# Texts come back. So handle them.

Every message someone sends to your provisioned number arrives as an HMAC-signed webhook. Read the text, reply from the same number, and let Bird handle STOP and HELP for you. Build conversational flows and auto-replies on the API you already send with.

## Inbound is just another webhook.

Two-way is part of the Bird SMS API. When someone texts your number, you get an sms.received event on the same signed, replay-protected endpoint that already carries your delivery receipts. There's no second integration and no polling — verify the signature once and switch on the type.

## A signed inbound message, in full.

Here's what an sms.received event looks like on the wire. The from is whoever texted you, the to is your provisioned number, and segments and encoding are reported the same way they are on a send, so a long inbound reply is never a surprise.

## Reply from the same number.

A reply is a send with from and to swapped. Set from to your number and to to the original sender, and the conversation stays on one number, so the recipient sees a thread instead of a new sender each time. Build auto-replies, confirmations, or a full conversational flow on top.

## STOP, HELP, and START are handled for you.

Bird recognizes the reserved keywords before they reach your handler: STOP adds the sender to your suppression list and fires sms.opted_out, HELP returns an automatic help reply, and START opts them back in. Later sends to a suppressed number are blocked automatically. You can still keep your own keywords for YES, BOOK, or anything your flow needs. The full keyword and opt-out rules live in opt-out handling.

## Two things you'll want next.

Inbound needs a two-way-capable number — long codes, short codes, and toll-free can receive, alphanumeric sender IDs can't. For richer back-and-forth on the same handset (typing indicators, read receipts, carousels), RCS upgrades the conversation where the device supports it.

## Go deeper in the docs.

Wire up webhooks for inbound events, read the error reference for the failures you'll handle, and check abuse and compliance for the keyword and consent rules.

## Send and receive on one number, one API.

Two-way inbound is one capability of the Bird SMS API: sending, numbers, compliance, routing, and analytics ship with it, on infrastructure we've run for a decade.