Algopay — Open-source Algorand Payroll & Payouts Toolkit

Algopay is a free, open-source Python library for running automated payroll and general payouts on Algorand. Schedule recurring jobs, pay many employees across departments, generate a CSV ledger, compile simple escrow contracts, send email notifications, and drop down to low-level transaction helpers when you need to.

• Free & open source (pip-installable from Git)
• General purpose (payroll, bounties, grants, tips, streaming-style pay)
• Strong defaults (CSV audit log, per-run payroll_id, background jobs)
• Clean repo (pre-commit: Ruff + Black, pytest, CI workflows, Dependabot)

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Project Resources

• PyPi Page: To PyPi Deployment
• Overview Video: Watch on YouTube
• Smart Contract Demo Video: Watch on YouTube
• Canva Presentation: View on Canva

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Table of Contents

• Why Algopay?
• Installation
• Quick Start
• Configuration (.env)
• Examples
  • One-off Payroll
  • Background Scheduler
  • Parallel Multi-Department Scheduler
  • Email Notification on Completion
  • Generate & Compile Escrow Contracts
• API Reference
  • Payroll
  • Notifier
  • Transactions Helper
• CSV Ledger Schema
• Testing & Quality
• Project Layout
• Security Notes
• License

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Why Algopay?

What makes this different

• Open and Affordable — Open-source, free, and pip-installable.
• Pragmatic API — A single Payroll class covers 90% of payout needs: add employees, run once, or run on a timer.
• Auditable by default — Every payment appends a row to a CSV ledger with department, job_id, payroll_id, balances, and status.
• Parallel departments — Run multiple departments concurrently with different mnemonics and intervals, writing to the same ledger.
• Extensible — Pluggable notifier interface (start with console + SMTP email). Extra transactions helpers for custom flows.
• Clean & professional — Pre-commit (Ruff + Black), pytest suite, GitHub Actions CI, Dependabot.

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Installation

# Recommended: install from GitHub
pip install "git+https://github.com/KelvinLinBU/Algopay.git"

# Download from pip
pip install algopay

Python 3.10+ recommended.

For LocalNet, use AlgoKit’s sandbox (Docker). For TestNet/MainNet, you may use public endpoints (e.g., Algonode) or your own node.

---

Quick Start

from dotenv import load_dotenv
import os
from algo_pay.payroll import Payroll

load_dotenv()

payroll = Payroll(
    employer_mnemonic=os.getenv("DEPT_A_MNEMONIC"),
    department=os.getenv("DEPT_A_NAME", "Engineering"),
    network=os.getenv("NETWORK", "localnet"),
)

# Hourly rates are in ALGOs/hour
payroll.add_employee(os.getenv("EMPLOYEE_1"), hourly_rate=100.0, name=os.getenv("EMPLOYEE_1_NAME"))
payroll.add_employee(os.getenv("EMPLOYEE_2"), hourly_rate=50.0,  name=os.getenv("EMPLOYEE_2_NAME"))

# Pay 5 hours worth
txids = payroll.run_payroll(hours=5, note="Weekly payroll", job_id="ManualRun")
print("Paid, txids:", txids)

A CSV ledger is written to PAYROLL_HISTORY_FILE (see format below).

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Configuration (.env)

Create a .env in your project root:

# ========================
# Employer Accounts
# ========================

# Department A (Engineering)
DEPT_A_NAME="Engineering"
DEPT_A_MNEMONIC="chat denial daring require ticket purse team snake victory olympic around news sausage method lake sunny plunge beef rude flip own tiger wild absent strategy"
DEPT_A_ADDRESS="WPNITU45MLDGDKJ3Z7UDBV466IZ7QTIOR2XKJZ6SG2LOH6QRZXXOTEB6KU"

# Department B (Marketing)
DEPT_B_NAME="Marketing"
DEPT_B_MNEMONIC="sad mango ignore picture burst canoe tail scout hire coil mango mercy usual invite congress song price rifle layer dove violin genuine forum about traffic"
DEPT_B_ADDRESS="3M4B53T5GW4YM7S55ON4NNNYJWAHATE2SNKSGCB4K6K6VEUW23KU3AB6BU"

# Department C (Finance)
DEPT_C_NAME="Finance"
DEPT_C_MNEMONIC="follow learn school various cancel aspect salon win buffalo glare repair rival easy video iron fence theory sniff decorate typical flush sudden peanut absorb clap"
DEPT_C_ADDRESS="5L756GRBFFKQ7UPBXSSQEDWLYCE3YLW75XT2SBRM2HNHFANESKJI46L2KM"

# ========================
# Payroll Settings
# ========================
NETWORK="localnet"                      # localnet | testnet | mainnet
PAYROLL_HISTORY_FILE="payroll_history.csv"
PAYROLL_INTERVAL=30                     # seconds (for demos)

# ========================
# Employees
# ========================
EMPLOYEE_1_NAME="Alice"
EMPLOYEE_1="66MDNQQLL2A3LXHSEZWJ7PZGIWRP3NBNBPO62K3BCSP2VMFNQABCJFQQHQ"

EMPLOYEE_2_NAME="Bob"
EMPLOYEE_2="527M4BKEMJHTEQGQ52CGNI3E74RSJRZIHUJOVL42IAP72PARS6UA3TBENE"

# ========================
# Optional: Email Notifier (SMTP)
# ========================
SMTP_SENDER="your_email@example.com"
SMTP_PASSWORD="your_app_password"      # app password (see Security Notes)
SMTP_SERVER="smtp.mail.yahoo.com"      # e.g., smtp.gmail.com, smtp.mail.yahoo.com
SMTP_PORT=465                          # 465 (SSL) or 587 (STARTTLS)

Never commit real mnemonics. Use LocalNet for demos and a secrets manager for real deployments.

---

Examples

One-off Payroll

examples/log_demo.py runs a single payroll batch, prints balances and writes the ledger.

Background Scheduler

Run a repeating job in a daemon thread:

# examples/scheduler_demo.py
from dotenv import load_dotenv
import os, time
from algo_pay.payroll import Payroll

load_dotenv()

payroll = Payroll(os.getenv("DEPT_A_MNEMONIC"), department="Engineering", network="localnet")
payroll.add_employee(os.getenv("EMPLOYEE_1"), 60,  name=os.getenv("EMPLOYEE_1_NAME"))
payroll.add_employee(os.getenv("EMPLOYEE_2"), 200, name=os.getenv("EMPLOYEE_2_NAME"))

payroll.start_payroll_job(interval_seconds=30, hours=0.01, note="Scheduled Payroll", job_id="EngJob")
try:
    time.sleep(120)  # let it run
finally:
    payroll.stop_payroll_job()

Parallel Multi-Department Scheduler

Start three departments in parallel at 5s / 10s / 15s:

# examples/parallel.py
from algo_pay.payroll import Payroll
from dotenv import load_dotenv
import os, time

load_dotenv()
NETWORK = os.getenv("NETWORK", "localnet")
HISTORY_FILE = os.getenv("PAYROLL_HISTORY_FILE", "payroll_history.csv")

departments = [
    {"name": os.getenv("DEPT_A_NAME"), "mnemonic": os.getenv("DEPT_A_MNEMONIC"), "interval": 5},
    {"name": os.getenv("DEPT_B_NAME"), "mnemonic": os.getenv("DEPT_B_MNEMONIC"), "interval": 10},
    {"name": os.getenv("DEPT_C_NAME"), "mnemonic": os.getenv("DEPT_C_MNEMONIC"), "interval": 15},
]

employees = [
    {"name": os.getenv("EMPLOYEE_1_NAME"), "address": os.getenv("EMPLOYEE_1"), "rate": 60},
    {"name": os.getenv("EMPLOYEE_2_NAME"), "address": os.getenv("EMPLOYEE_2"), "rate": 200},
]

print("=== Multi-Department Parallel Payroll Scheduler ===")
print(f"Running on {NETWORK}\n")
running = []

for dept in departments:
    print(f"Setting up {dept['name']}…")
    p = Payroll(dept["mnemonic"], department=dept["name"], network=NETWORK, history_file=HISTORY_FILE)
    for e in employees:
        p.add_employee(e["address"], e["rate"], name=e["name"])
    p.start_payroll_job(interval_seconds=dept["interval"], hours=0.01, note=f"{dept['name']} Scheduled")
    running.append(p)

try:
    time.sleep(60)
finally:
    for p in running:
        p.stop_payroll_job()

Email Notification on Completion

Send an email after a batch run:

# examples/notify_demo.py
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv
from algo_pay.payroll import Payroll
from algo_pay.notifier import EmailNotifier

load_dotenv()

payroll = Payroll(
    os.getenv("DEPT_A_MNEMONIC"),
    department=os.getenv("DEPT_A_NAME", "Engineering"),
    network=os.getenv("NETWORK", "localnet"),
    history_file=os.getenv("PAYROLL_HISTORY_FILE", "payroll_history.csv"),
    notifier=EmailNotifier(
        smtp_server=os.getenv("SMTP_SERVER", "smtp.mail.yahoo.com"),
        smtp_port=int(os.getenv("SMTP_PORT", "465")),
        sender_email=os.getenv("SMTP_SENDER"),
        sender_password=os.getenv("SMTP_PASSWORD"),
        recipient_email="kelvin_lin_2012@yahoo.com",  # default recipient
    ),
)

payroll.add_employee(os.getenv("EMPLOYEE_1"), 100.0, os.getenv("EMPLOYEE_1_NAME", "Alice"))
payroll.add_employee(os.getenv("EMPLOYEE_2"),  50.0, os.getenv("EMPLOYEE_2_NAME", "Bob"))

print("Running payroll with email notification…")
payroll.run_payroll(hours=5, note="Weekly payroll", job_id="NotifyDemo")

You can also call the notifier yourself and override the recipient:

payroll.notifier.notify(payload_dict, recipient_override="someone@example.com")

Generate & Compile Escrow Contracts

Build trivial “pay to exact amount & receiver” PyTeal escrows from a CSV, copy them into the sandbox, and compile:

# CSV must contain: employee_address,fixed_payout_microalgos
python contracts/generate_escrow.py example_employee_data/3_example_employees.csv
# => writes contracts/escrow_<prefix>.teal and <input>_compiled.csv with escrow addresses

The tests stub PyTeal for speed; when you run the script, it compiles against your Dockerized LocalNet (algokit_sandbox_algod) via goal.

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API Reference

Payroll

class Payroll:
    def __init__(
        self,
        employer_mnemonic: str,
        department: str,
        network: str = "localnet",          # localnet | testnet | mainnet
        history_file: str = "payroll_history.csv",
        notifier: Optional[Notifier] = None # defaults to no notifications
    )

    def add_employee(self, address: str, hourly_rate: float, name: str | None = None) -> None
    def remove_employee(self, address: str) -> None

    def get_balance(self, address: str | None = None) -> float
    def get_asset_balance(self, address: str, asset_id: int) -> float

    def send_payment(self, to: str, amount: float, note: str = "") -> tuple[str, float, float, str]
        # amount is in ALGOs; returns (txid|"FAILED", employer_balance_before, employer_balance_after, "SUCCESS"/"FAILED")

    def run_payroll(self, hours: float, note: str = "Payroll Run", job_id: str = "DefaultJob") -> list[str]

    def start_payroll_job(self, interval_seconds: int, hours: float, note: str, job_id: str | None = None) -> None
    def stop_payroll_job(self) -> None

• Networks

  • localnet → http://localhost:4001 (token "a"*64)
  • testnet → https://testnet-api.algonode.cloud
  • mainnet → https://mainnet-api.algonode.cloud

• Logging Every individual employee payment is appended to history_file with a unique payroll_id per batch.

• Notifications If you pass a Notifier, run_payroll auto-sends a “job completed” payload (job_id, payroll_id, department, employees, txids, status).

Notifier

class Notifier:
    def notify(self, payload: dict[str, Any]) -> None: ...

class ConsoleNotifier(Notifier):
    def notify(self, payload: dict[str, Any]) -> None  # prints to stdout

class EmailNotifier(Notifier):
    def __init__(self, smtp_server: str, smtp_port: int,
                 sender_email: str, sender_password: str,
                 recipient_email: str):
        ...

    def notify(self, payload: dict[str, Any], recipient_override: str | None = None) -> None

For Yahoo/Gmail SMTP you typically need 2FA + an app password (not your normal login). SSL (465) or STARTTLS (587) are supported.

Transactions Helper

Low-level utilities for custom flows: algo_pay/transactions.py

from algo_pay import transactions

client = transactions.get_client("localnet" | "testnet" | "mainnet")

txn = transactions.build_payment_txn(client, sender, receiver, amount_microalgos: int, note: str | None = None)
asa = transactions.build_asset_transfer_txn(client, sender, receiver, asset_id: int, amount: int, note: str | None = None)

gid, txns = transactions.group_and_assign_id([txn1, txn2, ...])

signed = transactions.sign_transaction(txn, private_key)
txid = transactions.broadcast_transaction(client, signed)

# Convenience: amounts in ALGOs (float)
txid = transactions.execute_payment(client, sender, receiver, amount_algos: float, private_key, note=None)

# Batch convenience (sequential, not atomic group)
txids = transactions.batch_execute_payments(client, sender, [(receiver, algos), ...], private_key, note=None)

Convention: builder functions accept microAlgos (ints), while the high-level convenience execute_payment and the Payroll class accept ALGOs (floats).

---

CSV Ledger Schema

By default payroll_history.csv (configurable) uses:

Column	Type	Notes
timestamp	ISO8601	UTC time the row was written
department	str	Department label passed to Payroll
job_id	str	Job identifier (manual or auto)
payroll_id	str	Unique batch identifier per run_payroll
employer	str	Employer address
employee_name	str	Friendly name (or address if not provided)
employee_address	str	Employee account
amount_ALGO	float	Amount per employee in ALGOs
txid	str	Transaction id (or "FAILED")
employer_balance_before	float	ALGOs before the payment
employer_balance_after	float	ALGOs after the payment
status	str	"SUCCESS" / "FAILED"

Multiple departments and jobs can safely append to the same ledger file.

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Testing & Quality

• Run tests

  pytest -v
  

• Lint & format (pre-commit)

  pre-commit run --all-files
  # or auto-install into git hooks:
  pre-commit install
  

• CI & security
  • GitHub Actions run tests & linters on pushes/PRs.
  • Dependabot keeps dependencies fresh.
  • Repo is formatted with Black, linted with Ruff.

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License

MIT — do whatever you want, but no warranty. See LICENSE for details.

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If you build something cool with Algopay, PRs and issues are welcome!