Navigators

Navigators allow you to send a message via the best of multiple channels.

Last updated 27 days ago

Navigator behaviour may vary according to the country you are sending to and the message type. You can see the preferred kind of SMS channels for each scenario here and check any existing navigator in your workspace via the Navigator TAB in the developer dashboard

Navigators support for WhatsApp and WhatsApp-> SMS fallback is available on an invite-only basis. Please contact our support team if you are interested in using it.

List Available Navigators

Get list of workspace navigators.

Get list of the navigators configured for a workspace. Navigators are used to select a channel for a message based on its content, type, recipient, etc. The type of the navigator defines how the channel will be selected.

GET/workspaces/{workspaceId}/navigators

Authorization

Path parameters

workspaceId*string (uuid)

The ID of the workspace

Query parameters

Response

Body

resultsarray of Navigator

nextPageTokenstring

The token that can be passed as pageToken in URL to retrieve the next set of results. If missing, no more results to display.

Request

const response = await fetch('/workspaces/{workspaceId}/navigators', {
    method: 'GET',
    headers: {
      "Authorization": "Bearer jwt"
    },
});
const data = await response.json();

Response

{
  "results": [
    {
      "navigatorId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
      "workspaceId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
      "name": "text",
      "type": "messaging",
      "settings": {
        "channels": [
          {
            "channelId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
          }
        ]
      },
      "createdAt": "2025-01-21T01:35:44.453Z",
      "updatedAt": "2025-01-21T01:35:44.453Z"
    }
  ],
  "nextPageToken": "text"
}

By default, each workspace will have 4 navigators.

Please contact our support team if you need a customized navigator added to your workspace. One of our support support agents will coordinate its provisioning

Marketing: The primary objective of marketing navigators is to send bulk traffic. They will only attempt delivery via PROMOTIONAL channels, adhering to strict compliance checks, including quiet hours and Opt-Out regulations.
Conversation: Conversational navigators consider only two-way CONVERSATIONAL channels, ignoring any one-way channels (such as those using Alphanumeric senders).
Transactional: The transactional navigator prioritizes high-quality routes when applying only the minimum required compline check. Transactional navigators will only send traffic from TRANSACTIONAL channels to ensure the best possible Quality of Service.
OTP: The 2FA navigator prioritizes deliverability above all. It attempts to send messages via 2FA channels first but will use TRANSACTIONAL channels if none are available, and as a last resort, it will utilize PROMOTIONAL channels.

When sending OTPs, ensure you have either 2FA or transactional channels in your workspace. OTP messages delivered through promotional channels during quiet hours may be delayed until the following day.

Inspect a Navigator

Get navigator by ID

Get the navigator by ID

GET/workspaces/{workspaceId}/navigators/{navigatorId}

Authorization

Path parameters

workspaceId*string (uuid)

The ID of the workspace

navigatorId*string (uuid)

The ID for a navigator

Response

Body

navigatorId*Id-3 (string (uuid))

The unique identifier of the navigator.

workspaceId*Id-3 (string (uuid))

The unique identifier of the navigator.

name*Name-2 (string)

The name of the navigator.

type*Type (enum)

The type of navigator defines how the navigator selects a channel for a message. * messaging - navigator configured with a pool of channels and performs channel selection based on channel availability and best originator type for a recipient country. The best originator type for a recipient country is determined by the strategy - prioritized list of originator types for each country. At this moment, the default pre-configured strategy (set of country policies) is used see https://docs.bird.com/applications/channels/channels/supported-channels/sms/concepts/choosing-the-right-sender-availability-and-restrictions-by-country

messaginguse-case-messagingotp

settings*one of

createdAt*string (date-time)

updatedAtstring (date-time)

Request

const response = await fetch('/workspaces/{workspaceId}/navigators/{navigatorId}', {
    method: 'GET',
    headers: {
      "Authorization": "Bearer jwt"
    },
});
const data = await response.json();

Response

{
  "navigatorId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
  "workspaceId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
  "name": "text",
  "type": "messaging",
  "settings": {
    "channels": [
      {
        "channelId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
      }
    ]
  },
  "createdAt": "2025-01-21T01:35:44.453Z",
  "updatedAt": "2025-01-21T01:35:44.453Z"
}

Create a Customize Navigator

If you want to limit the selection of channels a navigator can access, you can create a customized one.

Create navigator for the workspace.

Create a new navigator for the workspace.

POST/workspaces/{workspaceId}/navigators

Authorization

Path parameters

workspaceId*string (uuid)

The ID of the workspace

Body

name*Name-2 (string)

The name of the navigator.

type*TypeCreate (enum)

messaging

settings*one of

Response

Created

Body

navigatorId*Id-3 (string (uuid))

The unique identifier of the navigator.

workspaceId*Id-3 (string (uuid))

The unique identifier of the navigator.

name*Name-2 (string)

The name of the navigator.

type*Type (enum)

messaginguse-case-messagingotp

settings*one of

createdAt*string (date-time)

updatedAtstring (date-time)

Request

const response = await fetch('/workspaces/{workspaceId}/navigators', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      "Authorization": "Bearer jwt",
      "Content-Type": "application/json"
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      "name": "text",
      "type": "messaging",
      "settings": {
        "channels": [
          {}
        ]
      }
    }),
});
const data = await response.json();

Response

{
  "navigatorId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
  "workspaceId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
  "name": "text",
  "type": "messaging",
  "settings": {
    "channels": [
      {
        "channelId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
      }
    ]
  },
  "createdAt": "2025-01-21T01:35:44.453Z",
  "updatedAt": "2025-01-21T01:35:44.453Z"
}

Coverage

Navigators can access as many countries as there are channels available to them. Coverage may vary over time based on channel availability and health.

You can check a navigator coverage and the channel it will use for each country by clicking on it in the navigator set up page

Get navigator coverage by ID

Get the navigator coverage by ID configured for a workspace

GET/workspaces/{workspaceId}/navigators/{navigatorId}/coverage

Authorization

Path parameters

workspaceId*string (uuid)

The ID of the workspace

navigatorId*string (uuid)

The ID for a navigator

Response

Body

Other propertiesobject

Request

const response = await fetch('/workspaces/{workspaceId}/navigators/{navigatorId}/coverage', {
    method: 'GET',
    headers: {
      "Authorization": "Bearer jwt"
    },
});
const data = await response.json();

Response

{
  "code": "text",
  "message": "text"
}

Sending messages

A-Sync : this will start a background process that may require some time to complete. A Get call may be required to to retrieve the final result .

The Navigators POST request follows the same schema and requires the same body as the channels POST request

Send a message

Send a message to a channel using the navigator. Channel webhooks will provide status updates, so each channel the navigator uses should have webhooks configured. Data returned via webhooks will have navigator metadata, including navigator ID and navigator message ID.

POST/workspaces/{workspaceId}/navigators/{navigatorId}/messages

Authorization

Path parameters

workspaceId*string (uuid)

The ID of the workspace

navigatorId*string (uuid)

The ID for a navigator

Body

senderSender (object)

receiver*Receiver (object)

referenceReference (string)

A reference to the message. This can be used to identify the message in the channel.

Example: "my-own-identifier"

templatenullable Template (object)

templatesnullable Templates (object)

metaMeta (object)

replyToReplyTo (object)

bodyMessageBody

notificationChannelNotification

capFrequencyboolean

If set to true, the frequency capping settings of the platform will be used to either allow or reject the message to a contact. Can only be set to true if the message is sent to a contact and .meta.extraInformation.useCase is marketing.

enableLinkTrackingboolean

If set to true and message is a test/campaign message, web tracking parameters will be appended to the links in the message.

ignoreQuietHoursboolean

If set to true, quiet hours settings will be ignored and the message will be sent as soon as possible.

ignoreGlobalHoldoutboolean

Do not check if the recipient is part of global holdout. To be used to send transactional messages.

tagsTags (array of Name-3 (string))

Tags to associate with the message. Tags are converted to lower case and tags that do not exist are automatically created. You can view your created tags in the UI. You can specify up to 10 tags per message.

shortLinksnullable ShortLinks (object)

SMS link shortening options. When using templates, please refer to the template level shortLinks instead.

scheduledForScheduledFor (string (date-time))

Scheduled time to send message at. Must be formated as RFC3339 timestamp. When set, the message status will be scheduled until it's sent. Messages scheduled for a time in the past or within 10 minutes of the request may be sent immediately. Messages scheduled farther than 35 days will be rejected.

validityValidity (integer)

Validity determines for how many seconds a message is valid. If none is provided, the channel message type will be used to determine it. A promotional, conversational or transactional channel message is valid for 36 hours (129600 seconds). A message sent from a 2FA channel is valid for 10 minutes (600 seconds).

any of

Response

Message was accepted for processing

Body

id*Id-2 (string (uuid))

channelId*ChannelId (string (uuid))

sender*one of

receiver*one of

metaMeta (object)

referenceReference (string)

A reference to the message. This can be used to identify the message in the channel.

Example: "my-own-identifier"

partsParts (array of object)

status*Status-3 (enum)

acceptedrejectedprocessingscheduledsentsending_faileddelivereddelivery_faileddeletedskipped

reasonstring

directionDirection (enum)

incomingoutgoing

originnullable Origin (object)

replyToReplyTo (object)

lastStatusAt*string (date-time)

createdAt*string (date-time)

updatedAt*string (date-time)

detailsstring

This field is used to store additional information related to the message status.

failurenullable Failure (object)

tagsTags (array of Name-3 (string))

shortLinksnullable ShortLinks (object)

SMS link shortening options. When using templates, please refer to the template level shortLinks instead.

scheduledForScheduledFor (string (date-time))

any of

templatesnullable Templates (object)

navigatorDataobject

Request

const response = await fetch('/workspaces/{workspaceId}/navigators/{navigatorId}/messages', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      "Authorization": "Bearer jwt",
      "Content-Type": "application/json"
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      "receiver": {}
    }),
});
const data = await response.json();

Response

{
  "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
  "channelId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
  "sender": {
    "connector": {
      "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
      "identifierValue": "text",
      "annotations": {
        "name": "text"
      },
      "types": [
        "text"
      ]
    }
  },
  "receiver": {
    "connector": {
      "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
      "identifierValue": "text",
      "annotations": {
        "name": "text"
      },
      "types": [
        "text"
      ]
    }
  },
  "meta": {
    "referral": {
      "source": "text",
      "title": "text",
      "text": "text",
      "group": "text",
      "metadata": {
        "source_id": "text",
        "source_url": "text",
        "media_url": "text",
        "tracking_id": "text"
      }
    },
    "order": {
      "products": [
        {
          "externalCatalogId": "text",
          "externalProductId": "text",
          "quantity": 0,
          "price": {
            "amount": 0,
            "exponent": 0,
            "currencyCode": "text"
          }
        }
      ]
    },
    "referredProduct": {
      "externalCatalogId": "text",
      "externalProductId": "text"
    },
    "email": {
      "subject": "text",
      "from": {
        "username": "text",
        "displayName": "text"
      }
    },
    "pushNotifications": {
      "gatewayTypeOverride": "apns"
    },
    "navigatorId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
    "navigatorMessageId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
    "flow": {
      "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
      "name": "text",
      "stepId": "text",
      "runId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
    },
    "journey": {
      "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
      "name": "text",
      "stepId": "text",
      "runId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
    },
    "campaign": {
      "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
      "name": "text"
    }
  },
  "reference": "my-own-identifier",
  "parts": [
    {
      "platformReference": "text"
    }
  ],
  "status": "accepted",
  "reason": "text",
  "direction": "incoming",
  "origin": {
    "type": "text",
    "id": "text"
  },
  "replyTo": {
    "id": "text",
    "order": 0,
    "type": "message"
  },
  "lastStatusAt": "2025-01-21T01:35:44.453Z",
  "createdAt": "2025-01-21T01:35:44.453Z",
  "updatedAt": "2025-01-21T01:35:44.453Z",
  "details": "text",
  "failure": {
    "code": 0,
    "description": "Unsupported media type",
    "source": {
      "code": "text",
      "name": "text"
    }
  },
  "tags": [
    "text"
  ],
  "shortLinks": {
    "domain": "text"
  },
  "scheduledFor": "2025-01-21T01:35:44.453Z",
  "body": {
    "type": "text",
    "text": {
      "text": "text",
      "attachments": [
        {
          "mediaUrl": "https://example.com",
          "filename": "text",
          "inline": false
        }
      ],
      "actions": [
        {
          "type": "link",
          "link": {
            "text": "text",
            "url": "text"
          }
        }
      ],
      "metadata": {
        "subject": "text",
        "whatsapp": {
          "previewUrl": false
        },
        "line": {
          "emoji": {
            "items": [
              {
                "index": 0,
                "productId": "text",
                "emojiId": "text",
                "length": 0
              }
            ]
          }
        },
        "telegram": {
          "parseMode": "Markdown"
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "navigatorData": {
    "attempts": [
      {
        "channelId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
        "messageId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
        "platformId": "text",
        "sender": "text",
        "attempt": 0,
        "createdAt": "2025-01-21T01:35:44.453Z",
        "status": "accepted",
        "failure": {
          "code": 0,
          "description": "Unsupported media type",
          "source": {
            "code": "text",
            "name": "text"
          }
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

The navigator message will contain navigator metadata, including.

Navigator information

providing UUID relevant to both the navigator objection and the navigator message objects

    "meta": {
        "navigatorId": "5f40c7f0-5904-4d68-8840-a1a5dc3e36c3",
        "navigatorMessageId": "5ec65d4f-53b0-45f8-8f83-b177f976b3e3"
    },

Attempts

Navigator may attempt to send messages via more than one channel. attempts will list and providing information about all channels a navigator used when handling a given message

    "navigatorData": {
        "attempts": [
            {
                "channelId": "6f50cd25-d416-44d3-bf63-de88a60129d0",
                "messageId": "3ecadc0d-cf7c-4b2a-90bc-fed5a3f6a26e",
                "attempt": 1,
                "status": "accepted",
                "createdAt": "2024-07-18T14:04:18.214Z"
            }

You can get messages sent to a navigator by making a request to the channel endpoint that accepted the message based on the response above

Check Navigators Messages Status Reports

To receive status reports about messages, you will need webhook subscriptions. You can create the via UI

Configure Webhook Subscriptions

Navigators Webhooks

We recommend subscribing at least to navigator.outbound. Navigator event will provide you information about any fallback as well the status of your navigator messages.

Note: Navigator message status reflects the final outcome of all delivery attempts made by the Navigator. For example, if a WhatsApp delivery fails but the fallback via SMS succeeds, the navigator message status will be marked as "Delivered."

{"service": "channels",
  "event": "navigator.outbound",
  "payload": {
    "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-100000000000",
    "navigatorId": {navigatorI},
    "reference": "",
"attempts": [
            {
                "channelId": {channelId},
                "platformId": "rcs-google",
                "messageId": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000",
                "attempt": 1,
                "status": "sending_failed",
                "createdAt": "2024-12-24T09:52:54.524Z"
            },
            {
                "channelId": {channelId},
                "platformId": "whatsapp",
                "messageId": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001",
                "attempt": 2,
                "status": "sending_failed",
                "createdAt": "2024-12-24T09:52:54.524Z",
                "failure": {
                    "code": 12006,
                    "description": "Invalid message",
                    "source": {
                        "name": "pre-processing"
                    }
                }
            },
            {
                "channelId": {channelId},
                "platformId": "sms-messagebird",
                "messageId": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000002",
                "attempt": 3,
                "status": "delivered",
                "createdAt": "2024-12-24T09:52:54.524Z"
            }
        ],
    "status": "delivered",
    "createdAt": "2024-12-24T09:52:54.524Z",
    "updatedAt": "2024-12-24T09:52:55.855Z"
  }
}

Optional: channel Webhooks

If you are interested in diving deep on specific attempts status you can also subscribe to sms.outbound and one for whatsapp.outbound . When doing so you will be able to retrieve the navigator ID and navigator message id in the meta field.

 "meta": {
      "navigatorId": "91af46ab-70ba-5152-a611-812cad0fbd71",
      "navigatorMessageId": "defe9d3b-9cea-4585-9f67-2a4f1d93101a"
    }

Check Incoming Messages

If you've only sent SMS messages before—especially if you haven’t operated in the U.S.—you’ve likely only used a one-way channel. WhatsApp, however, is a two-way channel by design, so users may try to contact you there. When using a Navigator to send both SMS and r WhatsApp traffic, it’s essential to monitor incoming messages to avoid missing user inquiries. Ignoring users can lead to frustration and could result in them reporting your channel to Meta, potentially causing suspension.

Programmatically

You can subscribe to sms.inbound and whatsapp.inbound event to capture all incoming messages in your workspace

NOTE incoming messages will not be linked to a navigator and will nto have the navigator information in the meta field

Via UI

If you navigate to the customer service section of our side panel you can find all incoming conversations in the entry corresponding to yours SMS or WhatsApp channels.

Get message by message ID

Get a channel message

GET/workspaces/{workspaceId}/channels/{channelId}/messages/{messageId}

Authorization

Path parameters

workspaceId*string (uuid)

The ID of the workspace

messageId*string (uuid)

The ID for a message

channelId*string (uuid)

The ID for a channel

Response

Body

id*Id-2 (string (uuid))

channelId*ChannelId (string (uuid))

sender*one of

receiver*one of

metaMeta (object)

referenceReference (string)

A reference to the message. This can be used to identify the message in the channel.

Example: "my-own-identifier"

partsParts (array of object)

status*Status-3 (enum)

acceptedrejectedprocessingscheduledsentsending_faileddelivereddelivery_faileddeletedskipped

reasonstring

directionDirection (enum)

incomingoutgoing

originnullable Origin (object)

replyToReplyTo (object)

lastStatusAt*string (date-time)

createdAt*string (date-time)

updatedAt*string (date-time)

detailsstring

This field is used to store additional information related to the message status.

failurenullable Failure (object)

tagsTags (array of Name-3 (string))

shortLinksnullable ShortLinks (object)

SMS link shortening options. When using templates, please refer to the template level shortLinks instead.

scheduledForScheduledFor (string (date-time))

any of

Request

const response = await fetch('/workspaces/{workspaceId}/channels/{channelId}/messages/{messageId}', {
    method: 'GET',
    headers: {
      "Authorization": "Bearer jwt"
    },
});
const data = await response.json();

Response

{
  "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
  "channelId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
  "sender": {
    "connector": {
      "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
      "identifierValue": "text",
      "annotations": {
        "name": "text"
      },
      "types": [
        "text"
      ]
    }
  },
  "receiver": {
    "connector": {
      "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
      "identifierValue": "text",
      "annotations": {
        "name": "text"
      },
      "types": [
        "text"
      ]
    }
  },
  "meta": {
    "referral": {
      "source": "text",
      "title": "text",
      "text": "text",
      "group": "text",
      "metadata": {
        "source_id": "text",
        "source_url": "text",
        "media_url": "text",
        "tracking_id": "text"
      }
    },
    "order": {
      "products": [
        {
          "externalCatalogId": "text",
          "externalProductId": "text",
          "quantity": 0,
          "price": {
            "amount": 0,
            "exponent": 0,
            "currencyCode": "text"
          }
        }
      ]
    },
    "referredProduct": {
      "externalCatalogId": "text",
      "externalProductId": "text"
    },
    "email": {
      "subject": "text",
      "from": {
        "username": "text",
        "displayName": "text"
      }
    },
    "pushNotifications": {
      "gatewayTypeOverride": "apns"
    },
    "navigatorId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
    "navigatorMessageId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
    "flow": {
      "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
      "name": "text",
      "stepId": "text",
      "runId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
    },
    "journey": {
      "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
      "name": "text",
      "stepId": "text",
      "runId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
    },
    "campaign": {
      "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
      "name": "text"
    }
  },
  "reference": "my-own-identifier",
  "parts": [
    {
      "platformReference": "text"
    }
  ],
  "status": "accepted",
  "reason": "text",
  "direction": "incoming",
  "origin": {
    "type": "text",
    "id": "text"
  },
  "replyTo": {
    "id": "text",
    "order": 0,
    "type": "message"
  },
  "lastStatusAt": "2025-01-21T01:35:44.453Z",
  "createdAt": "2025-01-21T01:35:44.453Z",
  "updatedAt": "2025-01-21T01:35:44.453Z",
  "details": "text",
  "failure": {
    "code": 0,
    "description": "Unsupported media type",
    "source": {
      "code": "text",
      "name": "text"
    }
  },
  "tags": [
    "text"
  ],
  "shortLinks": {
    "domain": "text"
  },
  "scheduledFor": "2025-01-21T01:35:44.453Z",
  "body": {
    "type": "text",
    "text": {
      "text": "text",
      "attachments": [
        {
          "mediaUrl": "https://example.com",
          "filename": "text",
          "inline": false
        }
      ],
      "actions": [
        {
          "type": "link",
          "link": {
            "text": "text",
            "url": "text"
          }
        }
      ],
      "metadata": {
        "subject": "text",
        "whatsapp": {
          "previewUrl": false
        },
        "line": {
          "emoji": {
            "items": [
              {
                "index": 0,
                "productId": "text",
                "emojiId": "text",
                "length": 0
              }
            ]
          }
        },
        "telegram": {
          "parseMode": "Markdown"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Update a Navigator

Update a navigator by ID

PATCH/workspaces/{workspaceId}/navigators/{navigatorId}

Authorization

Path parameters

workspaceId*string (uuid)

The ID of the workspace

navigatorId*string (uuid)

The ID for a navigator

Body

name*Name-2 (string)

The name of the navigator.

type*Type (enum)

messaginguse-case-messagingotp

settingsone of

Response

Request

const response = await fetch('/workspaces/{workspaceId}/navigators/{navigatorId}', {
    method: 'PATCH',
    headers: {
      "Authorization": "Bearer jwt",
      "Content-Type": "application/json"
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      "name": "text",
      "type": "messaging"
    }),
});
const data = await response.json();

Response

{
  "code": "text",
  "message": "text"
}

Delete a Navigator

Delete navigator by ID

Delete the navigator by ID

DELETE/workspaces/{workspaceId}/navigators/{navigatorId}

Authorization

Path parameters

workspaceId*string (uuid)

The ID of the workspace

navigatorId*string (uuid)

The ID for a navigator

Response

Request

const response = await fetch('/workspaces/{workspaceId}/navigators/{navigatorId}', {
    method: 'DELETE',
    headers: {
      "Authorization": "Bearer jwt"
    },
});
const data = await response.json();

Response

{
  "code": "text",
  "message": "text"
}

Check Logs & Insight

You can check SMS and Log insight separately via the relevant SMS and WhatsApp tabs in our developer view, you can also use the dedicated Navigator logs, which does allow the tracking of attempts and fallbacks