Carry1st

Carry1st is Africa's leading mobile games publisher and digital commerce platform, headquartered in South Africa and operating across high-growth African markets including Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Egypt, and Morocco. Beyond publishing and distributing mobile games from partners such as Riot Games, Activision, and Supercell, Carry1st operates Pay1st, a payment gateway that lets digital-content and game developers accept payments through 120+ local payment methods across six African geographies. Pay1st offers a single unified API, acts as Merchant of Record (handling compliance, taxation, FX, and risk so businesses collect in USD), and supports hosted-payment, game-client, and Carry1st Shop marketplace integration styles. Carry1st is backed by a16z. This profile was enriched by the API Evangelist pipeline from the public Pay1st developer documentation.

Carry1st publishes 4 API contracts indexed on the APIs.io network, including Authentication API, Payment Methods API, Payments API, and 1 more. Tagged areas include Company, Payments, Payment Gateway, Fintech, and Gaming.

The Carry1st catalog on APIs.io includes 1 event-driven AsyncAPI specification.

Carry1st’s developer surface includes documentation, API reference, getting-started guide, engineering blog, support, changelog, authentication, and 22 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Profile data on GitHub

34.8/100 thin ▬ flat Agent 34/100 agent ready Front door AI 1/6 silent saas Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-10-31 · rubric v0.25.0 · Show this score on your site →

1 published contract 2 Agent Skills

Company Payments Payment Gateway Fintech Gaming Mobile Games Africa Digital Commerce Merchant of RecordGames Publishing

Kin Score

Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-10-31 · rubric v0.25.0

Composite quality — 34.8/100 · thin

Contract Quality 4.8 / 21

Developer Ergonomics 11.2 / 17

Access Clarity 3.6 / 17

Operational Transparency 3.5 / 11

Contract Governance 0.5 / 10

Discoverability 5.6 / 9

Regulatory Posture 3.3 / 15

Agent readiness — 34/100 · agent ready

Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18

Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10

Documented Reversibility 0 / 6

MCP Server 0 / 12

Machine-Readable Auth 10 / 10

Idempotency 9 / 9

Stable Error Semantics 8 / 8

Request/Response Examples 7 / 7

Rate-Limit Signaling 0 / 7

Typed Event Surface 6 / 6

Agent Skills 5 / 5

Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4

Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3

A2A Agent Card 0 / 8

Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 0 / 4

Delegated User Identity 0 / 6

Protected Resource Metadata 0 / 5

Registration Without a Human 0 / 6

Agentic Commerce Well-Known Document 0 / 5

Pagination 0 / 5

Distinct Operations 3 / 3

Regulatory Posture applies to this provider. Its tags matched the Payments regime, so Regulatory Posture carries 15 points of the composite. If this regime is wrong for your business, say so on your provider repo — the applicability map is public and we will correct it.

Create-or-Update Ergonomics could not be measured. We hold no machine-readable contract for this provider to read, so there is nothing to measure a write surface against. Excluded rather than scored zero: never-measured and measured-empty are different facts. Publishing an OpenAPI is what makes this facet — and several others — scorable at all.

The six quality facets above are damped to 85 points between them, because the conditional facet above carries the other 15. That is why each facet's contribution is shown against a damped maximum: raising a quality facet moves the composite by 85% of its nominal weight, not 100%. The full arithmetic is at apis.io/rating/.

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Agent readiness — checks not met, largest first (exact, from this profile):

MCP Server +12 pts — deployment.mode + probe verdict on the mcp/ manifest, not the pointer; an unprobed slug falls back to authorship
A2A Agent Card +8 pts — a2a/-a2a.yml manifest, graded on conformance.grade against A2A 1.0.0
Rate-Limit Signaling +7 pts — OpenAPI responses document X-RateLimit-* / RateLimit headers (verified), else a rate_limits artifact or RateLimits link (documented)
Delegated User Identity +6 pts — a served discovery document listing authorization_code in grant_types_supported (served), else an oauth2 authorizationCode flow or openIdConnect declared in an OpenAPI (documented)
Registration Without a Human +6 pts — a `registration_endpoint` in the served RFC 8414 / OIDC discovery document
Documented Reversibility +6 pts — a reversal operation in the contract, graded up when a window is documented too

6 more unmet checks in the Agent Readiness table above.

Kin Score — facets with the most composite points still available (weight × headroom):

Contract Quality scores 22.6 — up to +19.4 composite points
Access Clarity scores 21.1 — up to +15.8 composite points
Contract Governance scores 4.5 — up to +11.5 composite points

Each check links to what satisfies it. Publish the artifact, or tell us where it already lives, and the score moves on the next scoring run.

Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. Every facet and dimension name above is a link: it opens that measurement's own page — what it means, the exact checks that feed it, how the whole catalog distributes on it, and the providers at the top of it. This rating is computed from the provider profile at artifacts.apis.io/carry1st/apis.yml: open an issue on github.com/api-evangelist/carry1st to ask a question or point us at an artifact you publish. Submit an artifact on GitHub — free → Manage your own listing — the Influence plan, $499/mo →

Markets this provider is in provisional

The Kin Score Market layer reads a provider inside its market: its position, and how deep its integrations go. Depth is only comparable within a position. Provisional and unweighted: not part of the Kin Score or agent readiness.

Market	Position	Depth	Registered MCP server	Declares compatibility
African Payments (Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, WAEMU)	standard	17.2 (thin)	-	-

Registered MCP server and declares compatibility are report only — not weighted. Undeclared means we found nothing we can read, so there is no number: we never infer integrations.

APIs 4

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

Carry1st Authentication API

Obtain and refresh access tokens for Gateway API requests.

Carry1st Payment Methods API

Discover the local payment methods available per country.

Carry1st Payments API

Create payment requests and query their status.

Carry1st Refunds API

Request refunds against processed transactions.

Open Collections 4

Open, tool-agnostic API collections (OpenAPI-derived and Bruno).

Pay1st Gateway Authentication API

OPEN COLLECTION

Pay1st Gateway Authentication Payment Methods API

OPEN COLLECTION

Pay1st Gateway Authentication Payments API

OPEN COLLECTION

Pay1st Gateway Authentication Refunds API

OPEN COLLECTION

Arazzo Workflows 1

Multi-step API workflows described with the Arazzo specification.

Pay1st - collect a payment

Authenticate, create a signed payment request, and confirm the payment status.

ARAZZO

Agent Skills 2

Packaged agent skills for driving this provider's APIs from an AI assistant.

Collect a payment with Pay1st

AGENT SKILL

Refund a Pay1st transaction

AGENT SKILL

Event Specifications 1

AsyncAPI definitions for this provider's event-driven and streaming APIs.

Carry1St Pay1St Webhooks

ASYNCAPI

OpenAPI Overlays 1

Overlays applied on top of this provider's contracts. Each card says who wrote it: a document the provider publishes, or one API Evangelist derived or generated.

Carry1St Pay1St Gateway Overlay

4 actions · update · carry1st-pay1st-gateway-openapi.yml

DERIVED

Security Posture 2

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Carry1St Authentication

apiKey/http · 2 schemes

SECURITY

Carry1St Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · HSTS · DMARC

SECURITY

Agentic Access 1

Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.

Carry1St Agentic Access

6 operations · 4 acting

AGENTIC

Resources

Get Started 3

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

DeveloperPortal

DeveloperPortal

GettingStarted

GettingStarted

Sandbox

Sandbox

Documentation 2

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Documentation

Documentation

APIReference

APIReference

Agent Surfaces 5

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

WellKnown

WellKnown

X-MCPServerCandidate

LLMsTxt

AgentSkill

AgenticAccess

Design & Contract 8

Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events

Idempotency

Conventions

ErrorCatalog

Lifecycle

Conformance

DataModel

Webhooks

Arazzo

Scroll for all 8

Build 1

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

Packages

Packages

Access & Security 2

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

Authentication

Authentication

DomainSecurity

DomainSecurity

Operate 3

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

Support

Support

ChangeLog

ChangeLog

Deprecation

Deprecation

Commercial 2

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

TermsOfService

TermsOfService

PrivacyPolicy

PrivacyPolicy

Company 2

The organization behind the API

Website

Website

Blog

Blog

Other 1

Properties that don't map to a standard resource type

Overlay

Overlay

Source (apis.yml)

aid: carry1st
name: Carry1st
description: Carry1st is Africa's leading mobile games publisher and digital commerce platform, headquartered in South Africa
  and operating across high-growth African markets including Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Egypt, and Morocco. Beyond
  publishing and distributing mobile games from partners such as Riot Games, Activision, and Supercell, Carry1st operates
  Pay1st, a payment gateway that lets digital-content and game developers accept payments through 120+ local payment methods
  across six African geographies. Pay1st offers a single unified API, acts as Merchant of Record (handling compliance, taxation,
  FX, and risk so businesses collect in USD), and supports hosted-payment, game-client, and Carry1st Shop marketplace integration
  styles. Carry1st is backed by a16z. This profile was enriched by the API Evangelist pipeline from the public Pay1st developer
  documentation.
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/carry1st/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
x-type: company
x-source: vc-portfolio
x-backed-by:
- a16z
x-tier: profiled
x-tier-reason: portfolio-lead-enriched
deliveryModel:
  model: saas
  open_source: false
  commercial: true
  callable_host: true
  label: Hosted service · you call their endpoint
  confidence: high
  source:
  - openapi
  - pricing
  generated: '2026-08-28'
  method: derived
accessModel:
  pricing: unknown
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Unknown
  confidence: low
  source:
  - authentication
  - security
  - sandbox
  generated: '2026-09-03'
  method: derived
specificationVersion: '0.23'
created: '2026-07-17'
modified: '2026-07-18'
image: https://www.carry1st.com/favicon.ico
x-docs-platform: readme
x-docs-platform-confidence: high
x-docs-platform-checked: 2026-09-21
tags:
- Company
- Payments
- Payment Gateway
- Fintech
- Gaming
- Mobile Games
- Africa
- Digital Commerce
- Merchant of Record
- Games Publishing
apis:
- aid: carry1st:carry1st-authentication-api
  name: Carry1st Authentication API
  description: Obtain and refresh access tokens for Gateway API requests.
  humanURL: https://pay1st-docs.carry1st.com/
  baseURL: https://api-gateway.carry1st.com
  tags:
  - Authentication
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/carry1st-authentication-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://pay1st-docs.carry1st.com/
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://pay1st-docs.carry1st.com/reference/gateway-api-overview
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://pay1st-docs.carry1st.com/reference/gateway-integration-step-by-step-checklist
  - type: Authentication
    url: authentication/carry1st-authentication.yml
  - type: Sandbox
    url: sandbox/carry1st-sandbox.yml
  - type: Idempotency
    url: conventions/carry1st-conventions.yml
  - type: Conventions
    url: conventions/carry1st-conventions.yml
  - type: ErrorCatalog
    url: errors/carry1st-problem-types.yml
  - type: Webhooks
    url: asyncapi/carry1st-pay1st-webhooks.yml
  - type: DataModel
    url: data-model/carry1st-data-model.yml
  - type: AgenticAccess
    url: agentic-access/carry1st-agentic-access.yml
- aid: carry1st:carry1st-payment-methods-api
  name: Carry1st Payment Methods API
  description: Discover the local payment methods available per country.
  humanURL: https://pay1st-docs.carry1st.com/
  baseURL: https://api-gateway.carry1st.com
  tags:
  - Payment Methods
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/carry1st-payment-methods-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://pay1st-docs.carry1st.com/
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://pay1st-docs.carry1st.com/reference/gateway-api-overview
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://pay1st-docs.carry1st.com/reference/gateway-integration-step-by-step-checklist
  - type: Authentication
    url: authentication/carry1st-authentication.yml
  - type: Sandbox
    url: sandbox/carry1st-sandbox.yml
  - type: Idempotency
    url: conventions/carry1st-conventions.yml
  - type: Conventions
    url: conventions/carry1st-conventions.yml
  - type: ErrorCatalog
    url: errors/carry1st-problem-types.yml
  - type: Webhooks
    url: asyncapi/carry1st-pay1st-webhooks.yml
  - type: DataModel
    url: data-model/carry1st-data-model.yml
  - type: AgenticAccess
    url: agentic-access/carry1st-agentic-access.yml
- aid: carry1st:carry1st-payments-api
  name: Carry1st Payments API
  description: Create payment requests and query their status.
  humanURL: https://pay1st-docs.carry1st.com/
  baseURL: https://api-gateway.carry1st.com
  tags:
  - Payments
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/carry1st-payments-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://pay1st-docs.carry1st.com/
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://pay1st-docs.carry1st.com/reference/gateway-api-overview
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://pay1st-docs.carry1st.com/reference/gateway-integration-step-by-step-checklist
  - type: Authentication
    url: authentication/carry1st-authentication.yml
  - type: Sandbox
    url: sandbox/carry1st-sandbox.yml
  - type: Idempotency
    url: conventions/carry1st-conventions.yml
  - type: Conventions
    url: conventions/carry1st-conventions.yml
  - type: ErrorCatalog
    url: errors/carry1st-problem-types.yml
  - type: Webhooks
    url: asyncapi/carry1st-pay1st-webhooks.yml
  - type: DataModel
    url: data-model/carry1st-data-model.yml
  - type: AgenticAccess
    url: agentic-access/carry1st-agentic-access.yml
- aid: carry1st:carry1st-refunds-api
  name: Carry1st Refunds API
  description: Request refunds against processed transactions.
  humanURL: https://pay1st-docs.carry1st.com/
  baseURL: https://api-gateway.carry1st.com
  tags:
  - Refunds
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/carry1st-refunds-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://pay1st-docs.carry1st.com/
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://pay1st-docs.carry1st.com/reference/gateway-api-overview
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://pay1st-docs.carry1st.com/reference/gateway-integration-step-by-step-checklist
  - type: Authentication
    url: authentication/carry1st-authentication.yml
  - type: Sandbox
    url: sandbox/carry1st-sandbox.yml
  - type: Idempotency
    url: conventions/carry1st-conventions.yml
  - type: Conventions
    url: conventions/carry1st-conventions.yml
  - type: ErrorCatalog
    url: errors/carry1st-problem-types.yml
  - type: Webhooks
    url: asyncapi/carry1st-pay1st-webhooks.yml
  - type: DataModel
    url: data-model/carry1st-data-model.yml
  - type: AgenticAccess
    url: agentic-access/carry1st-agentic-access.yml
common:
- type: Overlay
  url: overlays/carry1st-pay1st-gateway-overlay.yaml
- type: DeveloperPortal
  url: https://pay1st-docs.carry1st.com/
- type: Documentation
  url: https://pay1st-docs.carry1st.com/
- type: APIReference
  url: https://pay1st-docs.carry1st.com/reference/gateway-api-overview
- type: GettingStarted
  url: https://pay1st-docs.carry1st.com/reference/gateway-integration-step-by-step-checklist
- type: Website
  url: https://www.carry1st.com/
- type: Blog
  url: https://www.carry1st.com/blog
- type: TermsOfService
  url: https://www.carry1st.com/terms-of-service
- type: PrivacyPolicy
  url: https://www.carry1st.com/privacy-policy
- type: Support
  url: https://www.carry1st.com/contact
- type: ChangeLog
  url: changelog/carry1st-changelog.yml
- type: Authentication
  url: authentication/carry1st-authentication.yml
- type: Idempotency
  url: conventions/carry1st-conventions.yml
- type: Conventions
  url: conventions/carry1st-conventions.yml
- type: ErrorCatalog
  url: errors/carry1st-problem-types.yml
- type: Sandbox
  url: sandbox/carry1st-sandbox.yml
- type: Lifecycle
  url: lifecycle/carry1st-lifecycle.yml
- type: Deprecation
  url: https://pay1st-docs.carry1st.com/reference/gateway-migration-guide
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/carry1st-domain-security.yml
- type: Conformance
  url: conformance/carry1st-conformance.yml
- type: WellKnown
  url: well-known/carry1st-well-known.yml
- type: X-MCPServerCandidate
  url: mcp/carry1st-mcp.yml
  note: 'Renamed from MCPServer 2026-09-03 (roadmap#247): the manifest self-describes as status: candidate — a tool list derived
    from the published API contracts, not an existing server. The scorer already read the manifest and reported mcp_server
    correctly; the MCPServer type was crediting the artifact-type surfaces with a server that does not exist.'
- type: LLMsTxt
  url: llms/carry1st-llms.txt
- type: Packages
  url: packages/carry1st-packages.yml
- type: DataModel
  url: data-model/carry1st-data-model.yml
- type: Webhooks
  url: asyncapi/carry1st-pay1st-webhooks.yml
- type: AgentSkill
  url: skills/_index.yml
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/carry1st-agentic-access.yml
- type: Arazzo
  name: Pay1st - collect a payment
  url: arazzo/carry1st-collect-payment.yml
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com
- FN: APIs.json
  email: info@apis.io
x-enrichment:
  date: '2026-07-19'
  status: backfilled
  pass: local-v1
  note: backfilled from .gitignore signal + verified work evidence

Carry1st API — frequently asked questions

Does Carry1st have an API?

Yes. APIs.io lists 4 APIs from Carry1st, including Carry1st Authentication API, Carry1st Payment Methods API and Carry1st Payments API, and 1 more.

Is there an OpenAPI specification for the Carry1st API?

Yes. APIs.io indexes 4 OpenAPI specifications for Carry1st, each linked for download from this page.

How do I authenticate with the Carry1st API?

Carry1st uses bearer-token authentication (apiKey/http · 2 schemes). The details are profiled on APIs.io as Carry1St Authentication.

Is the Carry1st API ready for AI agents?

Carry1st has a Kin Score of 34.8 out of 100 (thin) and an Agent Readiness score of 33.8 (agent-ready), scored by API Evangelist on 2026-10-31.

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