SMS API

MessageBird’s SMS API allows you to send and receive SMS messages to and from any country in the world through a REST API. Each message is identified by a unique random ID so that users can always check the status of a message using the given endpoint.

The SMS API uses HTTP verbs and a RESTful endpoint structure with an access key that is used as the API Authorization. Request and response payloads are formatted as JSON using UTF-8 encoding and URL encoded values.

https://rest.messagebird.com/messages

POST /messages
GET /messages
GET /messages/{messageId}
DELETE /messages/{messageId}

curl -X GET https://rest.messagebird.com/balance \
  -H 'Authorization: AccessKey test_gshuPaZoeEG6ovbc8M79w0QyM'

curl -X GET https://rest.messagebird.com/balance?access_key=test_gshuPaZoeEG6ovbc8M79w0QyM

The message object

This is an object representing an SMS message at MessageBird.com.

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Description
id	string	A unique random ID which is created on the MessageBird platform and is returned upon creation of the object.
href	string	The URL of the created object.
direction	string	Tells you if the message is sent or received. mt: mobile terminated (sent to mobile) mo: mobile originated (received from mobile)
type	string	The type of message. Values can be: sms, binary, or flash
originator	string	The sender of the message. This can be a telephone number (including country code) or an alphanumeric string. In case of an alphanumeric string, the maximum length is 11 characters. You can set a default originator in your account or use inbox to use the Sticky VMN feature.
body	string	The body of the SMS message.
reference	string	A client reference.
reportUrl	string	The status report URL to be used on a per-message basis. reference is required for a status report webhook to be sent.
validity	integer	The amount of seconds that the message is valid. If a message is not delivered within this time, the message will be discarded.
gateway	integer	The SMS route that is used to send the message.
typeDetails	hash	A hash with extra information. Further explanation in the table below.
datacoding	string	The datacoding used, defaults to plain (GSM 03.38 characters only), or it can be set to unicode (contains non-GSM 03.38 characters) or set to auto and we will set unicode or plain depending on the body content. Note: Using unicode will limit the maximum number of characters to 70 instead of 160. If message character size exceeds the limit, messages will be concatenated, resulting in separately billed messages. See this article for more information.
mclass	integer	Indicated the message type. 1 is a normal message, 0 is a flash message. (0-3 are valid values)
scheduledDatetime	datetime	The scheduled date and time of the message in RFC3339 format (Y-m-d\TH:i:sP)
createdDatetime	datetime	The date and time of the creation of the message in RFC3339 format (Y-m-d\TH:i:sP)
recipients	hash	The hash with recipient information. Further explanation in the table below.

Message Object Example (SMS)

{
  "id":"e8077d803532c0b5937c639b60216938",
  "href":"https://rest.messagebird.com/messages/e8077d803532c0b5937c639b60216938",
  "direction":"mt",
  "type":"sms",
  "originator":"MessageBird",
  "body":"The message to be sent",
  "reference":"the-client-reference",
  "validity":null,
  "gateway":240,
  "typeDetails":{
  },
  "datacoding":"plain",
  "mclass":1,
  "scheduledDatetime":null,
  "createdDatetime":"2016-04-29T09:42:26+00:00",
  "recipients":{
    "totalCount":1,
    "totalSentCount":1,
    "totalDeliveredCount":0,
    "totalDeliveryFailedCount":0,
    "items":[
      {
        "recipient":31612345678,
        "status":"sent",
        "statusDatetime":"2016-04-29T09:42:26+00:00"
      }
    ]
  }
}

{
  "id":"98154fa03532c2c3fc7b341b46487018",
  "href":"https://rest.messagebird.com/messages/98154fa03532c2c3fc7b341b46487018",
  "direction":"mt",
  "type":"binary",
  "originator":"MessageBird",
  "body":"546865206d65737361676520746f2062652073656e74",
  "reference":null,
  "validity":null,
  "gateway":240,
  "typeDetails":{
    "udh":"050003340201"
  },
  "datacoding":"plain",
  "mclass":1,
  "scheduledDatetime":null,
  "createdDatetime":"2016-04-29T09:42:26+00:00",
  "recipients":{
    "totalCount":2,
    "totalSentCount":1,
    "totalDeliveredCount":1,
    "totalDeliveryFailedCount":0,
    "items":[
      {
        "recipient":31612345678,
        "status":"sent",
        "statusDatetime":"2016-04-29T09:42:26+00:00"
      },
      {
        "recipient":31612345679,
        "status":"delivered",
        "statusDatetime":"2016-04-29T09:42:26+00:00"
      }
    ]
  }
}

---

Send outbound SMS

MessageBird's Programmable SMS API enables you to programmatically send SMS messages from your web application.

First, you need to create a new message object. MessageBird returns the created message object with each request. A maximum of 50 recipients can be entered per request.

Send your first SMS message with this example request.

Sticky VMN

Sticky VMN's ensure that the same Sender phone number is selected each time a specific recipient receives an SMS from your web application.

Sticky VMN's are only available in the US, Canada, Netherlands and United Kingdom. As there are no capacity limits in other countries, you won't need multiple VMNs. Learn more about specific country restrictions.

Whether you are using a pool of dedicated VMNs or MessageBird's shared VMN pool, it is best practice to ensure that your recipients always receive your SMS messages from the same VMN as a sender.

MessageBird's Sticky-VMN-as-a-Sender service makes this configuration possible. Simply use inbox as the originator when sending SMS messages to the MessageBird SMS API.

This will trigger our system to select a random VMN (dedicated or shared - depending on what’s available) for the first SMS message and ensure that the selected VMN be reused for all following SMS messages.

Required parameters

attribute	type	description	required
originator	string	The sender of the message. This can be a telephone number (including country code) or an alphanumeric string. In case of an alphanumeric string, the maximum length is 11 characters.	Yes
body	string	The body of the SMS message.	Yes
recipients	array	An array of recipients msisdns.	Yes

Optional parameters

attribute	type	description	required
groupIds	array	An array of group id's. If provided recipients can be omitted.	No
type	string	The type of message. Values can be: sms, binary, or flash.	No
reference	string	A client reference.	No
reportUrl	string	The status report URL to be used on a per-message basis. reference is required for a status report webhook to be sent.	No
validity	integer	The amount of seconds that the message is valid. If a message is not delivered within this time, the message will be discarded.	No
gateway	integer	The SMS route that is used to send the message.	No
typeDetails	hash	A hash with extra information. Is only used when a binary message is sent.	No
datacoding	string	The datacoding used can be plain (GSM 03.38 characters only), unicode (contains non-GSM 03.38 characters) or auto, we will then set unicode or plain depending on the body content. Note: Using unicode will limit the maximum number of characters to 70 instead of 160. If message character size exceeds the limit, messages will be concatenated, resulting in separately billed messages. See this article for more information.	No
mclass	integrer	Indicated the message type. 1 is a normal message, 0 is a flash message. (0-3 are valid values)	No
scheduledDatetime	datetime	The scheduled date and time of the message in RFC3339 format (Y-m-d\TH:i:sP)	No
createdDatetime	datetime	The date and time of the creation of the message in RFC3339 format (Y-m-d\TH:i:sP)	No

Definition

POST https://rest.messagebird.com/messages

Example Request

curl -X POST https://rest.messagebird.com/messages \
  -H 'Authorization: AccessKey test_gshuPaZoeEG6ovbc8M79w0QyM' \
  -d "recipients=31612345678" \
  -d "originator=YourName" \
  -d "body=This is a test message"

Do note that values are not automatically urlencoded with the above example. Use --data-urlencode if you want to urlencode the values.

Example Response

{
  "id":"e8077d803532c0b5937c639b60216938",
  "href":"https://rest.messagebird.com/messages/e8077d803532c0b5937c639b60216938",
  "direction":"mt",
  "type":"sms",
  "originator":"YourName",
  "body":"This is a test message",
  "reference":null,
  "validity":null,
  "gateway":null,
  "typeDetails":{},
  "datacoding":"plain",
  "mclass":1,
  "scheduledDatetime":null,
  "createdDatetime":"2016-05-03T14:26:57+00:00",
  "recipients":{
    "totalCount":1,
    "totalSentCount":1,
    "totalDeliveredCount":0,
    "totalDeliveryFailedCount":0,
    "items":[
      {
        "recipient":31612345678,
        "status":"sent",
        "statusDatetime":"2016-05-03T14:26:57+00:00"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Receive and handle inbound SMS

On a virtual mobile number (VMN)

Inbound SMS messages from a Virtual Mobile Number (VMN) are received through a configured callback URL (configurable per VMN). The message attributes are sent through a POST request by default but the method can be configured per VMN.

Attributes

GET http://your-own.url/script?id=e8077d803532c0b5937c639b60216938&recipient=31642500190&originator=31612345678&body=This+is+an+incoming+message&createdDatetime=2016-05-03T14%3A26%3A57%2B00%3A00

200 OK

On a shortcode

Inbound SMS messages from an end user to - a (sub)keyword at - a shortcode are received through a configured callback URL (configurable per keyword/shortcode). The message attributes are sent through a GET request by default but the method can be configured per keyword.

Attributes

GET http://your-own.url/script?mid=123456789&shortcode=1008&keyword=MESSAGEBIRD&originator=31612345678&operator=20401&message=This+is+an+incoming+message&receive_datetime=20160503142657

200 OK

GET https://rest.messagebird.com/messages/{messageId}

curl -X GET https://rest.messagebird.com/messages/211e6280453ba746e8eeff7b12582146 \
  -H 'Authorization: AccessKey test_gshuPaZoeEG6ovbc8M79w0QyM'

{
  "id":"e8077d803532c0b5937c639b60216938",
  "href":"https://rest.messagebird.com/messages/e8077d803532c0b5937c639b60216938",
  "direction":"mt",
  "type":"sms",
  "originator":"YourName",
  "body":"This is a test message",
  "reference":null,
  "validity":null,
  "gateway":null,
  "typeDetails":{},
  "datacoding":"plain",
  "mclass":1,
  "scheduledDatetime":null,
  "createdDatetime":"2016-05-03T14:26:57+00:00",
  "recipients":{
    "totalCount":1,
    "totalSentCount":1,
    "totalDeliveredCount":0,
    "totalDeliveryFailedCount":0,
    "items":[
      {
        "recipient":31612345678,
        "status":"sent",
        "statusDatetime":"2016-05-03T14:26:57+00:00"
      }
    ]
  }
}

https://rest.messagebird.com/messages

Filters

Besides listing all SMS messages, the MessageBird SMS API also provides some filters that can be used as query parameters:

https://rest.messagebird.com/messages?status=scheduled

GET http://your-own.url/script?id=e8077d803532c0b5937c639b60216938&reference=YouReference123&recipient=31612345678&status=delivered&statusDatetime=2016-05-03T08%3A58%3A10%2B00%3A00

Handle a status report

Status reports are requests that are sent to your platform through a GET request. The requests hold information about the status of a message that you have sent through our API. Status reports are only provided for SMS messages that have a reference and accounts that have configured their status report url.

Attributes

GET http://your-own.url/script?id=efa6405d518d4c0c88cce11f7db775fb&reference=the-customers-reference&recipient=31612345678&status=delivered&statusDatetime=2017-09-01T10:00:05+00:00

200 OK

SMPP

The SMPP documentation describes everything you need to know about the MessageBird SMPP server. Keep in mind that it's important for you to already have a basic understanding of the SMPP protocol and to know how to set up your own SMPP client software.

The SMPP servers

Server list

MessageBird has multiple SMPP servers for you to connect to. Each SMPP server offers the ability to connect to it via the regular (plaintext) method, a TLS1.0, or better connection.

Here is an overview of the available servers:

Username and password

Your account manager at MessageBird will give you a username (system_id) and password. If you haven’t received them yet or you still need to make the request, simply send us an email to support@messagebird.com; we'll be happy to help you out.

Bindings and throughput

Whenever an SMPP account has been set up for you, you’ll receive the maximum amount of binds and throughput. In most cases, these values will be something like 3 binds and 50 messages per second.

It might be interesting to note that these values are enforced on a per-server basis. That means that given the above example, you can set up 9 binds in total with a throughput of 150 messages per second when you connect to all servers.

Keep in mind that for maintenance purposes we only guarantee either that one server is up at any given time, so we advise you to connect to all of them.

Bindings and relaying

MessageBird’s message relaying system is connection and server agnostic, so when you send an MT via a submit_sm PDU on connection A, you might receive the matching DLR in the form of a deliver_sm on connection B if both connections are bound with the same username.

This is even true for connections made to different servers, so this scenario is also possible if connection A is made to the smpp01 server and connection B to the smpp02 server.

Security

If you connect to either server via a TLS connection, make sure to select TCP port 2776. Also be aware that the servers only accept an SSLv3 handshake method, so the old (legacy) SSLv2 handshake won’t work, even though your crypto stick plans to negotiate to use TLS1.0 or better.

Supported PDUs

The MessageBird SMPP servers support the following list of PDU types:

bind PDU

An SMPP bind_receiver, bind_transceiver, or bind_transmitter PDU request has a fixed set of fields. Most fields are irrelevant to us; actually, we only read the system_id, password, and interface_version fields and the rest is ignored.

interface_version

The MessageBird SMPP server supports SMPP protocol version 3.3, 3.4, and 5.0. Keep in mind that if you set your SMPP client to talk version 3.3 you are missing out on some features, most notably TLV information in the deliver_sm PDUs you receive.

submit_sm PDU

You can use the submit_sm PDU to send us your MT messages. Like a bind request, the submit_sm PDU request also has a couple of fields that are unused by our platform and can safely be ignored.

data_coding

The values for the data_coding field are not solidly declared in the SMPP spec, so each SMPP server is more or less required to give its own definition. Below is a list of data codings that we accept as input. Keep in mind that only the values of 0, 2 and 8 are used as-is, other values will be converted to the most appropriate encoding out of 0, 2 and 8 to ensure acceptance of your messages by the operators.

deliver_sm PDU

MOs and DLRs will be sent to you via a deliver_sm PDU. The fields are exactly the same as a submit_sm PDU, but there will be differences in which fields you are free to ignore, and which you are not.

data_coding

The values here are the same as in section submit_sm.

tlvs

DLR messages which are sent to you as a deliver_sm may contain TLVs that you might be interested in. The following TLVs are supported as of the writing of this document:

TLVs marked with * are custom MessageBird SMPP tags.

short_message

id:xxxxxxxx-xxxx-4xxx-yxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx sub:001 dlvrd:NNN submit date:YYMMDDHHMMSS done date:YYMMDDHHMMSS stat:STATUS err:NNN text:

id:fecf8e26-eb1d-46e7-5bdf-e509c058f7b7 sub:001 dlvrd:001 submit date:141029064451 done date:141029064502 stat:DELIVRD err:000 text: