Twilio Exit API

If you already have an integration using the Twilio SMS API to send and receive SMS messages (basic send and receive only), you can use this guide to start sending your SMS messages through Bird without having to rewrite your API integration.

The Bird Twilio Exit API allows you to send SMS messages through Bird's Engagement Platform, using your existing Twilio Integration. It acts as an adapter that translates the requests and responses from the Twilio format to Bird format and vice versa.

How does it work?

Your Twilio integration will send the request using the Twilio API format to the Bird Twilio Exit API. Our API will accept the Twilio formatted request, translate it to Bird's format, process the message, and then translate our response to the Twilio API response format you're expecting, ta-da! You don't have to rewrite all of your integration to start sending messages via Bird.

Setup the integration

Setup your Bird Engagement Platform account
Install an SMS channel
Copy your main keys
Update your Twilio integration URL and keys
Setup your Webhook to receive events and incoming messages

Setup your Bird account

Install an SMS channel

You will need to install an SMS channel on a working phone number, follow this guide on how to install an SMS channel.

Copy your main keys

You will need:

Your workspace ID (click Edit workspace to see your ID)
Access key
The phone number of the SMS channel you're sending messages from

Update your Twilio Integration

Now that you have all the keys you need, you will need to do minimal change to your existing Twilio integration.

Update the domain name from https://api.twilio.com to one of the following domains:
- EU (for Europe region): https://eu-west-1.twilio.to.api.bird.com
- US (for US region): https://us-west-1.twilio.to.api.bird.com
Update your AccountSid to use your Bird WorkspaceID
- To change your WorkspaceID into a AccountSid, simply remove all the dashes and prefix it with AC
  eg: e5181997-2c83-4a0d-959a-612248ff5a19 → ACe51819972c834a0d959a612248ff5a19
Update your Token to use your Bird AccessKey
Update the “From” number to the phone number you used to setup the SMS channel on our end

That's it! You're ready to start sending SMS messages via Bird.

If you are using one of Twilio's SDKs we also advise you to go through the following guides for additional tips:

Setup a Webhook subscription

Setting up a webhook subscription can currently be done via the API using the following endpoint:

Set up a webhook subscription

POST/organizations/{organization_id}/workspaces/{workspace_id}/webhook-subscription

Path parameters

organization_id*string

The ID of the organization

workspace_id*string

The ID of the workspace

Body

servicestring

eventstring

eventFiltersarray of object

templatestring

urlstring

signingKeystring

Response

Successful response

Request

Here is an example of such a request

{
    "service": "channels",
    "event": "sms.inbound",
    "eventFilters": [{
        "key": "channelId",
        "value": "{{channel_id}}"
    }],
    "template": "twilio",
    "url": "https://your.site/webhook/url",
    "signingKey": "your-secret-signing-key"
}

Unlike Twilio, Bird does not sign webhooks with your AccessKey/ApiToken. Instead, webhooks are signed using the SigningKey specified during your webhook subscription.

Make sure you keep your SigningKey safe, as it's used to verify the authenticity of the webhook requests.

Full webhooks API documentation can be found here.

Setup a Webhook subscription to receive incoming messages

Setting up a webhook subscription is an optional step, and is only needed if you need to receive inbound messages (2-way messaging use case). Much like Twilio, Bird's webhooks are set up by channel instance. So, for SMS, webhooks are set up by number.

To receive webhooks for incoming SMS messages on your SMS channel, you need to set up a webhook subscription by using the above request. For incoming messages, set the event to sms.inbound. You can choose to receive this webhook in the twilio format by setting the template parameter to twilio.

Setup webhook subscription for status reports for outbound messages

You can also set up webhooks for status reports for outbound messages by using the sms.outbound event. This is required to make webhooks work for outbound messages, since we need a singing key to sign the request.

When you use StatusCallback to subscribe to webhooks for outgoing messages, this URL overwrites the default URL set in the above request and sets the template to use the twilio template, regardless of the subscription settings.

Bird also employs a more secure way of signing requests. When using the twilio template, we will sign our requests in two ways: the Twilio method, using the Twilio header, and the Bird method, with the Bird header.

Twilio Exit API Explained

Our Twilio Exit API translates requests using the Twilio format to the Bird format, before sending it to the Bird API. And on receiving a response form our API, it translates it back into the Twilio format. This section explains which endpoints are supported and how we translate and map fields between both APIs.

Endpoints

Currently, the Twilio Exit API is limited to sending SMS messages exclusively through your Twilio Integration. The supported endpoints are:

Operation

Endpoint

Send message

POST /2010-04-01/Accounts/{{workspaceID}}/Messages.json

Fetch message

GET /2010-04-01/Accounts/{{workspaceID}}/Messages/{{messageID}}.json

Delete message

DELETE /2010-04-01/Accounts/{{workspaceID}}/Messages/{{messageID}}.json

List messages

GET /2010-04-01/Accounts/{{workspaceID}}/Messages.json

Message response

The message object's response resembles Twilio's, though some fields may be empty. Below is an example of our responses:

JSON field

Status

Bird field

Example

body

🟢 Supported

body.text.text

"body": "Hello World!"

direction

🟢 Supported

direction

"direction": "outbound-api"

from

🟢 Supported

sender.connector.identifierValue

"from": "+1234567890"

date_updated

🟢 Supported

updatedAt

"date_updated": "Fri, 18 Aug 2023 09:13:21 +0000"

uri

🟢 Supported

"uri": "/2010-04-01/Accounts/{account_sid}/Messages/{message_sid}.json"

account_sid

🟢 Supported

"account_sid":"ACe22001f4705b4f97b58b897891f60000"

to

🟢 Supported

receiver.contacts.

identifierValue

"to":"+31623456789"

It is possible to send to more than 1 recipient in Bird. We will always return the first recipient.

date_created

🟢 Supported

createdAt

"date_created": "Fri, 18 Aug 2023 09:13:21 +0000"

status

🟢 Supported

status

"status": "queued"

"status": "delivered"

sid

🟢 Supported

id

"sid": "SM2c315abb9c2f418ea6b0d5bedc530000"

api_version

🟢 Supported

"api_version": "2010-04-01"

subresource_uris

🟢 Supported

"subresource_uris": {"media": "....."}

subresource_uris.media

🟡 Returned but not supported

"media": "/2010-04-

01/Accounts/ACe22001f4705b4f97b58b897891f60000/Messages/S

M2c315abb9c2f418ea6b0d5bedc530000/Media.json"

subresource_uris.feedback

🟡 Not returned

num_media

🟡 Always "0" for SMS

"num_media": "0"

SMS has no media

messaging_service_sid

🟡 Always null

"messaging_

service_sid": null

price

🔴 Always null

"price": null

price_unit

🔴 Always ""

"price_unit": ""

error_code

🔴 Always null

"error_code": null

error_message

🔴 Always null

"error_message": null

num_segments

🔴 Always "1"

"num_segments": "1"

date_sent

🔴 Always null

"date_sent": null

Create message

Form field

Status

AccountSid (Path)

🟢 Use your Bird WorkspaceID

From (Required)

🟢 Supported. Must be the number of an active SMS channel in Bird.

To (Required)

🟢 Supported

Body (Optional)

🟢 Supported

StatusCallback (Optional)

🟢 Supported

ProvideFeedback (Optional)

🟡 Ignored

Attempt (Optional)

🟡 Ignored

SmartEncoded (Optional)

🟠 Always true, returns error if false

ShortenUrls (Optional)

🟠 Always true, returns error if false

SendAsMms (Optional)

🟠 Always true, returns error if false

ApplicationSid (Optional)

🔴 Returns error if used

MaxPrice (Optional)

🔴 Returns error if used

ValidityPeriod (Optional)

🔴 Returns error if used

ForceDelivery (Optional)

🔴 Returns error if used

ContentRetention (Optional)

🔴 Returns error if used

AddressRetention (Optional)

🔴 Returns error if used

PersistentAction (Optional)

🔴 Returns error if used

ScheduleType (Optional)

🔴 Returns error if used

SendAt (Optional)

🔴 Returns error if used

ContentVariables (Optional)

🔴 Returns error if used

RiskCheck (Optional)

🔴 Returns error if used

MessagingServiceSid (Optional)

🔴 Returns error if used

MediaUrl (Optional)

🔴 Returns error if used

ContentSid (Optional)

🔴 Returns error if used

Response

See message response.

List messages

Request

Filtering messages can be done using the following query string parameters:

Query parameter

Status

AccountSid (Path)

🟢 Use your Bird WorkspaceID

Page (Optional)

🟢 Supported

PageSize (Optional)

🟡 Supported, but with a maximum of 100

PageToken (Optional)

🟡 Supported, but not a UUID Twilio example: PASMd37199c9492c41d6aba793e6420f70df Adapter example: WyJ3b3Jrc3BhY2UjNjViNzU1ZTItNGRmNS00MTE0LTg3NWItNmZmY2Y5NzllNDk2I21lc3NhZ2VzI2VlOThhMTZlLTMyNDEtNDhkMy04Y2Q1LTg5OTBlMmM2OTkwMSIsIm1lc3NhZ2UiLCJjaGFubmVsIzVlNzg3ZGQxLWQzNjEtNDU3Ni1hY2MwLTNiOWUxMTRmMWY4OCNtZXNzYWdlcyIsIm1lc3NhZ2UjMTY5MjExODg4ODQ0NCNlZTk4YTE2ZS0zMjQxLTQ4ZDMtOGNkNS04OTkwZTJjNjk5MDEiXQ==

From (Optional)

🟠 Required parameter

To (Optional)

🔴 Returns error if used

DateSent (Optional )

🔴 Returns error if used

Response

JSON response

Channels field

page

🟢 Supported

page_size

🟢 Supported

start

🟢 Supported

end

🟢 Supported

first_page_url

🟢 Supported

previous_page_url

🟠 Always null

url

🟢 Supported

next_page_url

🟢 Supported

messages

🟢 Supported: See message response

Webhooks

Request for outgoing messages:

Key

Description

AccountSid

🟢 Supported

SmsSid

🟢 Supported

MessageSid

🟢 Supported

SmsStatus

🟢 Supported

MessageStatus

🟢 Supported

To

🟢 Supported

From

🟢 Supported

ApiVersion

🟢 Supported

RawDlrDoneDate

🔴 Not set

Request for incoming messages:

Key

Description

AccountSid

🟢 Supported

SmsSid

🟢 Supported

SmsMessageSid

🟢 Supported

MessageSid

🟢 Supported

SmsStatus

🟢 Supported

Body

🟢 Supported

From

🟢 Supported

To

🟢 Supported

ApiVersion

🟢 Supported

NumMedia

🟠 Always "0"

NumSegments

🟠 Always "1"

ToCountry

🟠 Always ""

ToState

🟠 Always ""

ToZip

🟠 Always ""

FromCountry

🟠 Always ""

FromState

🟠 Always ""

FromCity

🟠 Always ""

FromZip

🟠 Always ""

Last updated 10 months ago