Programmable SMS

How to integrate with our Channels API for SMS/MMS Messaging

Summary

SMS (Short Message Service) is a messaging channel that allows businesses to communicate with customers through text messages on their mobile devices. With SMS, businesses can quickly and easily reach a large number of customers and automate their communication processes.

In addition in the United States and Canada it is also possible to send media messages through MMS (Multimedia Message Service).

Installation

To send SMS messages you will need an SMS capable number and this will need to be installed as an SMS channel. If the number is also MMS capable you will also be able to send media messages though the channel.

Checking if a channel is MMS capable

You can validate if a channel is MMS capable by the capabilities object that is returned in the GET channel request

Get channel

get

Retrieve a specific workspace channel

Authorizations

accessKey

HTTPRequired

Uses the Authorization header: 'AccessKey ' followed by your access key token (e.g., 'Authorization: AccessKey AbCdEfGhIjKlMnOpQrStUvWxYzAbCdEfGhIj')

Path parameters

workspaceIdstring · uuidRequired

The ID of the workspace

channelIdstring · uuidRequired

The ID for a channel

Responses

200

OK

application/json

404

The request did not pass validation

application/json

get

/workspaces/{workspaceId}/channels/{channelId}

HTTPcURLJavaScriptPython

GET /workspaces/{workspaceId}/channels/{channelId} HTTP/1.1
Host: api.bird.com
Authorization: AccessKey YOUR_SECRET_TOKEN
Accept: */*

{
  "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
  "platformId": "text",
  "name": "text",
  "connectorId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
  "identifier": "text",
  "status": "active",
  "contactIdentifierKeyOverride": "text",
  "contactIdentifierFormatOverride": {
    "type": "none",
    "pattern": "text"
  },
  "platformServiceUrlOverride": "text",
  "platformServiceVersionOverride": "1.0",
  "platformServiceProtocolOverride": "http",
  "platformMessageJsonSchemaOverride": {},
  "platformTemplateEngineOverride": "default",
  "capabilities": {
    "messaging": {
      "messaging": {
        "displayName": "text",
        "status": "text",
        "name": "text",
        "version": 1,
        "updatedAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
        "createdAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
        "expiresAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
        "outgoing": {
          "displayName": "text",
          "status": "text",
          "name": "text",
          "version": 1,
          "updatedAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
          "createdAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
          "expiresAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
          "mms": {
            "displayName": "text",
            "status": "text",
            "name": "text",
            "version": 1,
            "paused": true,
            "updatedAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
            "createdAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
            "expiresAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z"
          },
          "media": {
            "textFallback": {
              "displayName": "text",
              "status": "text",
              "name": "text",
              "version": 1,
              "paused": true,
              "updatedAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
              "createdAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
              "expiresAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z"
            }
          },
          "mmLite": {
            "displayName": "text",
            "status": "text",
            "name": "text",
            "version": 1,
            "paused": true,
            "updatedAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
            "createdAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
            "expiresAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z"
          }
        },
        "incoming": {
          "displayName": "text",
          "status": "text",
          "name": "text",
          "version": 1,
          "updatedAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
          "createdAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
          "expiresAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
          "mms": {
            "displayName": "text",
            "status": "text",
            "name": "text",
            "version": 1,
            "paused": true,
            "updatedAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
            "createdAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
            "expiresAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z"
          }
        }
      },
      "ANY_ADDITIONAL_PROPERTY": "anything"
    },
    "voice": {
      "voice": {
        "displayName": "text",
        "status": "text",
        "name": "text",
        "version": 1,
        "updatedAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
        "createdAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
        "expiresAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
        "recording": {
          "displayName": "text",
          "status": "text",
          "name": "text",
          "version": 1,
          "paused": true,
          "updatedAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
          "createdAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
          "expiresAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z"
        }
      },
      "ANY_ADDITIONAL_PROPERTY": "anything"
    }
  },
  "settings": [
    {
      "key": "text",
      "value": "text",
      "displayName": "text",
      "description": "text",
      "visibility": "public"
    }
  ],
  "connectionParams": [
    {
      "key": "text",
      "value": "text",
      "displayName": "text",
      "description": "text",
      "visibility": "public"
    }
  ],
  "preferences": {
    "disableProfileFetching": true,
    "explicitMarketingOptOut": true,
    "trackAdInitiatedThreads": null,
    "ignoreSuppressionChecks": true,
    "isPrivate": true,
    "disallowMmLite": true
  },
  "useCaseId": "text",
  "useCaseType": "transactional",
  "channelMessageType": "promotional",
  "suites": [
    "marketing"
  ],
  "resourceOwners": {
    "ANY_ADDITIONAL_PROPERTY": {
      "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
      "type": "user"
    }
  },
  "createdAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z",
  "updatedAt": "2025-12-14T20:02:57.597Z"
}

If the channel is MMS capable, the following capabilities will show as active (otherwise inactive)

• capabilities.messaging.outgoing.mms.status = active

• capabilities.messaging.inbound.mms.status = active