Python

Learn how to complete a bank transfer using Python.

Concepts

This guide will walk you through the steps needed to transfer funds using Flutterwave’s API with Python. You’ll learn how to:

1. Set up your server app: Create a Python project and install the dependencies needed to configure your workspace.
2. Get bank code: Retrieve a list of bank codes from Flutterwave’s API for initiating transactions.
3. Get Account Details: Use a bank code to fetch and confirm bank account details.
4. Initiate a transfer: Send money to the resolved bank account via Flutterwave.
5. Fetch the transfer: Retrieve the status of a transfer to ensure it was processed.
6. Verify a transaction is valid: Confirm the authenticity of a transaction using Flutterwave’s verification endpoint.

Step 1: Setting up your Server App

To initiate a transfer successfully, you need to whitelist your current IP address. Here is a quick guide on how to do that.

You can also use the universal address 0.0.0.0 to allow transfers from all IP addresses. However, this method offers less control compared to specifying a list of acceptable IP addresses.

Create a new Python project by running the following command:

mkdir flutterwave_python
cd flutterwave_python

Next, create a virtual environment for the project.

python3 -m venv env
source env/bin/activate  

Installing Your Dependencies

Next, install the required dependencies for making HTTP requests and loading environment variables.

pip install requests python-dotenv

Configuring Your Environment

Log into your Flutterwave dashboard to get your API keys and add the keys to your .env file.

FLW_SECRET_KEY=<your_secret_key_here>
FLW_PUBLIC_KEY=<your_public_key_here>

Initializing your Project

In your Python project, create a app.py and import the required dependencies.

import os
import requests
from dotenv import load_dotenv

# Load environment variables from .env file
load_dotenv()

# Retrieve the Flutterwave secret key
secret_key = os.getenv("FLW_SECRET_KEY")
if not secret_key:
    raise ValueError("Error loading the FLW_SECRET_KEY from .env file")

Step 2: Fetch Bank Code

Before you make a transfer to any bank, you need the bank code. It is a unique identifier that every bank has. You will use this to identify the bank you want to transfer to.

# Step 2: Fetch Bank Code from Flutterwave API
def get_bank_code(country, account_bank):
    url = f"https://api.flutterwave.com/v3/banks/{country}"
    headers = {
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {FLW_SECRET_KEY}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }

    response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)

    if response.status_code != 200:
        raise Exception(f"Failed to fetch bank list: {response.text}")

    banks = response.json().get("data", [])
    print("Bank list fetched...")

    # Filter for the bank with the provided code
    selected_bank = next((bank for bank in banks if bank['code'] == account_bank), None)
    if not selected_bank:
        raise Exception(f"Bank not found for code: {account_bank}")

    print(f"Selected Bank: {selected_bank['name']}")
    return selected_bank

Step 3: Resolve Account

Next, validate the account before making the transfer.

# Step 2 code goes here

# Step 3: Resolve Bank Account Details
def resolve_account(account_number, account_bank):
    url = "https://api.flutterwave.com/v3/accounts/resolve"
    headers = {
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {FLW_SECRET_KEY}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }
    data = {
        "account_number": account_number,
        "account_bank": account_bank
    }

    response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, json=data)

    if response.status_code != 200:
        raise Exception(f"Failed to resolve account: {response.text}")

    account_details = response.json().get("data")
    print("Account Verified:", account_details)
    return account_details

Step 4: Initiate Transfer

Initiate the transfer once the bank account details have been verified.

# Step 3 code goes here

# Step 4: Initiate Transfer
def initiate_transfer(dummy_data, selected_bank):
    url = "https://api.flutterwave.com/v3/transfers"
    headers = {
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {FLW_SECRET_KEY}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }
    data = {
        "account_bank": selected_bank["code"],
        "account_number": dummy_data["account_number"],
        "amount": dummy_data["amount"],
        "narration": dummy_data["narration"],
        "currency": dummy_data["currency"],
        "reference": dummy_data["reference"],
        "callback_url": "https://example.com/callback"
    }

    response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, json=data)

    if response.status_code != 200:
        raise Exception(f"Failed to initiate transfer: {response.text}")

    transfer_response = response.json().get("data")
    print("Transfer Initiated:", transfer_response)
    return transfer_response

Step 5: Fetch Transfer Status

Check the status of the transfer using the transfer ID returned from the previous step.

# Step 4 code goes here

# Step 5: Fetch Transfer Status
def fetch_transfer_status(transfer_id):
    url = f"https://api.flutterwave.com/v3/transfers/{transfer_id}"
    headers = {
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {FLW_SECRET_KEY}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }

    response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)

    if response.status_code != 200:
        raise Exception(f"Failed to fetch transfer status: {response.text}")

    transfer_status = response.json().get("data")
    print("Transfer Status:", transfer_status)
    return transfer_status

Calling the Requests

Make the requests to simulate the bank transfer using all the functions created above.

# Step 4 code goes here
    
# Dummy Data for the transfer
dummy_data = {
    "country": "NG",
    "account_number": "0690000031",  # Replace with actual account number
    "account_bank": "044",           # Replace with actual bank code (e.g., 044 for Access Bank Nigeria)
    "amount": 10000,                 # Amount to transfer
    "narration": "Payment for services rendered",
    "currency": "NGN",               # Currency code (e.g., NGN for Naira)
    "reference": "unique-transfer-ref-hgp8"  # Unique reference for the transaction
}

# Main Flow
try:
    # Step 1: Get Bank Code
    selected_bank = get_bank_code(dummy_data["country"], dummy_data["account_bank"])

    # Step 2: Resolve Account
    account_details = resolve_account(dummy_data["account_number"], selected_bank["code"])

    # Step 3: Initiate Transfer
    transfer_response = initiate_transfer(dummy_data, selected_bank)

    # Step 4: Fetch Transfer Status (using transfer_id from response)
    transfer_status = fetch_transfer_status(transfer_response["id"])

    # Step 5: Verify Transaction (using transaction_id from response)
    verified_transaction = verify_transaction(transfer_response["id"])

except Exception as e:
    print(f"Error: {e}")

The code example above includes fetching the bank code, resolving the account, initiating the transfer, and fetching the transfer status for verification.

The Complete App

Here is how your entire app.py should look like on completing the steps above.

import os
import requests
from dotenv import load_dotenv

# Load environment variables
load_dotenv()
FLW_SECRET_KEY = os.getenv('FLW_SECRET_KEY')

# Step 1: Fetch Bank Code from Flutterwave API
def get_bank_code(country, account_bank):
    url = f"https://api.flutterwave.com/v3/banks/{country}"
    headers = {
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {FLW_SECRET_KEY}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }
    response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
    
    if response.status_code != 200:
        raise Exception(f"Failed to fetch bank list: {response.text}")
    banks = response.json().get("data", [])
    print("Bank list fetched...")
    # Filter for the bank with the provided code
    selected_bank = next((bank for bank in banks if bank['code'] == account_bank), None)
    if not selected_bank:
        raise Exception(f"Bank not found for code: {account_bank}")
    
    print(f"Selected Bank: {selected_bank['name']}")
    return selected_bank

# Step 2: Resolve Bank Account Details
def resolve_account(account_number, account_bank):
    url = "https://api.flutterwave.com/v3/accounts/resolve"
    headers = {
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {FLW_SECRET_KEY}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }
    data = {
        "account_number": account_number,
        "account_bank": account_bank
    }
    response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, json=data)
    if response.status_code != 200:
        raise Exception(f"Failed to resolve account: {response.text}")
    account_details = response.json().get("data")
    print("Account Verified:", account_details)
    return account_details

# Step 3: Initiate Transfer
def initiate_transfer(dummy_data, selected_bank):
    url = "https://api.flutterwave.com/v3/transfers"
    headers = {
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {FLW_SECRET_KEY}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }
    data = {
        "account_bank": selected_bank["code"],
        "account_number": dummy_data["account_number"],
        "amount": dummy_data["amount"],
        "narration": dummy_data["narration"],
        "currency": dummy_data["currency"],
        "reference": dummy_data["reference"],
        "callback_url": "https://example.com/callback"
    }
    response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, json=data)
    if response.status_code != 200:
        raise Exception(f"Failed to initiate transfer: {response.text}")
    transfer_response = response.json().get("data")
    print("Transfer Initiated:", transfer_response)
    return transfer_response

# Step 4: Fetch Transfer Status
def fetch_transfer_status(transfer_id):
    url = f"https://api.flutterwave.com/v3/transfers/{transfer_id}"
    headers = {
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {FLW_SECRET_KEY}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }
    response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
    if response.status_code != 200:
        raise Exception(f"Failed to fetch transfer status: {response.text}")
    transfer_status = response.json().get("data")
    print("Transfer Status:", transfer_status)
    return transfer_status

# Dummy Data for the transfer
dummy_data = {
    "country": "NG",
    "account_number": "0690000031",  # Replace with actual account number
    "account_bank": "044",           # Replace with actual bank code (e.g., 044 for Access Bank Nigeria)
    "amount": 10000,                 # Amount to transfer
    "narration": "Payment for services rendered",
    "currency": "NGN",               # Currency code (e.g., NGN for Naira)
    "reference": "unique-transfer-ref-9p8"  # Unique reference for the transaction
}

# Main Flow
try:
    # Step 1: Get Bank Code
    selected_bank = get_bank_code(dummy_data["country"], dummy_data["account_bank"])

    # Step 2: Resolve Account
    account_details = resolve_account(dummy_data["account_number"], selected_bank["code"])

    # Step 3: Initiate Transfer
    transfer_response = initiate_transfer(dummy_data, selected_bank)

    # Step 4: Fetch Transfer Status (using transfer_id from response)
    transfer_status = fetch_transfer_status(transfer_response["id"])

except Exception as e:
    print(f"Error: {e}")

Run the command below to start the app.

python app.py

Next Step

Check out the features you can integrate with our APIs and our Python SDK. Also checkout our best practices and error handling guides to learn how to build more robust applications.