GOV.UK Pay API

{
  "service_type": "platform",
  "base_url": "https://payments.service.gov.uk",
  "auth_method": "api_key",
  "auth_config": {
    "header": "Authorization",
    "scheme": "Bearer",
    "notes": "GOV.UK Pay uses API keys issued per service/environment. Keys are passed as a Bearer token in the Authorization header (e.g., 'Authorization: Bearer {api_key}'). Keys are managed via the GOV.UK Pay admin tool and differ per environment (test/live)."
  },
  "endpoints": [
    {
      "path": "/v1/payments",
      "method": "POST",
      "description": "Create a new payment"
    },
    {
      "path": "/v1/payments/{paymentId}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Retrieve details of a specific payment"
    },
    {
      "path": "/v1/payments/{paymentId}/events",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "List events for a payment"
    },
    {
      "path": "/v1/payments/{paymentId}/cancel",
      "method": "POST",
      "description": "Cancel a payment"
    },
    {
      "path": "/v1/payments/{paymentId}/refunds",
      "method": "POST",
      "description": "Create a refund for a payment"
    },
    {
      "path": "/v1/refunds/{refundId}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Retrieve details of a refund"
    },
    {
      "path": "/v1/payments/{paymentId}/refunds",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "List refunds for a payment"
    },
    {
      "path": "/v1/card_payments/{paymentId}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Retrieve details of an Apple Pay / Google Pay card payment"
    },
    {
      "path": "/v1/directdebit/payments",
      "method": "POST",
      "description": "Create a Direct Debit payment"
    },
    {
      "path": "/v1/directdebit/payments/{paymentId}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Retrieve a Direct Debit payment"
    },
    {
      "path": "/v1/directdebit/mandates",
      "method": "POST",
      "description": "Create a Direct Debit mandate"
    },
    {
      "path": "/v1/directdebit/mandates/{mandateId}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Retrieve a Direct Debit mandate"
    },
    {
      "path": "/v1/payments",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Search payments"
    }
  ],
  "pricing_model": {
    "type": "free",
    "details": {
      "notes": "GOV.UK Pay is a free service for public sector organisations in the UK. There are no transaction fees or setup fees; payment processing is funded by the UK government. Some card schemes may charge interchange fees that are passed through.",
      "target_users": "UK central government departments, local authorities, police, fire services, NHS, and other public sector bodies."
    }
  },
  "rate_limits": {
    "notes": "Specific numerical rate limits are not publicly documented in the spec. GOV.UK Pay enforces per-API-key limits to protect the platform. Default limits are generally generous for public sector use; contact the GOV.UK Pay team for high-volume requirements."
  },
  "capabilities": [
    "Create and manage card payments",
    "Process payments via web (hosted payment page) and API",
    "Support for Apple Pay and Google Pay",
    "Direct Debit payments and mandate management",
    "Refunds (full and partial) and refund reconciliation",
    "Payment status tracking and event history",
    "Payment search and filtering",
    "Webhook/event notifications via payment events endpoints",
    "Reporting and reconciliation via API and admin tool",
    "Sandbox/test environment separate from live",
    "Integration with GOV.UK Pay admin console for service management",
    "PCI DSS compliant payment processing (card data never touches merchant servers)"
  ],
  "raw_analysis": "GOV.UK Pay is a payment platform built and operated by the UK Government Digital Service (GDS) for use by UK public sector organisations. It lets government bodies accept card payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Direct Debit without handling sensitive card data directly, reducing PCI DSS scope. It exposes a REST-style HTTP API (v1) secured with per-service API keys passed as Bearer tokens. The platform is mature, widely adopted across UK central and local government, and is actively maintained — although this particular API description references an older/unmaintained spec and directs users to openapi/publicapi_spec.json for the latest specification. Pricing is effectively free for eligible UK public sector bodies. Rate limiting exists but is not numerically published. Integration surface includes a hosted payment page, REST API, admin web console, and event endpoints for reconciliation; webhooks for asynchronous events are supported through payment event endpoints and administrative notifications. Primary audiences are developers and finance teams in UK government and arm's-length public bodies. The platform is not a general-purpose commercial payment gateway and is not available to private-sector merchants."
}

1/3 tests passed

```json
{
  "overall": 68,
  "dimensions": {
    "token_efficiency": 8.5,
    "first_try_success": 6.0,
    "response_parseability": 8.5,
    "error_clarity": 8.0,
    "doc_quality": 9.0,
    "auth_simplicity": 3.5,
    "latency": 9.5,
    "consistency": 8.5
  },
  "pricing_normalized": {
    "model": "free_for_eligible_uk_public_sector",
    "transaction_fee": "none",
    "setup_fee": "none",
    "eligibility_gate": "UK public sector only (central gov, local authorities, police, fire, NHS)"
  },
  "issues": [
    "Eligibility is restricted to UK public sector organizations — most users cannot actually adopt this platform",
    "No llms.txt — agents get a 404 and cannot discover machine-readable platform summary",
    "robots.txt returns 404, which is unusual and may complicate crawling/automation etiquette",
    "API key issuance requires a GOV.UK Pay account tied to a registered service, not self-serve signup — heavy onboarding friction for agents/hobbyists",
    "Scoring for token_efficiency is high only because the value prop is simple; the eligibility caveat adds description overhead",
    "Direct Debit and card payments are UK-centric — limited relevance outside the UK",
    "No magic-link / federated dev signup; onboarding is via government service registration"
  ],
  "recommendations": [
    "Publish an llms.txt and a machine-readable capabilities manifest so agents can onboard programmatically",
    "Provide a public sandbox signup path (even if rate-limited) so agents can trial without a full service registration",
    "Clarify interchange/pass-through fee ranges explicitly — 'no transaction fees' is slightly misleading for agents estimating cost",
    "Add a status page link and machine-readable status JSON to boost consistency scoring",
    "Expose a lightweight OpenAPI spec at a stable well-known path for agent introspection",
    "Document rate limits and pagination explicitly in the API reference for deterministic agent behavior"
  ]
}
```