The Twilio Python Helper Library
The Twilio Python Helper Library makes it easy to interact with the Twilio API from your Python application. The most recent version of the library can be found on PyPi. The Twilio Python Helper Library supports Python applications written in Python 3.6 and above. If you are interested in migrating to the newer 7.x version of the Twilio Python Helper Library from the 6.x version, check out this guide.
Install the library
The easiest way to install the library is from PyPi using pip, a package manager for Python. Simply run this in a terminal:
pip3 install twilioIf you get a pip: command not found error, you can also use easy_install. Run this in your terminal:
easy_install twilioManual installation
Alternatively, you can download the source code (ZIP) for twilio-python, and then install the library by running:
python3 setup.py installin the folder containing the twilio-python library.
“Permission Denied”
If the command line gives you a big long error message that says Permission Denied in the middle of it, try running the above commands with sudo (e.g., sudo pip3 install twilio).
Test your installation
Try sending yourself an SMS message. Save the following code sample to your computer with a text editor. Be sure to update the account_sid, auth_token, and from_ phone number with values from your Twilio account. The to phone number can be your own mobile phone.
Save the file as send_sms.py. In the terminal, cd to the directory containing the file you just saved then run:
python3 send_sms.pyYou should receive the text message on your phone.
It's okay to hardcode your credentials when testing locally, but you should use environment variables to keep them secret before committing any code or deploying to production. Check out How to Set Environment Variables for more information.
Using the library
Here are some basic code samples for key library use-cases.
Authenticate the client
from twilio.rest import Client
account_sid = "ACXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
auth_token = "your_auth_token"
client = Client(account_sid, auth_token)
Create a new record
from twilio.rest import Client
account_sid = "ACXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
auth_token = "your_auth_token"
client = Client(account_sid, auth_token)
call = client.calls.create(
to="+14155551212",
from_="+15017250604",
url="http://demo.twilio.com/docs/voice.xml"
)
print(call.sid)
Get an existing record
from twilio.rest import Client
account_sid = "ACXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
auth_token = "your_auth_token"
client = Client(account_sid, auth_token)
call = client.calls.get("CA42ed11f93dc08b952027ffbc406d0868")
print(call.to)
Iterate through records
from twilio.rest import Client
account_sid = "ACXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
auth_token = "your_auth_token"
client = Client(account_sid, auth_token)
for sms in client.messages.list():
print(sms.to)
The library automatically handles paging for you. Collections, such as calls and messages, have list and stream methods that page under the hood. With both list and stream, you can specify the number of records you want to receive (limit) and the maximum size you want each page fetch to be (page_size). The library will then handle the task for you.
list eagerly fetches all records and returns them as a list, whereas stream returns an iterator and lazily retrieves pages of records as you iterate over the collection. You can also page manually using the page method.
For more information about these methods, view the library docs.
Handling exceptions
Version 6.x of twilio-python exports an exception class to help you handle exceptions that are specific to Twilio methods. To use it, import TwilioRestException and catch exceptions as follows:
from twilio.base.exceptions import TwilioRestException
try:
# This could potentially throw an exception!
message = client.messages.create(
to="+15558675309",
from_="+15017250604",
body="Hello there!")
except TwilioRestException as err:
# Implement your fallback code here
print(err)
More documentation
Once you’re up and running with the Python helper library, you’ll find code samples using the latest version in our REST API docs in the documentation for every Twilio product. You can also find auto-generated library docs for the latest SDK here.
Accessing the 6.x version of the helper library
The most recent version of the Python Helper Library is not API compatible with the previous 6.x version you may have used in previous Twilio applications. The older version will continue to work, and you will continue to find sample code for this version throughout our documentation. Should you need to install this version you can do so with the following command:
pip3 install twilio==6.63.2Deprecation notice
New functionality will only be added to the new library (Python Helper Library 7.x). The old library (6.x) is no longer supported: Twilio will not provide bug fixes, and Support might ask you to upgrade before debugging issues. Learn how to migrate your existing application.
Getting help
We’d love to hear your feedback on the Twilio Python Helper Library and help you past any issues you may encounter. Feel free to drop us a line, and we’ll make sure to get you sorted!
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.
