Using Add-ons
Consuming Add-On data
Add-ons are easy to use. After you install an Add-on and enable it for a specific Twilio product, all you have to do is consume the Add-on’s results, which are returned as a JSON dictionary by the API specific to that product.
For some products — for example, Lookup — you are also required to specify which Add-on you’d like to use, and provide run-time data when you invoke the Twilio API. The table below summarizes how Add-ons are used and how to consume the Add-on results.
| Twilio Product | How to use an enabled Add-on | How to consume the Add-on results |
|---|---|---|
| Lookup | Use the AddOns parameter to specify the unique name of the Add-on to be invoked.Uses the format AddOns.<unique_name>.<parameter_name> to specify additional run-time data that may be required by the Add-on. |
Add-on results are contained in the add_ons parameter in the response |
| Programmable SMS | All Add-ons enabled for this product in the Console are automatically invoked for each incoming SMS. Add-ons are currently not supported for outbound SMS |
Add-on results are contained in the AddOns parameter in the Incoming SMS webhook.Result delivery is only supported on POST callbacks due to URL length constraints in GET callbacks |
| Programmable Voice - Calls | All Add-ons enabled for this product in the Console are automatically invoked for each incoming call. Add-ons are currently not supported for outbound calls |
Add-on results are contained in the AddOns parameter in the Incoming Voice TwiML callback.Result delivery is only supported on POST callbacks due to URL length constraints in GET callbacks |
| Programmable Voice - Recordings | All Add-ons enabled for this product in the Console are automatically invoked for each Recording | Availability of Add-on result is notified in the AddOns parameter in the callback to the URL specified in the Add-on Configuration Parameters |
Synchronous Add-on results
For Add-ons that are synchronous in nature, such as most Lookup, Messaging, and Incoming Voice Add-ons, results are returned to you by the relevant Twilio API. They are returned as a JSON dictionary with the following format:
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
status |
successful or fail |
code |
An error code if status is fail, else null. Add-on error codes are in the 61xxx range. See Error Reference page for details |
message |
A descriptive message that explains what went wrong, or null if status was successful |
results |
A JSON dictionary with the Add-on Unique Name as the key, and invocation results as the value |
results dictionary details
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
request_sid |
A unique identifier for a particular request made to the Add-on |
status |
successful or fail |
code |
An error code if status is fail, else null. Add-on error codes are in the 61xxx range. See Error Reference page for details |
message |
A descriptive message that explains what went wrong, or null if status was successful |
result |
Add-on specific results as a JSON object. For details about the contents of this field, refer to the Add-on specific documentation that can be found in the Add-on detail page in the Console |
Performance considerations
| Add-on Type | SLA/Latency | Size Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Phone Numbers and Message Analysis Add-ons | Because this request is returned synchronously, in the flow of an Incoming Call, Lookup or SMS delivery, performance is key. Any request taking longer than 2000ms will be failed by Twilio, an error payload will be sent, and the developer will not be billed | As a synchronous Add-on, the response for this is limited to a maximum of 64KB. Any response larger than this maximum will be failed by Twilio, an error payload will be sent, and the developer will not be billed |
Asynchronous Add-on results
For Add-ons that are asynchronous, such as all Recording Add-ons, the availability of an Add-on result is indicated by an Add-on Results Available webhook issued as a POST request POST request to the Callback URL specified in the Add-on Configuration Parameters.
Add-on Results Available callback
The Add-on Results Available webhook body contains an AddOns parameter with a JSON dictionary in the following format:
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
status |
successful or fail |
code |
An error code if status is fail, else null. Add-on error codes are in the 61xxx range. See Error Reference page for details |
message |
A descriptive message that explains what went wrong, or null if status was successful |
results |
A JSON dictionary with the Add-on Unique Name as the key, and the invocation results as the value |
results dictionary details
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
request_sid |
A unique identifier for a particular request made to the Add-on |
status |
successful or fail |
code |
An error code if status is fail, else null. Add-on error codes are in the 61xxx range. See Error Reference page for details |
message |
A descriptive message that explains what went wrong, or null if status was successful |
payload |
A list of dictionaries containing URIs for the actual results |
links |
A dictionary containing URIs for reference media, e.g., recordings, that was used to generate the results |
payload dictionary format
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
content_type |
The Mime type of the content returned by the Add-on, such as application/json or audio/wav. See the Add-on documentation for details of the content it returns |
url |
A URL at which you can access the content itself. This is the Add-on Result Payload Data as outlined in the Add-on Results API. You will need to perform an authenticated GET using your Twilio credentials to retrieve this data |
links dictionary format
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
recording |
The URL of the Recording Instance resource for the recording that generated the result |
add_on_result |
The URL of the Add-on Result instance metadata. See the Add-on Results API for details |
payloads |
The URL of the Add-on Result Payloads list metadata. See the Add-on Results API for details |
Performance considerations
| Add-on Type | SLA/Latency | Size Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Recording Analysis Add-on | Because this request is returned asynchronously, there are no hard performance requirements. These Add-ons should return in a median time of 3x audio duration and a 99% under 5x audio duration. Any request taking longer than 10x duration will be failed by Twilio, an error payload will be sent, and the developer will not be billed | As an an asynchronous Add-on, this response for this is limited to a maximum of 100MB. Any response larger than this maximum will be failed by Twilio, an error payload will be sent, and the developer will not be billed |
Results retention period
The results produced by Asynchronous Add-ons, such as Recording Add-ons, are only available for 30 days. They can be access using the Add-on Results API.
Need some help?
We all do sometimes; code is hard. Get help now from our support team, or lean on the wisdom of the crowd by visiting Twilio's Stack Overflow Collective or browsing the Twilio tag on Stack Overflow.