Paystack API

Name: Paystack API API
Brand: Paystack API
Availability: InStock

✓ Official Vendor SpecPaymentsPayment Processingbearer83 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Accept payments, manage subscriptions, process refunds, and handle transfers for African merchants across cards, bank transfers, mobile money, and USSD channels.

Quickstart

Get started with Paystack API in minutes using your preferred integration method.

# Add to your MCP client config (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf)
{
  "jentic": {
    "url": "https://api.jentic.com/mcp",
    "auth": "oauth"
  }
}

# Then ask your agent:
"accept a payment in Nigeria"

# → Jentic returns the GET /events tool with parameter schema, agent executes.

Capabilities

What an agent can do with Paystack API API.

Initialize and verify card, bank transfer, and mobile money payments across African markets

Create subscription plans with automated recurring billing and dunning

Process refunds and manage dispute resolution with evidence uploads

Assign dedicated virtual accounts (DVAs) to customers for bank transfer collection

GET STARTED

Start building with Paystack API API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

Use Cases

Patterns agents use Paystack API API for, with concrete tasks.

★ E-Commerce Payment Collection

Accept one-time payments for online stores targeting African customers. Paystack handles card validation, bank transfer confirmation, and mobile money collection across Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, and Kenya. Merchants initialize a transaction, redirect the customer to Paystack's hosted page or use the inline popup, and verify the transaction upon callback. The API supports 4 currencies (NGN, GHS, ZAR, KES) and settles funds to the merchant's bank account on a T+1 or next-business-day schedule.

Initialize a transaction for 5000 NGN with the customer email customer@example.com, then verify the transaction reference after payment completion

Subscription Billing for SaaS

Set up recurring billing for subscription-based products serving African markets. Paystack manages plan creation, customer enrollment, automatic charge attempts, and failed-payment retries. Merchants can create plans with daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual intervals. The API sends webhook notifications for successful charges, failed attempts, and subscription cancellations, enabling automated dunning flows.

Create a monthly plan for 2500 NGN named 'Pro Plan', then subscribe a customer with authorization code AUTH_xxx to that plan

Marketplace Split Payments

Distribute payments across multiple parties in a marketplace or platform model. Paystack's transaction splits let platforms define percentage or flat-fee splits between the main account and subaccounts. This handles vendor payouts, platform commissions, and tax withholding in a single transaction without manual settlement reconciliation.

Create a transaction split that allocates 80% to subaccount ACCT_xxx and 20% to the main account, then initialize a 10000 NGN payment using that split

Bulk Payouts to Bank Accounts

Send money to multiple recipients via bank transfer in a single batch. Paystack's transfer API supports individual and bulk transfers to Nigerian bank accounts and mobile wallets. Each transfer requires a pre-registered recipient with verified account details. The API provides real-time transfer status and webhook notifications for successful or failed disbursements.

Create a transfer recipient for account number 0123456789 at bank code 058, then initiate a bulk transfer of 50000 NGN split across 3 recipients

AI Agent Payment Automation via Jentic

AI agents use the Paystack API through Jentic to automate payment collection, verify transaction statuses, and trigger refunds without handling raw secret keys. Agents search for payment operations by intent, receive typed schemas for each endpoint, and execute calls with Jentic managing credential isolation and response validation. This reduces integration time from days to under an hour for agent-driven commerce workflows.

Search Jentic for 'verify a Paystack transaction', load the transaction verification schema, and execute a verification call for reference REF_abc123

Key Endpoints

83 endpoints — paystack api enables businesses across africa to accept payments via cards, bank transfers, mobile money, and ussd channels.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

POST

/transaction/initialize

Initialize a new payment transaction

GET

/transaction/verify/{reference}

Verify a transaction by reference

POST

/subscription

Create a new subscription

POST

/refund

Process a refund

POST

/transfer

Initiate a single transfer

POST

/transfer/bulk

Initiate bulk transfers

POST

/split

Create a transaction split

POST

/dedicated_account

Assign a dedicated virtual account

POST

/transaction/initialize

Initialize a new payment transaction

GET

/transaction/verify/{reference}

Verify a transaction by reference

POST

/subscription

Create a new subscription

POST

/refund

Process a refund

POST

/transfer

Initiate a single transfer

Why though Jentic?

Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.

Credential isolation

Paystack secret keys are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault. Agents receive scoped Bearer tokens for API calls without the raw secret key entering the agent context or logs.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search by intent (e.g., 'accept payment in Nigeria') and Jentic returns matching Paystack operations with typed request/response schemas, so the agent calls the correct endpoint without parsing documentation.

Time to first call

Direct Paystack integration: 2-4 days for auth setup, webhook handling, and testing across payment channels. Through Jentic: under 1 hour — search, load schema, execute.

Related APIs

Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.

Alternative

Flutterwave API

Pan-African payment gateway with broader country coverage but similar core features

Choose Flutterwave when you need coverage beyond Paystack's 4 markets or require payment methods specific to East and Francophone Africa.

Alternative

Stripe API

Global payment processor with deeper feature set but limited African payment method support

Choose Stripe when the merchant operates globally and African payment methods are secondary to card processing in Western markets.

Alternative

Braintree API

PayPal-owned gateway focused on US and European markets

Choose Braintree when the merchant needs PayPal integration or primarily serves US and European customers rather than African markets.

FAQs

Specific to using Paystack API API through Jentic.

What authentication does the Paystack API use?

The Paystack API uses Bearer token authentication with your secret key passed in the Authorization header. Through Jentic, your Paystack secret key is stored encrypted in the credential vault and agents receive scoped access tokens without the raw key entering the agent context.

Can I process mobile money payments with the Paystack API?

Yes. The Paystack API supports mobile money as a payment channel alongside cards, bank transfers, and USSD. You initialize a transaction via POST /transaction/initialize specifying the mobile_money channel, and the customer completes payment on their handset.

What are the rate limits for the Paystack API?

Paystack applies rate limits per secret key. The standard limit is 50 requests per second for transaction endpoints. Bulk operations like POST /transfer/bulk count as a single request regardless of the number of transfers included.

How do I verify a payment through Jentic?

Search Jentic for 'verify paystack transaction', load the returned schema for GET /transaction/verify/{reference}, and execute the call with the transaction reference. Jentic handles the Bearer token injection and returns the transaction status, amount, and currency in a structured response.

Does the Paystack API support split payments for marketplaces?

Yes. You create a split configuration via POST /split defining subaccounts with percentage or flat-amount shares. Then attach the split ID when initializing transactions. Paystack automatically distributes settlement funds across all parties.

Which countries does the Paystack API support?

Paystack supports merchants in Nigeria (NGN), Ghana (GHS), South Africa (ZAR), and Kenya (KES). Each country has specific payment methods available including cards, bank transfers, mobile money, and USSD depending on the market.