SMS with Twilio

Twilio is a cloud communications platform that provides programmable communication tools for making and receiving phone calls, sending and receiving text messages, and performing other communication functions using web APIs and SDKs.

How does the integration work?

You can use the Twilio provider in Appwrite Messaging to send customized SMS messages to your users. These SMS messages can be sent immediately or scheduled. You can send SMS messages for purposes like reminders, promotions, announcements, and even custom authentication flows.

How to implement

To implement the Twilio provider in Appwrite Messaging, there are several steps you must complete:

Step 1: Sign up on Twilio

First, you must sign up for a Twilio account, upgrade your account (in case you want to message numbers other than your own), and purchase a phone number with the SMS capability.

Ensure you save the following information for later use:

Field name
Account SID	Head to Twilio console > Account info > Account SID.
Auth token	Head to Twilio console > Account info > Auth Token.
Phone number	You can access numbers by navigating to your Twilio console > Develop > Phone Numbers > Manage > Active Numbers.

Step 2: Add Twilio provider to your Appwrite project

For this step, you must create an account on Appwrite Cloud or self-host Appwrite if you haven’t already. In your Appwrite project, head over to the Messaging page, click on the Providers tab, and create a new SMS provider.

Select Twilio and add the account SID, auth token, and phone number that you saved from the Twilio console.

Step 3: Test the Twilio provider

Before you proceed, you must already have at least one topic or target set up.

Once the provider is set up, you can go to the Messages tab on the Messaging page and create an SMS message. You can add the test message, configure the users to send the message to, and pick when the message should be sent out.