Installing the skill

This site is the reference. The skill is what makes Claude use it. Install it once and Claude reaches for the right answer on its own, instead of polling only on BeingProcessed and failing your go-live test.

Installing takes about a minute. Everything below is optional after that.

Installing the skill

What you are installing

One folder, paynow-billpay, containing:


`SKILL.md`	Which API you need, setup, auth, the endpoint map and the payment-flow rules. Always loaded.
`references/`	Seven deep-dive files. Read only when the task needs them, which keeps the cost small.
`templates/`	Starter code for Laravel, Python, Node.js/TypeScript and C#, including a Laravel feature-test suite.
`scripts/`	`billpay_cli.py` and `verify_webhook.py`, two tools Claude runs for you.
`config/`	An `.env` template and a Laravel `config/billpay.php`.

No dependencies, no network calls from the skill itself, no telemetry. It is Markdown, starter code and two Python scripts that use only the standard library.

Claude Code

Clone the repository and copy the skill folder into place.

git clone https://github.com/67even/paynow-billpay-skill.git
cd paynow-billpay-skill

For one project. The skill loads only in that repository:

mkdir -p /path/to/your/project/.claude/skills
cp -r paynow-paybill-skills/paynow-billpay /path/to/your/project/.claude/skills/

For every project on your machine:

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -r paynow-paybill-skills/paynow-billpay ~/.claude/skills/

Either way you should end up with a SKILL.md at <skills-dir>/paynow-billpay/SKILL.md. Start a new Claude Code session and it’s picked up automatically.

Don’t install it in both places. A personal skill in ~/.claude/skills/ overrides a project one with the same name, so an old copy in your home directory will silently win over a freshly updated copy in the repo.

Claude.ai, desktop and mobile

Claude on the web and in the desktop app takes a ZIP, uploaded once and available everywhere you’re signed in.

cd paynow-paybill-skills
zip -r paynow-billpay.zip paynow-billpay -x '*/evals/*' -x '*/.DS_Store' -x '*/__pycache__/*'

Then in Claude: Customize → Skills → + → Create skill → Upload a skill, and choose that file.

Zip the folder, not its contents. The archive must contain paynow-billpay/SKILL.md, and the folder name has to match the name: in SKILL.md. A zip of loose files at the top level is rejected, and the error doesn’t say why.

Confirm Claude actually loaded it

This is the step people skip, and then conclude the skill doesn’t work.

In Claude Code, run:

/skills

paynow-billpay should be listed. If it’s missing, the folder is in the wrong place or SKILL.md isn’t directly inside it. Check that ls ~/.claude/skills/paynow-billpay/SKILL.md finds a file.

On claude.ai, the skill appears under Customize → Skills with a toggle. It has to be switched on.

Use it

You don’t invoke the skill by name. Its description tells Claude when it’s relevant, and Claude decides. Ask for what you want:

We're an agent with a prefunded BillPay wallet. Add ZESA token and airtime purchases to
our Laravel app, plus the endpoint Paynow calls when biller configs change.

We just failed Paynow BillPay UAT - something about polling and receipts. Here's our code.

Write a Flask endpoint that verifies BillPay payment notifications for our school.

Getting "There must be at least one product" back from /api/payment/process on a STATUS.

It also fires on BillPay’s own vocabulary even when you never type “BillPay”:

AuthAmountMandated, ReceiptSmses and TechnicalNarration;
a Paynow callback that receives ["ZETDC","EVD"];
EVD OutOfStock errors;
Test Biller prefixes.

It stays out of the way for Paynow’s merchant checkout (EcoCash, Express Checkout), which is a different API.

Prove the code works before you trust it

cd paynow-paybill-skills/paynow-billpay
python3 scripts/verify_webhook.py --self-test     # PASS: reproduces Paynow's worked example
python3 -m py_compile templates/python/*.py       # Python templates compile

The Laravel templates ship with a feature suite, templates/php-laravel/BillPayTest.php. It covers 11 scenarios, including the PAY-timeout → BeingPaid → Flagged → Paid path, and uses fake HTTP, so it needs no credentials. See Templates & tools.

Updating

The skill is versioned with the repository, so updating means copying it again:

cd paynow-billpay-skill && git pull
rm -rf ~/.claude/skills/paynow-billpay
cp -r paynow-paybill-skills/paynow-billpay ~/.claude/skills/

On claude.ai, zip and upload it again; the new version replaces the old one.

To uninstall, delete the folder, or toggle the skill off in Customize → Skills.

You don’t actually need Claude

Nothing here depends on Claude:

The reference pages on this site cover the complete BillPay interface.
The templates are ordinary PHP, Python, TypeScript and C#.
Both scripts run on their own:

# Smoke-test your credentials and the Test Biller
export BILLPAY_USERNAME=... BILLPAY_PASSWORD=...
python3 scripts/billpay_cli.py wallets
python3 scripts/billpay_cli.py auth TEST PP12345 --product AI --ref "$(uuidgen)"

# Work out why a payment webhook signature doesn't verify
python3 scripts/verify_webhook.py body.json --secret "$BILLPAY_SECRET_KEY" --signature "<X-Signature>"

billpay_cli.py pay refuses to run without the AUTH reference, so you can’t create a second payment by accident. After a timeout, run status and never re-run pay.