Runs on your machine from its package; the steps are below.
What it does
- Reads
- Writes
- High impact
At most: moves money, runs code or commands, deletes data, or sends messages for you.
What it costs
FreeOdel charges nothing per call. The publisher may charge for its own service.
Runs locally over stdio
This server isn't hosted — your MCP client launches it from a package registry. Use one of the commands below, or drop the config into your client (e.g. Claude Desktop).
Run
npx -y payfast-mcp
MCP client config
{
"mcpServers": {
"payfast": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"payfast-mcp"
]
}
}
}payfast-mcp
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for PayFast, South Africa's leading payment gateway. Enables AI assistants like Claude to securely interact with your PayFast merchant account.
Features
- Transaction management — fetch transaction details, query history, process tokenized charges
- Subscription management — fetch, pause, unpause, cancel, update, and ad-hoc charge subscriptions
- Refund processing — create refunds (full or partial) and query refund status
- Credit card queries — look up credit card transaction details
- Sandbox support — defaults to sandbox mode for safe testing
- Secure by design — credentials via environment variables only, sensitive data never logged
Available Tools
| Tool | Description | Risk |
|---|---|---|
ping | Test API connectivity | Low |
transaction_fetch | Get transaction by ID | Low |
transaction_history | Query transaction history | Low |
transaction_charge | Charge a stored token | Medium |
subscription_fetch | Get subscription details | Low |
subscription_pause | Pause a subscription | High |
subscription_unpause | Resume a subscription | Medium |
subscription_cancel | Cancel a subscription | High |
subscription_update | Update subscription terms | High |
subscription_adhoc | Ad-hoc subscription charge | High |
refund_create | Process a refund | High |
refund_fetch | Get refund details | Low |
creditcard_fetch | Query card transaction | Low |
High-risk operations require human approval before execution.
Quick Start
Prerequisites
- Node.js 18+
- A PayFast merchant account (sandbox or production)
Installation
npm install -g payfast-mcp
Or run directly with npx:
npx payfast-mcp
Configuration
Set the following environment variables:
| Variable | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
PAYFAST_MERCHANT_ID | Yes | Your PayFast Merchant ID |
PAYFAST_MERCHANT_KEY | Yes | Your PayFast Merchant Key |
PAYFAST_PASSPHRASE | Yes | Your PayFast API Passphrase |
PAYFAST_ENVIRONMENT | No | sandbox (default) or production |
You can also create a .env file in your working directory.
Claude Desktop
Add to your Claude Desktop config (claude_desktop_config.json):
{
"mcpServers": {
"payfast": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "payfast-mcp"],
"env": {
"PAYFAST_MERCHANT_ID": "your-merchant-id",
"PAYFAST_MERCHANT_KEY": "your-merchant-key",
"PAYFAST_PASSPHRASE": "your-passphrase",
"PAYFAST_ENVIRONMENT": "sandbox"
}
}
}
}
Claude Code
Add to your Claude Code settings:
claude mcp add payfast \
-e PAYFAST_MERCHANT_ID=your-merchant-id \
-e PAYFAST_MERCHANT_KEY=your-merchant-key \
-e PAYFAST_PASSPHRASE=your-passphrase \
-e PAYFAST_ENVIRONMENT=sandbox \
-- npx -y payfast-mcp
Cursor
Add to your Cursor MCP config (.cursor/mcp.json for project-level, or ~/.cursor/mcp.json for global):
{
"mcpServers": {
"payfast": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "payfast-mcp"],
"env": {
"PAYFAST_MERCHANT_ID": "your-merchant-id",
"PAYFAST_MERCHANT_KEY": "your-merchant-key",
"PAYFAST_PASSPHRASE": "your-passphrase",
"PAYFAST_ENVIRONMENT": "sandbox"
}
}
}
}
Codex
Add via the Codex CLI:
codex mcp add payfast \
--env PAYFAST_MERCHANT_ID=your-merchant-id \
--env PAYFAST_MERCHANT_KEY=your-merchant-key \
--env PAYFAST_PASSPHRASE=your-passphrase \
--env PAYFAST_ENVIRONMENT=sandbox \
-- npx -y payfast-mcp
Or add directly to ~/.codex/config.toml:
[mcp_servers.payfast]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "payfast-mcp"]
[mcp_servers.payfast.env]
PAYFAST_MERCHANT_ID = "your-merchant-id"
PAYFAST_MERCHANT_KEY = "your-merchant-key"
PAYFAST_PASSPHRASE = "your-passphrase"
PAYFAST_ENVIRONMENT = "sandbox"
Development
# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/jpbester/payfast-mcp.git
cd payfast-mcp
# Install dependencies
npm install
# Build
npm run build
# Run tests
npm test
# Run with MCP Inspector
npm run inspect
License
MIT
