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Quickstart: send your first SMS by API
This guide takes you from no account to a delivered message and a signed delivery event. It needs a terminal and five minutes.
1. Create an account and top up
Open Get API key. Your browser makes an account key that starts with acct_; copy it or save it as a file, then confirm. That key is your login to the console. Add funds on the Billing page: the hosted checkout opens in the console, and the balance shows at the top of every console page.
2. Create an API key
On the API keys page, name a key (for example production or staging) and create it. The key starts with bsa_live_ and is shown once: copy it into your secret store or an environment variable.
export BULKSMSAPI_KEY="bsa_live_..."3. Send a message
Send a text to your own phone. Numbers are written in international format with the plus sign.
curl https://bulksmsapi.cc/v1/messages \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $BULKSMSAPI_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"to": "+14155550123",
"text": "Your Northwind code is 482913. It expires in 10 minutes.",
"reference": "login-7781"
}'// Node.js 18 or newer (built-in fetch)
const res = await fetch("https://bulksmsapi.cc/v1/messages", {
method: "POST",
headers: {
Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.BULKSMSAPI_KEY}`,
"Content-Type": "application/json",
},
body: JSON.stringify({
to: "+14155550123",
text: "Your Northwind code is 482913. It expires in 10 minutes.",
reference: "login-7781",
}),
});
const message = await res.json();
console.log(res.status, message.id, message.status, message.price);# Python 3, standard library only
import json, os, urllib.request
req = urllib.request.Request(
"https://bulksmsapi.cc/v1/messages",
data=json.dumps({
"to": "+14155550123",
"text": "Your Northwind code is 482913. It expires in 10 minutes.",
"reference": "login-7781",
}).encode(),
headers={
"Authorization": "Bearer " + os.environ["BULKSMSAPI_KEY"],
"Content-Type": "application/json",
"User-Agent": "northwind-app/1.0",
},
method="POST",
)
with urllib.request.urlopen(req) as res:
message = json.load(res)
print(res.status, message["id"], message["status"], message["price"])<?php
// PHP 7.4 or newer with the curl extension
$ch = curl_init("https://bulksmsapi.cc/v1/messages");
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
CURLOPT_POST => true,
CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
"Authorization: Bearer " . getenv("BULKSMSAPI_KEY"),
"Content-Type: application/json",
],
CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode([
"to" => "+14155550123",
"text" => "Your Northwind code is 482913. It expires in 10 minutes.",
"reference" => "login-7781",
]),
]);
$message = json_decode(curl_exec($ch), true);
echo curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE), " ", $message["id"], " ", $message["status"], "\n";// Go 1.20 or newer, standard library only
package main
import (
"bytes"
"encoding/json"
"fmt"
"net/http"
"os"
)
func main() {
body, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]any{
"to": "+14155550123",
"text": "Your Northwind code is 482913. It expires in 10 minutes.",
"reference": "login-7781",
})
req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://bulksmsapi.cc/v1/messages", bytes.NewReader(body))
req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+os.Getenv("BULKSMSAPI_KEY"))
req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
res, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
defer res.Body.Close()
var message map[string]any
json.NewDecoder(res.Body).Decode(&message)
fmt.Println(res.StatusCode, message["id"], message["status"], message["price"])
}The answer is 202 Accepted with a message id, the price and the status queued. Within seconds the status moves to sent and then delivered.
4. Read the status
curl https://bulksmsapi.cc/v1/messages/msg_8F3K2Q9TZ1MX \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $BULKSMSAPI_KEY"const res = await fetch("https://bulksmsapi.cc/v1/messages/msg_8F3K2Q9TZ1MX", {
headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.BULKSMSAPI_KEY}` },
});
const message = await res.json();
console.log(message.status, message.error);import json, os, urllib.request
req = urllib.request.Request(
"https://bulksmsapi.cc/v1/messages/msg_8F3K2Q9TZ1MX",
headers={"Authorization": "Bearer " + os.environ["BULKSMSAPI_KEY"], "User-Agent": "northwind-app/1.0"},
)
with urllib.request.urlopen(req) as res:
message = json.load(res)
print(message["status"], message["error"])<?php
$ch = curl_init("https://bulksmsapi.cc/v1/messages/msg_8F3K2Q9TZ1MX");
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => ["Authorization: Bearer " . getenv("BULKSMSAPI_KEY")],
]);
$message = json_decode(curl_exec($ch), true);
echo $message["status"], "\n";package main
import (
"encoding/json"
"fmt"
"net/http"
"os"
)
func main() {
req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", "https://bulksmsapi.cc/v1/messages/msg_8F3K2Q9TZ1MX", nil)
req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+os.Getenv("BULKSMSAPI_KEY"))
res, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
defer res.Body.Close()
var message map[string]any
json.NewDecoder(res.Body).Decode(&message)
fmt.Println(message["status"], message["error"])
}5. Send a batch
A batch sends one text to up to 10,000 numbers. Duplicates and numbers that cannot be read are listed in set_aside and not charged.
curl https://bulksmsapi.cc/v1/batches \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $BULKSMSAPI_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Idempotency-Key: spring-sale-0412" \
-d '{
"name": "Spring sale",
"text": "Spring sale at Northwind: 20% off until Sunday. Opt out: northwind.example/sms",
"to": [
"+14155550123",
"+447400123456",
"+4915123456789"
]
}'const res = await fetch("https://bulksmsapi.cc/v1/batches", {
method: "POST",
headers: {
Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.BULKSMSAPI_KEY}`,
"Content-Type": "application/json",
"Idempotency-Key": "spring-sale-0412",
},
body: JSON.stringify({
name: "Spring sale",
text: "Spring sale at Northwind: 20% off until Sunday. Opt out: northwind.example/sms",
to: ["+14155550123", "+447400123456", "+4915123456789"],
}),
});
const batch = await res.json();
console.log(res.status, batch.id, batch.recipients, batch.cost);import json, os, urllib.request
req = urllib.request.Request(
"https://bulksmsapi.cc/v1/batches",
data=json.dumps({
"name": "Spring sale",
"text": "Spring sale at Northwind: 20% off until Sunday. Opt out: northwind.example/sms",
"to": ["+14155550123", "+447400123456", "+4915123456789"],
}).encode(),
headers={
"Authorization": "Bearer " + os.environ["BULKSMSAPI_KEY"],
"Content-Type": "application/json",
"Idempotency-Key": "spring-sale-0412",
"User-Agent": "northwind-app/1.0",
},
method="POST",
)
with urllib.request.urlopen(req) as res:
batch = json.load(res)
print(res.status, batch["id"], batch["recipients"], batch["cost"])<?php
$ch = curl_init("https://bulksmsapi.cc/v1/batches");
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
CURLOPT_POST => true,
CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
"Authorization: Bearer " . getenv("BULKSMSAPI_KEY"),
"Content-Type: application/json",
"Idempotency-Key: spring-sale-0412",
],
CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode([
"name" => "Spring sale",
"text" => "Spring sale at Northwind: 20% off until Sunday. Opt out: northwind.example/sms",
"to" => ["+14155550123", "+447400123456", "+4915123456789"],
]),
]);
$batch = json_decode(curl_exec($ch), true);
echo $batch["id"], " ", $batch["recipients"], " ", $batch["cost"], "\n";package main
import (
"bytes"
"encoding/json"
"fmt"
"net/http"
"os"
)
func main() {
body, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]any{
"name": "Spring sale",
"text": "Spring sale at Northwind: 20% off until Sunday. Opt out: northwind.example/sms",
"to": []string{"+14155550123", "+447400123456", "+4915123456789"},
})
req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://bulksmsapi.cc/v1/batches", bytes.NewReader(body))
req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+os.Getenv("BULKSMSAPI_KEY"))
req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
req.Header.Set("Idempotency-Key", "spring-sale-0412")
res, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
defer res.Body.Close()
var batch map[string]any
json.NewDecoder(res.Body).Decode(&batch)
fmt.Println(res.StatusCode, batch["id"], batch["recipients"], batch["cost"])
}6. Receive delivery events
On the Webhooks page, add an HTTPS endpoint. Each delivered or failed message calls it with a signed JSON event; check the signature with the code on the Webhooks page and answer with any 2xx status.