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Create an SMS sender

POST
/v1/sms/senders
await bird.smsSenders.create({ type: "alpha", sender: "GOLDCREST" });
Response201
{
  "id": "snd_01krdgeqcxet5s7t44vh8rt9mg",
  "source_kind": "number",
  "sender_type": "long_code",
  "country_code": "US",
  "number_id": "nda_01krdgeqcxet5s7t44vh8rt9mg",
  "status": "active",
  "next": [
    {
      "kind": "operation"
    }
  ],
  "destinations": {
    "active": [
      "US"
    ],
    "pending": [
      "US"
    ],
    "needs_attention": [
      "US"
    ]
  }
}

Claims an alphanumeric sender string for your workspace. Country and sender-type policies determine whether registration is unavailable, optional, or required before sending.

Request Payload

type
string
required

The kind of sender to create. Only alpha (an alphanumeric sender string) is customer-creatable. Dedicated numbers become senders when you allocate them from inventory. This endpoint cannot create their senders.

Possible values: alpha

sender
string
required

The alphanumeric sender string to create, for example "BIRD". 3–11 letters, digits, spaces, dashes, underscores, or dots, at least one of them a letter, and no separator at either end.

Response Payload

id
string
required

Identifier of this sender.

sender
string
required

The value messages are sent from: a number in E.164 format, a shortcode, or an alphanumeric sender string.

source_kind
string
required

What backs an SMS sender: a dedicated number, a shared shortcode, or an alphanumeric sender string.

Possible values (may grow over time): number, shared_number, alpha

sender_type
string

The kind of sender identity this is, which decides what each destination country asks of it. It is finer than source_kind: a short code and an ordinary long code are both numbers but follow different rules.

Possible values: long_code, short_code, alphanumeric, toll_free

country_code
nullable string

The country of the number this sender sends from. Null for an alphanumeric sender.

number_id
string

The number this sender sends from, as returned in the id field of GET /v1/numbers. Present only when source_kind is number or shared_number; an alphanumeric sender has no number behind it. Exactly one sender exists per number, so this is also how you go the other way: GET /v1/sms/senders?number_id={id} returns this sender.

status
string
required

Where a sender stands on its own setup: the ownership paperwork its number owes, and the registrations it holds.

  • active: nothing this sender holds is outstanding.
  • pending_number_ownership: the paperwork proving you own this sender's number is not in place, either because it has not been supplied or because the country that issued the number has not accepted it yet. Every send from this sender is refused until it does.
  • pending_registrations: the sender holds country registrations and none is approved yet. That covers a registration under review and one that was refused, so read next for which.

This is not whether a message will be accepted. That is decided per destination country, and Get sender requirements is the only read that answers it. A sender that has registered nowhere is active, even where every country it can reach wants a registration first. Read next for where to go from here.

Possible values: active, pending_number_ownership, pending_registrations

next
array of object

What to do next about this sender, given the state it is in. Present on reads that compute it: an empty list means there is nothing to do, and the field is absent entirely on responses that do not report next actions.

This routes rather than advises. A sender only knows about itself, so where the work is per-country it names the requirements read rather than guessing which country you meant.

Show child attributes
destinations
object
required

Where this sender stands with the destinations it is set up for, grouped by whose move is next.

These are not every country the sender could reach. pending and needs_attention cover only countries you hold a registration for, so a country you could register for but have not, or one you have simply not switched on, appears in none of the three: there is nothing outstanding there. To see everything reachable and what each country would take, read Get sender requirements.

Show child attributes
destinations.active
array of string
required

Countries you can send to today: switched on in your SMS destination settings, and either asking for no registration or holding an approved one. A country counts here however it became usable, including one enabled for you automatically when your organization set its business address.

destinations.pending
array of string
required

Countries whose registration is under way and waiting on us or on a carrier. Nothing is asked of you for these; they move to active when the registration is approved.

destinations.needs_attention
array of string
required

Countries you have registered for that are not working, and so are waiting on you: the registration was refused or withdrawn, or it is approved but the destination is switched off in your SMS destination settings. While this sender's number is missing the paperwork proving you own it, every country you have registered for is listed here, because none of them can carry a message until that is settled.

created_at
string
required
updated_at
string
required

Related resources

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