Usage and Migration Guide for Twilio's Node.js Helper Library 3.x

Deprecation notice: New functionality will only be added to the new library (Node Helper Library 3.x). The old library (2.x) is deprecated and Twilio will no longer provide bug fixes. Support might ask you to upgrade before debugging issues.

The Twilio Node Helper Library has undergone a number of changes from version 2.x to 3.x - we'll break down the major changes here to make migrating to the new version as painless as possible. If you're integrating Twilio in your Node app for the first time, you can skip straight to the install page.

Importing the Library

In twilio-node 2.x, you would have to make a new instance of each client you used:

var Twilio = require('twilio');
var accountSid = 'ACXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX';
var authToken = 'your_auth_token';

var ipmClient = new Twilio.IpMessagingClient(accountSid, authToken);
var lookupsClient = new Twilio.LookupsClient(accountSid, authToken);

In twilio-node 3.x, there is now only one object to import and initialize:

var accountSid = 'ACXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX';
var authToken = 'your_auth_token';

var Twilio = require('twilio');
var twilio = new Twilio(accountSid, authToken);

Accessing Resources

// Old
client.messages('SM123').get(function(err, message) {
  console.log(message.sid); //=> SM123
});

// New
client.api.v2010.account.messages('SM123').fetch(function(err, message) {
  console.log(message.sid); //=> SM123
});
// (or)
client.messages('SM123').fetch(function(err, message) {
  console.log(message.sid); //=> SM123
});

The new library makes Twilio API subdomains (Lookups, Trunking, Monitor, etc) first-class citizens. You can now also pin your interactions to the Twilio API to specific versions of that API (the .v2010. ensures we always talk to the 2010-04-01 version of the API). This allows you to migrate portions of your code to future versions independently without having to do a full upgrade when you update the library.

You'll also notice that get has been updated to fetch. We've updated the library to use fetch, create, update, and remove to be more explicit about what action you are taking.

Promises

You may also use promises to interact with twilio-node:

var promise = twilio.messages('SM123').fetch();
promise.then(function(message) {
  console.log(message.sid);
});

Listing Resources

There are now 2 ways to get a list of resources: list and each.

list fetches the entire collection of resources and resolves to an array that contains the resources' instances.

var promise = twilio.messages.list();
promise.then(function(messages) {
  console.log(messages); //=> [MessageInstance, MessageInstance, MessageInstance, ...]
});

each will page through the list of resources and call the callback function that you passed in with each instance and a done function. To stop iteration at any point, call the done function.

twilio.messages.each(function(message) {
  console.log(message.sid); //=> 'SM123'
});

var i = 0;
twilio.messages.each(function(message, done) {
  console.log(message.sid);

  i++;

  // break after 10 messages
  if (i >= 10) {
    done();
  }
});

Paging

One of the biggest advantages of twilio-node 3.x is that it automatically handles paging for you! In both list and each, you can specify the maximum number of instances to grab (limit), and the page size (pageSize). The library will take care of everything else.

twilio.messages.each({limit: 10}, function(message) {
  console.log(message.sid);
});

var promise = twilio.messages.list();
promise.then(function(messages) {
  console.log(messages.length); //=> 125
});

promise = twilio.messages.list({
  limit: 100
});
promise.then(function(messages) {
  console.log(messages.length); //=> 100
});

Configurable HTTP Client

You can now plug your own HTTP client into the Twilio client! Just pass a client that conforms to the RequestClient interface and pass it in when you initialize Twilio.

var accountSid = 'ACXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX';
var authToken = 'your_auth_token';

var client = new CustomClient();
var twilio = new Twilio(accountSid, authToken, client);

TwiML

Now, you have a specific constructor for each TwiML type: Voice and Message.

// Old
var TwimlResponse = require('twilio').TwimlResponse;
var twiml = new TwimlResponse();

// New
var MessagingResponse = require('twilio').twiml.MessagingResponse;
var messagingResponse = new MessagingResponse();

var VoiceResponse = require('twilio').twiml.VoiceResponse;
var voiceResponse = new VoiceResponse();

For a basic VoiceResponse, only the order of the parameters changed:

Loading Code Sample...

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Example JSON response

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Using a specific language as an attribute in a Say verb

Nested verbs don't need to be defined inside a callback anymore, as you can see below.

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Example JSON response

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Speech Gather

The same applies for a basic MessagingResponse.

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Example JSON response

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Simple sending of SMS

And an example of a MessagingResponse with nested verbs:

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Example JSON response

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Sending of an Message with Media (MMS)

Capability Token

In the new version, there are specific constructors for each new capability.

var accountSid = 'ACXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX';
var authToken = 'your_auth_token';

// Old
var capability = new twilio.Capability(accountSid, authToken);
capability.allowClientIncoming('Identity');
capability.allowClientOutgoing(TWILIO_TWIML_APP_SID);
var token = capability.generate();

// New
var ClientCapability = require('twilio').jwt.ClientCapability;
var capability = new ClientCapability({
  accountSid: accountSid,
  authToken: authToken
});
capability.addScope(new ClientCapability.IncomingClientScope('Identity'));
capability.addScope(new ClientCapability.OutgoingClientScope({
  applicationSid: config.twimlAppSid,
  clientName: identity
}));
var token = capability.toJwt();

Debugging API Requests

To assist with debugging, the library allows you to access the underlying request and response objects. This capability is built into the default HTTP client that ships with the library.

For example, you can retrieve the status code of the last response like so:

// Twilio Credentials
const accountSid = 'ACXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX';
const authToken = 'your_auth_token';

// require the Twilio module and create a REST client
const client = require('twilio')(accountSid, authToken);

client.messages
  .create({
    to: '+14158675309',
    from: '+14258675310',
    body: 'Ahoy!',
  })
  .then(() => console.log(client.httpClient.lastResponse.statusCode));

Exceptions

3.x has added more descriptive exception handlers.

Now, the exceptions can be caught with the catch() statement.

client.messages.create({
   body: 'Hello from Node',
   to: '+12345678901',
   from: '+12345678901'
}).then(message => console.log(message))
  // here you can implement your fallback code
  .catch(error => console.log(error))

Where to Find Help

All of the Quickstarts, Tutorials, and API Reference documentation will have example code in both the older 2.x library and the new 3.x library. There are hundreds of samples just waiting for you to copy, paste and modify.

The Twilio Node helper library is open source software. Please visit us on GitHub to view the source, open issues, or submit pull requests.

Finally, we are always ready to help. Just contact us directly for support.

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.

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