Read Africa's Talking balance, incoming SMS, transactions; send SMS, airtime, data and voice calls. Hosted by usefulapi — connect from Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, or any MCP client.
Team and Enterprise: an Owner adds the connector for the organization first.
Run this command, then run /mcp in Claude Code to log in:
Add to Cursor or add this to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"africas-talking": {
"url": "https://africas-talking.usefulapi.io/mcp"
}
}
}Add to VS Code or add this to .vscode/mcp.json:
{
"servers": {
"africas-talking": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://africas-talking.usefulapi.io/mcp"
}
}
}No Add custom MCP server option? It depends on your account or workspace settings: see OpenAI's guide.
Run these commands. The second one opens the login page:
Other MCP clients (Windsurf, Cline, Zed and more): add the URL as a remote MCP server (Streamable HTTP). The client then opens the login page in your browser. Do not add an Authorization header: see Before you connect.
The login page asks for your App username and API key.
Find both in your Africa's Talking dashboard: open the app, then Settings → API Key at account.africastalking.com. The username is the one you chose when creating the app, shown on the app dashboard; it is not the app name ("sandbox" for the free sandbox app). Sends spend your account credit, so every send tool asks the assistant for your approval first. Your key is used only to call the Africa's Talking API on your behalf; it is never shown to anyone.
Add only the URL. Do not add an Authorization header or an API key to the client config. The server signs you in with OAuth: the login page asks for your App username and API key. If the config has such a header, remove it: some clients then send that header instead of the login token, and every call fails with 401.
Turn on the Africa's Talking connector, then ask in plain words. The AI picks the tools.
| Tool | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
africastalking_get_balance | read | Get account balance The Africa's Talking app balance (SMS/airtime wallet), e.g. {"balance": "KES 1250.0000"}. The sandbox app has no balance. GET /version1/user. |
africastalking_fetch_messages | read | Fetch received SMS Fetch incoming SMS received on your shortcodes/numbers, oldest first, in batches (default 25 per call). Pass last_received_id (0 for the first call, then `next_last_received_id` from the previous reply) to move through them; `has_more` stays true while a call returns messages, so keep calling until `count` is 0. Optional shortcode and keyword filters. GET /version1/messaging. |
africastalking_send_sms | write | Send SMS WRITE: send one text message to up to 100 phone numbers. Spends account credit and delivers to real phones (the sandbox app only reaches the simulator). Needs confirm=true after the user approved the recipients and text. Returns the vendor's per-recipient status (statusCode 101 = sent), message ids and cost. Never retried. POST /version1/messaging. |
africastalking_send_airtime | write | Send airtime WRITE: top up mobile airtime for up to 25 phone numbers. Spends account credit immediately and cannot be reversed. Needs confirm=true after the user approved each number and amount. Amounts are in the given ISO currency (e.g. KES, UGX, TZS). Pass an idempotency_key to make a retry safe. Returns per-number status and requestId (use africastalking_find_airtime_transaction to follow up). POST /version1/airtime/send. |
africastalking_find_airtime_transaction | read | Find airtime transaction Look up an airtime transaction by its transaction id (the requestId / ATPid_... from a send reply): status, amount, destination and discount. GET /query/transaction/find. |
africastalking_send_mobile_data | write | Send mobile data bundle WRITE: send mobile data bundles to up to 25 phone numbers from your Africa's Talking data wallet. Spends wallet credit and cannot be reversed. Needs confirm=true after the user approved each number and bundle. product_name is your data product (created in the Africa's Talking dashboard). Pass an idempotency_key to make a retry safe. Returns per-number status and transactionId (see africastalking_find_mobile_data_transaction). POST bundles /mobile/data/request. |
africastalking_find_mobile_data_transaction | read | Find mobile data transaction Look up a mobile data transaction by its transactionId (from a send reply): status, product, destination and cost. GET bundles /query/transaction/find. |
africastalking_get_mobile_data_wallet_balance | read | Get mobile data wallet balance The balance of the mobile data wallet, e.g. {"status": "Success", "balance": "KES 500.0000"}. GET bundles /query/wallet/balance. |
africastalking_make_voice_call | write | Make voice call WRITE: place an outbound voice call from one of your Africa's Talking numbers to up to 10 phone numbers. The call is billed and rings real phones; what is said is decided by the voice callback URL configured for the number in the dashboard. Needs confirm=true after the user approved the numbers. Live apps only (the sandbox has no voice service). Returns a per-number queue status. POST voice /call. |
africastalking_get_voice_queue_status | read | Get voice queue status Number of outbound calls currently queued on each of your voice numbers. Live apps only. POST voice /queueStatus (a read: nothing is changed). |
africastalking_usage_status | Usage status (free-tier meter) Report the caller's current usage: the plan, calls used this month, the limit of the plan (the free monthly cap or the Pro fair use limit), remaining, and whether the limit is reached. Read-only; does not count against the meter. | |
africastalking_request_feature | Request a missing feature Tell usefulapi that the user needs something the Africa's Talking tools cannot do yet (a missing tool, field or filter). Call it only when the user asks for something none of the tools can do, and tell the user that you send the request. Do not call it for errors or for normal requests. Do not include personal data, credentials or customer records. Stored with the product name and the client type (for example Claude or Cursor), without the user's account. At most 5 requests per day. Does not count against the meter. | |
africastalking_upgrade | Upgrade to Pro (unlimited*) Get Pro: unlimited tool calls (fair use limit: 10,000 a month) on Africa's Talking (the free tier caps monthly usage). Plans: "monthly" — $9/month; "yearly" — $90/year (2 months free). Cancel any time: Pro then runs to the end of the paid period, so it also suits a one-time job. *A fair use limit applies. For heavy use (near Pro's limit): "plus" or "plus_yearly" — Pro+, $19/month or $190/year, unlimited tool calls (fair use limit: 100,000 a month); an existing Pro subscription changes to Pro+ in place (needs confirm: true; the price difference for the rest of the period is charged at once). Otherwise returns a short link to open in your browser (it opens Stripe Checkout); after payment the account upgrades automatically. Does not count against the meter. | |
africastalking_cancel_subscription | Cancel the Pro subscription Cancel the caller's Africa's Talking Pro subscription at the end of the paid period (no refund for the current period; Pro continues until then, then the free tier applies). Requires confirm: true. Run africastalking_upgrade later to undo the cancel before the period ends. Does not count against the meter. |
| Plan | Price | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 50 tool calls / month |
| Proper user | $9/mo · $90/yr | Unlimited* |
*Pro fair use limit: 10,000 tool calls a month on this server. For more, write to [email protected].
Pro covers this Africa's Talking server only. Subscribe with africastalking_upgrade (it returns a Stripe Checkout link). Cancel any time with africastalking_cancel_subscription: Pro continues to the end of the paid period, with no refund for the current period, and running africastalking_upgrade before then undoes the cancel. Or write to [email protected].
No. usefulapi is an independent service. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Africa's Talking. The server calls the Africa's Talking API with your own Africa's Talking access, so it sees only the data that your account can see.
Yes. In Claude, add this server's URL as a custom connector. In ChatGPT, add it as a custom MCP server in Plugins. Then log in once. Cursor, VS Code, Claude Code and Codex work too. See the setup steps.
The login page asks for your App username and API key. See Before you connect for where to find them.
No. Add only the URL. Do not add an Authorization header or an API key to the client config. The server signs you in with OAuth: the login page asks for your App username and API key. If the config has such a header, remove it: some clients then send that header instead of the login token, and every call fails with 401.
The login stores them encrypted in the authorization grant of your connection. The server uses them to call the Africa's Talking API for you and to derive a private account id for usage metering. usefulapi does not show them on any page or in any reply. To stop all access, remove the connector and change or delete these credentials in Africa's Talking.
Yes, if you approve it. 4 of the 10 Africa's Talking tools can create or change data. The other 6 are marked read-only. Most MCP clients ask you to approve a tool call before it runs.
The Free plan gives 50 tool calls / month. Pro costs $9/mo or $90/yr, with unlimited tool calls (fair use limit: 10,000 tool calls a month), for this Africa's Talking server only. Cancel any time: Pro then runs to the end of the paid period. Run africastalking_usage_status to see how many calls you used.
Ask the AI to run africastalking_upgrade: it returns a Stripe Checkout link. To cancel, run africastalking_cancel_subscription. Pro continues to the end of the paid period.
Tell the AI what you wanted to do. It can send the request with africastalking_request_feature. We store the text with the server name, the type of AI client and the tool you tried, not with your account, and read every request when we plan new tools. You can send up to 5 requests per day.
Any client that supports remote MCP servers (Streamable HTTP) with OAuth login: Claude (web and desktop), Claude Code, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf and others.
This is a Model Context Protocol endpoint — meant to be connected from an AI client, not opened in a browser. An invalid_token response at the URL is the auth gate working as designed; clients authenticate automatically.