Programmable Chat REST API
Programmable Chat has been deprecated and is no longer supported. Instead, we'll be focusing on the next generation of chat: Twilio Conversations. Find out more about the EOL process here.
If you're starting a new project, please visit the Conversations Docs to begin. If you've already built on Programmable Chat, please visit our Migration Guide to learn about how to switch.
The Programmable Chat REST API allows you to control your Chat applications from the server in much the same way you can from the client, except from a service perspective rather than a 1st person one. You can create channels, send messages, and query the state of your messaging applications using the resources in this REST API.
API Base URL
All URLs in the reference documentation use the following base URL:
https://chat.twilio.com/v2
All requests to the Programmable Chat REST API are served over HTTPS. Unencrypted HTTP is not supported.
Authentication
HTTP requests to the REST API are protected with HTTP Basic authentication like other REST APIs provided by Twilio. To learn more about how Twilio handles authentication, please refer to our security documentation. In short, you will use your Twilio account SID as the username and your auth token as the password for HTTP Basic authentication.
curl -G https://chat.twilio.com/v2/Services \
-u '[YOUR ACCOUNT SID]:[YOUR AUTH TOKEN]'
You can find your account SID and auth token in the admin console. Alternately, you can also use API keys and secrets to authenticate REST API requests - you can manage API key pairs in the console also.
Twilio Helper Libraries
You can use the Twilio Helper Libraries to interact with the Programmable Chat REST endpoints.
Programmable Chat is available in the Next Gen Release builds of the Twilio Helper Libraries.
Resources
Here are the resources you will be interacting with via the REST API:
| Resource | Description |
|---|---|
| Binding | A push notification subscription for Users within the Service instance |
| Channel | A "chat room" - a container having members, in which messages can be exchanged. |
| Credential | Credentials used by Twilio to integrate with Google Cloud Messaging or Apple Push Notifications Service |
| Invite | Invitations to a Channel |
| Member | Members of a Channel |
| Message | Messages sent to a Channel |
| Role | Define actions users are allowed to take in a Channel or Service scope |
| Service | A service roughly maps to a Chat app. Channels, Users, Credentials, and all the REST (see what I did there?) are scoped to a Service. Can define webhook URLs for events in a Service |
| User | A user with a unique identity within the scope of your Service |
Media Messaging
Programmable Chat Multimedia Messaging feature has a REST API available via stand-alone API endpoint. Please refer to the Media Resource documentation for more details.
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.
