Modules & payment gateways

Overview#

Connecting a payment gateway to your organisation is a two-step process in the dashboard:

1. Add the gateway module under Settings → Modules. A module is the gateway integration (for example PayFast, Paystack or Netcash Debit Orders) made available to your account.
2. Add a payment provider for that module under Settings → Payment providers, with your own gateway credentials. The payment provider is what is actually used to take payments.

For each gateway's credentials, webhook set-up and capabilities, see the Gateways reference.

The Modules page#

Settings → Modules (page title Gateway modules) has two sections:

• Add a module: a list of the modules you can still add, grouped by region (South Africa, Southern Africa, East Africa, West Africa, Pan-African). Each entry shows the module's category (Online checkout, Instant EFT, Mobile money, Bank transfer (EFT) or Debit orders) and its capabilities. Modules your plan does not allow are listed separately with the reason.
• Added modules: a table of the modules on your account with their capabilities, installed version (and Update available when a newer version exists), how many payment providers use them, and whether they are enabled.

Which modules you can add#

A module can be added only when all of these hold:

• the platform administrator has not disabled it (shown as Disabled by platform administrator);
• if the platform has limited it to certain plans, your plan is one of them (shown as Available on: …);
• debit order modules (Netcash Debit Orders) need a plan that includes Debit orders;
• a statement-only module (reconciliation without checkout) needs a plan that includes Reconciliation or Debit orders.

These rules are checked every time a payer pays, against your current plan (including any overrides from the platform). If you move to a plan that no longer allows a module, its payment providers stop being offered on hosted checkout pages, payment links, invoice pay links (including Pay now in the customer portal) and subscription payments, even though the module and its providers are still listed.

Module details page#

Click a module's name to open its details page. It shows:

• Setup steps for that gateway, ending with a sandbox test and switching to live;
• Configuration fields: every credential or setting the payment provider asks for, its type (text, secret, choice, yes/no or number), whether it is required, defaults and hints. Secret fields are stored encrypted;
• the webhook / notification URL format, /api/webhooks/{type}?provider=<provider id>. The exact URL for each payment provider is shown on its card under Payment providers (see Gateway notifications);
• status, availability on your plan, your version and the latest version, category, region, countries, currencies, capabilities (including whether the gateway supports a payment status check and a connection test), payment methods and links to the gateway's website and developer documentation.

Adding a gateway#

1. Go to Settings → Modules, choose the gateway under Add a module and click Add module (or use Add module on the module's details page). The module is added enabled, at the latest version.
2. Click Add provider next to the module (shown while it has no payment providers), or go to Settings → Payment providers and pick it from Add a payment provider…. Only modules you have added and that are enabled and allowed on your plan appear there.
3. Enter the credentials and save. Keep Sandbox on until you have tested.

Configuring the payment provider#

Each payment provider has:

• a name (defaults to the gateway name);
• the module's configuration fields (see Gateways for each gateway);
• Enabled, Sandbox (the gateway's test environment) and Default switches. Only one provider can be the default; marking one as default clears it on the others.

• Credentials are encrypted at rest (AES-256-GCM). When editing, leave a secret blank to keep the stored value.
• Use Test to check the credentials where the gateway supports a connection test; otherwise run a small sandbox payment.
• The number of payment providers you can have is limited by your plan (Payment gateways); the page header shows how many you have used.
• A payment provider can be deleted only if it has no payment history, mandates or orders linked to it. Otherwise disable it instead.

See Payment flow for how CentraPoint chooses between your enabled providers at checkout.

Enabling, disabling and removing modules#

If your plan changes so that an added module is no longer allowed, the module stays in your list with the reason shown. While a module is disabled or not allowed on your plan, its payment providers cannot be edited and no new ones can be added.

Module updates#

Each module has a version. When the platform ships a new version of a module you have added, you get a dashboard notification (once per version), and Settings → Modules shows Update available. Click Update to v… on the Modules page or the module's details page to record that you have applied it. Your payment provider settings are not changed.

Platform controls#

The platform administrator controls, per gateway module, whether it is enabled on the platform and which plans may use it (no plans selected means every plan). These controls are managed by the platform, not by your organisation. When the platform disables a module:

• it cannot be added or re-enabled;
• payment providers that use it are no longer offered at checkout, and the Payment providers page says it was disabled by the platform administrator.

Plugins are not downloadable#

Gateway modules are built into CentraPoint and packaged internally by the platform. There is no download of plugin or module packages: the former plugin download endpoint has been removed, and packages are never served over HTTP. You add, enable and update modules only through Settings → Modules; there is nothing to install on your own server.

Permissions#

By default only Admins have modules:write and the payment provider permissions; Staff and Viewers can view modules. See Roles & permissions.