Getting Started

Ikawaari is a payment infrastructure platform built for Africa and beyond. Accept mobile money, card payments, and bank transfers through a single unified API.

Quick Start

1. Create an account

Sign up at dashboard.ikawaari.com and complete your business verification.

2. Get your API keys

Navigate to Developers → API Keys in the dashboard. You'll find two environments:

Environment	Key prefix	Purpose
Sandbox	ik_test_	Testing and development
Live	ik_live_	Production transactions

tip

Start with sandbox keys. No real money is moved in sandbox mode.

3. Install an SDK

cURL

# No installation needed — use cURL directly
curl https://api.ikawaari.com/v1/payment-intents \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ik_test_your_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json"

Node.js

npm install @ikawaari/sdk

const Ikawaari = require('@ikawaari/sdk');
const ik = new Ikawaari('ik_test_your_key_here');

Python

pip install ikawaari

import ikawaari
ik = ikawaari.Client(api_key="ik_test_your_key_here")

4. Create your first payment

cURL

curl -X POST https://api.ikawaari.com/v1/payment-intents \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ik_test_your_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "amount": 5000,
    "currency": "XOF",
    "payment_method_types": ["mobile_money"],
    "description": "Order #1234"
  }'

Node.js

const paymentIntent = await ik.paymentIntents.create({
  amount: 5000,
  currency: 'XOF',
  payment_method_types: ['mobile_money'],
  description: 'Order #1234',
});

console.log(paymentIntent.id); // pi_xxx...

Python

payment_intent = ik.payment_intents.create(
    amount=5000,
    currency="XOF",
    payment_method_types=["mobile_money"],
    description="Order #1234",
)

print(payment_intent.id)  # pi_xxx...

5. Handle the response

A successful response returns a PaymentIntent object:

{
  "id": "pi_1a2b3c4d5e",
  "object": "payment_intent",
  "amount": 5000,
  "currency": "xof",
  "status": "requires_payment_method",
  "payment_method_types": ["mobile_money"],
  "description": "Order #1234",
  "created": 1708300800
}

What's next?

• Accept a Payment — Full integration guide
• Mobile Money — Orange Money, MTN MoMo, Wave, etc.
• Webhooks — Get notified when payments complete
• Sandbox Testing — Test without real money
• API Reference — Complete API documentation