Africa's Talking Airtime MCP

This project implements a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for managing airtime transactions using the Africa's Talking API. It provides a set of tools to check account balance, send airtime, view recent top-up transactions, sum the amounts of recent top-ups, and count top-ups for a specific phone number. The application uses SQLite to store transaction data and supports African countries supported by Africa's Talking Airtime Service with proper phone number formatting.

Description

The Africa's Talking Airtime MCP Server integrates with the Africa's Talking Airtime API to facilitate airtime transfers. Key features include:

• Sending airtime to specified phone numbers.
• Storing transaction details in a SQLite database.
• Retrieving and summarizing transaction history.
• Checking the account balance on Africa's Talking.

The application supports the countries where Africa's Talking Airtime service is supported.

Installation

Installing via Smithery

To install Africa's Talking Airtime Server for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @nasoma/africastalking-airtime-mcp --client claude

Prerequisites

1. Python 3.10 or higher

2. Install uv

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Follow these steps to set up and run the project locally:

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/nasoma/africastalking-airtime-mcp.git
cd africastalking-airtime-mcp

2. Set up the virtual environment and install dependencies by running:

uv sync 

3. You are good to go!

Using with AI Tools

With Claude Desktop

Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Airtime Server": {
      "command": "{{PATH_TO_UV}}", // Run `which uv` and place the output here
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "{{PATH_TO_PROJECT}}", // cd into the repo, run `pwd` and enter the output here
        "run",
        "main.py"
      ],
      "env": {
        "username": "your_africastalking_username",
        "api_key": "your_africastalking_api_key",
        "country":"your_country", # e.g kenya, uganda, dr congo, rwanda, south africa
        "currency_code":"currency-code"  # e.g. KES, UGX, NGN
      }
    }
  }
}

With Goose

Goose is a good option if you want to use your preferred LLM and supply an API key.

• Install Goose.
• Open the settings panel and add a custom extension (MCP Server).
• Give your extension a name. Type is STDIO.
• Add the command. Save changes.
• Add your environment variables: username, api_key, currency_code and country.
• Save changes.

Tools Descriptions

The MCP provides the following tools for managing airtime transactions:

1. check_balance:

   • Description: Retrieves the current airtime balance for your Africa's Talking account.
   • Usage: check_balance()
   • Output: Returns the account balance (e.g., "Account Balance: KES 1234.00") or an error message if the balance cannot be fetched.

2. load_airtime:

   • Description: Sends airtime to a specified phone number and saves the transaction in the database.
   • Parameters:
     • phone_number: The recipient's phone number (e.g., "0712345678" or "+254712345678").
     • amount: The amount of airtime to send (e.g., 100).
     • currency_code: The currency code (e.g., "KES").
   • Usage: load_airtime("0712345678", 100.00, "KES")
   • Output: Confirms success (e.g., "Successfully sent KES 100.00 airtime to +254712345678") or reports an error.

3. get_last_topups:

   • Description: Retrieves the last N airtime top-up transactions from the database.
   • Parameters:
     • limit: Number of transactions to retrieve (default: 3).
   • Usage: get_last_topups(3)
   • Output: Lists recent transactions (e.g., "Last 3 top-up transactions: ...") or indicates no transactions found.

4. sum_last_n_topups:

   • Description: Calculates the total amount of the last N successful top-ups, ensuring they use the same currency.
   • Parameters:
     • n: Number of transactions to sum (default: 3).
   • Usage: sum_last_n_topups(3)
   • Output: Returns the sum (e.g., "Sum of last 3 successful top-ups: KES 300.00") or an error if currencies differ.

5. count_topups_by_number:

   • Description: Counts the number of successful top-ups to a specific phone number.
   • Parameters:
     • phone_number: The phone number to query (e.g., "0712345678").
   • Usage: count_topups_by_number("0712345678")
   • Output: Returns the count (e.g., "Number of successful top-ups to +254712345678: 5") or an error.

Example prompts

The following are example questions or commands users can ask the AI to interact with the Africa's Talking Airtime MCP, based on the available tools:

Check Account Balance

• What is my Africa's Talking account balance?
• Can you show me the current balance?
• Check my airtime balance.

Send Airtime

• Send 100 KES airtime to 0712345678.
• Topup my 0712345678 with 60.
• Load 50 NGN to +2348012345678.
• Can you top up 200 UGX to 0755123456?

View Recent Top-Ups

• Show me the last 3 airtime transactions.
• What are my most recent top-ups?
• List the last 5 airtime top-ups.

Sum Recent Top-Ups

• What is the total of my last 3 top-ups?
• Sum the amounts of my last 4 airtime transactions.
• How much have I sent in my last 5 top-ups?

Count Top-Ups by Phone Number

• How many times have I topped up 0712345678?
• Count the top-ups to +254712345678.
• Tell me how many successful top-ups were made to 0755123456.

Notes

• Ensure your Africa's Talking account is funded to send airtime.
• Phone numbers are automatically formatted based on the country variable set in the client or on claude_desktop_config.json.
• The SQLite database (airtime_transactions.db) is created in the project directory upon initialization.
• Works best with models that support tool calling, e.g Claude 3.7 Sonnet. If you are price conscious GPT-4.1 Nano is a good, cheaper option when used with clients like Goose.

🙏 Credits

• Africa's Talking API Africa's Talking Documentation.