Create an SMS sender

POST

/v1/sms/senders

await bird.smsSenders.create({ type: "alpha", sender: "GOLDCREST" });

client.sms_senders.create(type="alpha", sender="GOLDCREST")

result, err := client.SmsSenders.Create(ctx, bird.SmsSendersCreateParams{Type: "alpha", Sender: "GOLDCREST"})
if err != nil {
	log.Fatal(err)
}
fmt.Println(result)

$bird->smsSenders->create((new \MessageBird\Wire\Model\SMSSenderCreate())->setType('alpha')->setSender('GOLDCREST'));

bird sms senders create --sender BIRD --type alpha

curl -X POST "https://us1.platform.bird.com/v1/sms/senders" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "type": "alpha",
    "sender": "BIRD"
  }'

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

next.kind

string

required

What you do about this step.

operation: call the operation named in operation, then read again.
external: act somewhere this API does not reach, then read again.
wait: nothing is asked of you, so read again later.
terminal: nothing you do resolves this, so stop retrying.

Tolerate a value you do not recognize: show the description and offer no action.

Possible values (may grow over time): operation, external, wait, terminal

next.description

string

required

A short, human-readable label for the step, suitable for display.

next.operation

string

The operationId to call. Present only when kind is operation. The operation's own schema says how to call it; this says only which one, and what to address it with.

next.params

object

The parameters that address the operation, by name: {"sender_id": "…"} for an operation on /v1/sms/senders/{sender_id}/requirements. A parameter the operation takes in its query string is given the same way, so an operation addressed as ?subject_id= carries {"subject_id": "…"}. Every parameter the call needs is here, whether its value came from the thing you were acting on or is fixed for this step, so you can make the call from this object alone. Present only when kind is operation and the operation names a subject. A request body, when the operation takes one, is described by the operation's own schema and never appears here.

next.url

string

A URL to open. Present only when kind is external, and only when the step has one. An external step whose description says to go and do something with no URL to open is normal.

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

created_at

string

required

updated_at

string

required

Continue with the documentation, guides and examples for this topic.

Get an implementation brief

await bird.smsSenders.create({ type: "alpha", sender: "GOLDCREST" });

client.sms_senders.create(type="alpha", sender="GOLDCREST")

result, err := client.SmsSenders.Create(ctx, bird.SmsSendersCreateParams{Type: "alpha", Sender: "GOLDCREST"})
if err != nil {
	log.Fatal(err)
}
fmt.Println(result)

$bird->smsSenders->create((new \MessageBird\Wire\Model\SMSSenderCreate())->setType('alpha')->setSender('GOLDCREST'));

bird sms senders create --sender BIRD --type alpha

curl -X POST "https://us1.platform.bird.com/v1/sms/senders" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "type": "alpha",
    "sender": "BIRD"
  }'

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"
    ]
  }
}

Create an SMS sender

Request Payload

Response Payload

Related resources