SMS

External users can communicate with your Rocket.Chat workspace through SMS. This integration extends Rocket.Chat's Omnichannel capabilities. This is helpful for customers to contact your support team via SMS.

It offers the ability to configure SMS integration with several providers. However, this guide is focused on Twilio using Twilio Programmable Messaging API.

You are required to have your workspace available on a public URL.

Twilio Programmable Messaging Configuration

To relay SMS, you need to get a Twilio number and create a messaging service.

• Sign up or log in to your Twilio account.

• From your Twilio console, navigate to Messaging > Try it out > Get Set Up.

• Click Start setup, and follow the prompts to configure a Twilio messaging service.

• Fill in the service name and hit Create Messaging Service.

• Twilio will automatically provision a number for you, so click Provision and add this number.

With the configuration complete, you can send an SMS to ensure the number works.

Twilio SMS and Rocket.Chat Webhook

After configuring your Twilio number for messaging, the next step is to link it to Rocket.Chat through an Omnichannel webhook endpoint.

• From your Twilio console, navigate to Phone Numbers > Manage > Active numbers. You will see your Twilio provisioned number and the messaging service it is linked to

• Click on the number to open its configuration page.

• Navigate to Messaging Configuration. Update the Webhook URL value for "A message comes in" with the URL of your publicly available Rocket.Chat workspace in this format https://<SERVER_URL>/api/v1/livechat/sms-incoming/twilio . Then, click Save.

Ensure the action type selected above is Webhook and the method is HTTP POST.

Rocket.Chat Twilio SMS Setting

To connect your Twilio Programmable Messaging number to your Rocket.Chat workspace,

• Navigate to Administration > Workspace > Settings > SMS on your workspace.

• Enable it and select Twilio as the service.

• Update the Account SID and Account Token from the T Twilio console in the Twilio tab. Click Save Changes.

Test Rocket.Chat SMS Messaging

We have configured a Twilio Programmable Messaging number and linked it with Rocket.Chat through a webhook.

To test the two-way communication between Rocket.Chat and SMS,

• Open any SMS messaging app on your phone and send a message to your Twilio active number.
• The message is received on your Rocket.Chat workspace and available for any Omnichannel Agent to continue the conversation.
• Similarly, when a reply is sent from Rocket.Chat, the sender receives it via SMS.

The green message icon on the side identifies external SMS messages sent to an Omnichannel department.