developer.safaricom.co.ke — create a free app to get test credentials. - Test shortcode: `174379` - Test passkey: `bfb279f9aa9bdbcf158e97dd71a467cd2e0c893059b10f78e6b72ada1ed2c919` **Africa's Talking sandbox:** https://account.africastalking.com — use `username=sandbox`, any API key. ## Usage with Claude Desktop Add to `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json` (macOS): ```json { "mcpServers": { "mpesa": { "command": "uvx", "args": ["mpesa-mcp"], "env": { "MPESA_CONSUMER_KEY": "your_key", "MPESA_CONSUMER_SECRET": "your_secret", "MPESA_SHORTCODE": "174379", "MPESA_PASSKEY": "your_passkey", "MPESA_CALLBACK_URL": "https://yourdomain.com/mpesa/callback", "MPESA_SANDBOX": "true", "AT_USERNAME": "sandbox", "AT_API_KEY": "your_at_key" } } } } ``` ## Usage with Claude Code ```bash claude mcp add mpesa -- uvx mpesa-mcp ``` Set env vars in your shell before running `claude`. ## Example prompts Once connected, you can ask your AI agent: > "Send KES 500 STK Push to +254712345678 for order #1234" > "Check if the payment QKL8ABC123 has been received" > "Send an SMS to these 50 farmers with today's maize price: [list]" > "Top up KES 50 airtime for our field agents: [list of numbers]" ## Real-world scenarios **Field agent payment dispatch** > "Send KES 300 STK Push to each of these 12 field agents for today's data collection: [list]" The agent triggers 12 sequential STK pushes, tracks each `checkout_request_id`, and polls for confirmation — without any code from you. **Farmer alert + airtime** > "SMS these 200 Garissa farmers that the river is rising. Then top up KES 20 airtime each so they can call in reports." One prompt → 200 SMS messages and 200 airtime top-ups across Safaricom, Airtel, and Telkom. **Payment reconciliation** > "Check whether receipt OKL8M3B2HF was a successful payment and how much it was for" Useful for support agents using Claude to verify M-Pesa transactions in real time. ## Tool annotations All tools declare [MCP tool annotations](https://spec.modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-03-26/server/tools/#tool-annotations) so clients can gate calls appropriately: | Tool | readOnly | destructive | idempotent | |------|----------|-------------|------------| | `mpesa_stk_push` | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | | `mpesa_stk_query` | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | | `mpesa_transaction_status` | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | | `sms_send` | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | | `airtime_send` | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | Claude Desktop and other MCP clients will request confirmation before triggering payment, SMS, or airtime operations. ## Server discovery Capabilities are advertised via [`.well-known/mcp.json`](.well-known/mcp.json) — the emerging MCP Server Cards standard. Registries and browsers can index this server's tools without connecting to it. ```bash # Check capabilities curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gabrielmahia/mpesa-mcp/main/.well-known/mcp.json ``` ## Testing and accuracy The MCP ecosystem benchmark (CData, 2026) found most MCP servers accurate 60–75% of the time on complex queries — particularly silent failures on write operations and partial parameter application. mpesa-mcp is tested against all three Kenyan phone number formats, boundary amount values, and missing optional fields: ```bash pytest tests/ -v # run full suite pytest tests/test_phone_formats.py # format normalization pytest tests/test_boundary_amounts.py # min/max amount edge cases ``` Write operations (STK push, SMS, airtime) have explicit validation before any API call is made. ## Ecosystem context — Mojaloop + MCP **Mojaloop** (funded by the Gates Foundation) handles payment *interoperability* — connecting banks, mobile money wallets, and merchants across DFSPs in East Africa and beyond. **mpesa-mcp** handles the *AI agent tooling layer* — enabling AI coding assistants to trigger and query M-Pesa payments programmatically. These are complementary: - Mojaloop: the interoperability rails between financial providers - mpesa-mcp: the MCP interface layer that connects AI agents to those rails See the [Mojaloop documentation contribution](https://github.com/mojaloop/documentation/issues/553) for more on this pattern. ## MCP vs A2A — two different protocols mpesa-mcp implements **MCP** (Model Context Protocol) — how an AI agent talks to tools. There is a complementary protocol, **A2A** (Agent-to-Agent), which handles how agents talk to *each other*. They solve different problems and work together: - **MCP**: Your AI agent → mpesa-mcp → Daraja API / Africa's Talking - **A2A**: Orchestrator agent ↔ payment sub-agent ↔ notification sub-agent For most integrations you only need MCP. A2A becomes relevant when you're building multi-agent systems where a payment workflow coordinates with other specialized agents. --- ## Development ```bash git clone https://github.com/gabrielmahia/mpesa-mcp cd mpesa-mcp pip install -e ".[dev]" pytest tests/ -v ``` ## Security Do not commit API keys. Use environment variables or a secrets manager. Report vulnerabilities to: contact@aikungfu.dev ## Research Context **MCP ecosystem benchmark** (CData, 2026): Most MCP servers achieve 60-75% accuracy on complex queries. mpesa-mcp includes explicit validation and bounds checking to exceed this baseline. **Swahili AI accuracy** (arXiv:2509.04516, 2025): AI models produce 4× more errors in Swahili than English. mpesa-mcp's Swahili-native tool descriptions are designed to minimize this gap for Swahili-speaking users by eliminating the translation step in tool selection. **MCP security research** (arXiv:2603.18063, arXiv:2603.21642, 2026): Prompt injection via tool descriptions is the primary MCP attack vector. mpesa-mcp mitigates this through static, versioned tool descriptions and strict input validation. **Related infrastructure:** - [wapimaji-mcp](https://github.com/gabrielmahia/wapimaji-mcp) — Kenya water/drought MCP - [civic-agent-kit](https://github.com/gabrielmahia/civic-agent-kit) — Kenya civic data MCP - [swahili-health-mcp](https://github.com/gabrielmahia/swahili-health-mcp) — Kenya DHIS2 health data MCP - [kenya-legal-rag](https://github.com/gabrielmahia/kenya-legal-rag) — Kenya legal corpus MCP - Full portfolio: [gabrielmahia.github.io](https://gabrielmahia.github.io) ## License [MIT](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) — © 2026 Gabriel Mahia ## Stay updated Get notified of new releases and East African API developments: **[Subscribe to updates →](https://buttondown.com/gabrielmahia)** Or watch this repo on GitHub for release notifications. ## Sibling packages | Package | Install | Description | |---------|---------|-------------| | [wapimaji-mcp](https://github.com/gabrielmahia/wapimaji-mcp) | `pip install wapimaji-mcp` | Kenya drought intelligence MCP server | | [civic-agent-kit](https://github.com/gabrielmahia/civic-agent-kit) | `pip install civic-agent-kit` | East African civic AI SDK | ## Related packages All MIT · All part of the East African civic AI stack | Package | Install | Description | |---------|---------|-------------| | [wapimaji-mcp](https://github.com/gabrielmahia/wapimaji-mcp) | `pip install wapimaji-mcp` | Kenya drought intelligence MCP server | | [kenya-health-mcp](https://github.com/gabrielmahia/kenya-health-mcp) | `pip install kenya-health-mcp` | Kenya health data MCP — NHIF, facilities, maternal, rights | | [civic-agent-kit](https://github.com/gabrielmahia/civic-agent-kit) | `pip install civic-agent-kit` | East African civic AI SDK | Full portfolio: [gabrielmahia.github.io](https://gabrielmahia.github.io) ## Part of the East Africa Coordination Stack This MCP server is one of 32 tools in the Kenya coordination infrastructure. Connect it to [`africa-coord-bus`](https://github.com/gabrielmahia/africa-coord-bus) — the coordination event bus that routes signals between domains automatically. ```bash pip install africa-coord-bus ``` All 32 servers: [pypi.org/user/gmahia](https://pypi.org/user/gmahia/) Live demo: [coord-cascade-demo](https://github.com/gabrielmahia/coord-cascade-demo) ## IP & Collaboration MIT licensed. Feedback via GitHub Issues only — pull requests are not accepted. Demo data is labeled DEMO and is not suitable for operational decisions. Full policy: [docs/architecture/IP_POLICY.md](docs/architecture/IP_POLICY.md). Security reports: see [SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md). ## Part of the East Africa coordination stack - **Install & run:** `pip install reli-cli && reli list` — 33 MCP servers on the [official MCP Registry](https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io) under `io.github.gabrielmahia` - **Evaluate any model on Swahili agent tasks:** [kipimo](https://github.com/gabrielmahia/kipimo) · [dataset](https://huggingface.co/datasets/gmahia/kipimo) · [leaderboard](https://huggingface.co/spaces/gmahia/kipimo-leaderboard) - **Coordinate across servers:** [africa-coord-bus](https://pypi.org/project/africa-coord-bus/) — offline-first event bus with a built-in Kenya routing table - **Datasets:** [huggingface.co/gmahia](https://huggingface.co/gmahia) · **Docs hub:** [nairobi-stack](https://github.com/gabrielmahia/nairobi-stack) Model-agnostic by design: closed APIs, open-weight models, and small distilled models are all first-class citizens.