open source · 5 min read

How to Add a New Bank to cheki (Community Guide)

cheki supports 31 Ethiopian banks but only 9 are live. Here's how you can help add the rest. No coding required, just share a receipt. For developers: how to write a parser and submit a PR.

cheki lists 31 Ethiopian banks and wallets, but only 9 are live. The remaining 22 are listed as 'in development' because we haven't confirmed their public receipt endpoints yet. This is where the community comes in.

Option 1: Share a receipt (easiest)

If you have a receipt from a bank marked 'In development' on cheki, here's what we need:

• A screenshot of the full receipt (or the receipt URL if the bank has a share feature)
• The QR code on the receipt (if there is one), scan it with any QR reader and send us the decoded text
• The transaction reference number
• The bank name

Send it via GitHub (open an issue with the 'new-bank' label) or via Telegram. We'll reverse-engineer the endpoint and add the bank to cheki, usually within a day.

Option 2: Write a parser (for developers)

If you can code, you can add a bank yourself. cheki's architecture is hexagonal. Each bank is a self-contained parser module. Here's the process:

The parser interface is simple:

class MyBankParser extends BaseParser {
  readonly bankId = "mybank";
  readonly bankName = "My Bank";
  readonly responseType = "html" as const; // or "json" or "pdf"
  readonly requiresAccount = false;
  readonly requiresPhone = false;

  buildUrl(ref: string, account?: string): string {
    return `https://mybank.com/receipt/${ref}`;
  }

  parse(data: string | Buffer, contentType: string): ParsedReceipt {
    // Parse the HTML/JSON/PDF response
    // Return { verified: true, senderName, receiverName, amount, ... }
  }
}

Option 3: Report broken endpoints

Banks occasionally change their receipt URL formats. If you notice that a bank that used to work on cheki is now returning errors, open a GitHub issue with:

• The bank name
• The error message you see
• The reference number you tried (so we can test)
• What the receipt looks like in the bank's own app (screenshot if possible)

Because cheki is open source, anyone can submit a fix, not just the original developers. This is the advantage of community-built tools over closed services like check.et and verify.et.

Current coverage status

Why community matters for Ethiopian fintech

Ethiopia has 30+ licensed banks, but most receipt verification services (check.et, verify.et, qbirr, tinaverify) only support 6-10. The long tail of smaller and newer banks gets ignored because it's not profitable enough for paid services.

Open source changes this. Every contribution, whether it's a receipt screenshot or a full parser, helps cover a bank that paid services won't bother with. The community can move faster than any single company.