Make an HTTP Request to Twilio

There are a lot of ways you can make an HTTP request to the Twilio API. You can make a raw HTTP request in your code (for example, using a module like got in NodeJS) or by using a tool like Postman. You might find it easier to use the Twilio Helper Library or SDK for your preferred programming language - even if that's $bash, and you need to use the Twilio CLI.

Credentials

All requests to Twilio's REST API need to be authenticated. Twilio supports two forms of authentication, both using HTTP basic auth, which use the following username/password schemes:

Account SID and Auth Token

The account SID and auth token are the master keys to your account. They can be found on your Account Dashboard in the Twilio Console.

API Keys

API Keys are credentials you can create and revoke in the Console or using the API using your AccountSid and AuthToken. API Keys are typically safer to work with in your Twilio projects. You can quickly delete them to revoke access if they become compromised and create a fresh API Key for different use cases - so, if you need to turn off a specific use case for some reason, you can just delete the API Key!

The examples below will demonstrate how to use both username/password schemes with cURL, Twilio's SDKs, and the Twilio CLI.

HTTP Methods

Twilio mostly uses the GET, POST, and DELETE HTTP methods on various resources. Here's how all of these methods might be used for one of Twilio's most common resources: the SMS Message Resource.

Creating or Updating Resources with the POST Method

You can create or update a resource using the HTTP POST method on a resource URI. All you need to provide is the description of what it is that you want to make! The Twilio helper libraries are useful for making these requests simpler, but you can see the parameters for any post request in the documentation for a resource. Here's a POST request that will create and send an SMS using the Twilio API.

Retrieving Resources with the GET Method

Congrats on sending a message! You can see in the output that you'll receive a Message SID that looks something like MM followed by a long string of letters and numbers. In the sample output, it's just a long string of X's. You can use that SID to retrieve information about the message using the GET method.

Deleting a Resource with the DELETE Method

Finally, there are times where you might want to delete the message. You can use the same Message SID to make an HTTP DELETE request. Note that not all Twilio REST API resources support DELETE.

Status Codes

As you make these requests, you'll see responses indicating what's happening on the other side of the server. The following is a list of common status codes you'll see in response from the Twilio API, and what they mean.