twilio-sms

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Twilio SMS CLI: buy/list/keep numbers, send/check messages, credential routing.

steipete By steipete schedule Updated 5/26/2026

name: twilio-sms description: "Twilio SMS CLI: buy/list/keep numbers, send/check messages, credential routing." metadata: short-description: Twilio SMS numbers and messages

Twilio SMS

Use for Twilio phone-number and SMS work: create/buy numbers, list owned numbers, keep/label numbers, send texts, and check inbound/outbound messages.

Safety

  • Never print Account SIDs, auth tokens, API secrets, TOTP codes, or full 1Password item JSON.
  • Do not store real phone numbers, SIDs, names, or account-specific item IDs in this skill.
  • Use $one-password for secret reads. op stays tmux-only.
  • If desktop 1Password access is needed, unset service-account auth for those commands: env -u OP_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN op ....
  • Print credential shape only: field present, length, prefix class if useful.
  • Public writes or logs: avoid leaking message bodies unless the user asked to read/check SMS.

Credential Route

  1. Check Twilio CLI/profile:
    • twilio --version or npx -y twilio-cli --version
    • twilio profiles:list or npx -y twilio-cli profiles:list
  2. Check exact env presence only:
    • TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID
    • TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN
    • optional API key/secret vars
  3. If only partial env exists, search 1Password metadata first.
  4. Prefer an item with fields matching:
    • TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID
    • TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN
    • optional TWILIO_FROM_NUMBER
  5. If op only sees a restricted vault, retry desktop-backed reads with env -u OP_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN.
  6. Verify auth before any purchase/send:
curl -sS -u "$TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID:$TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/$TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID.json"

CLI Setup

Twilio CLI profile creation requires account auth token, not just API key creds:

npx -y twilio-cli profiles:create "$TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID" \
  --auth-token "$TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN" \
  --profile default --force --silent
npx -y twilio-cli profiles:use default

Use npx -y twilio-cli when twilio is not installed.

Numbers

List owned:

npx -y twilio-cli api:core:incoming-phone-numbers:list \
  --properties phoneNumber,friendlyName,capabilities

Search US local SMS-capable inventory:

npx -y twilio-cli api:core:available-phone-numbers:local:list \
  --country-code US --sms-enabled --voice-enabled --limit 5

If the CLI shape is awkward or missing flags, use REST:

curl -sS -u "$TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID:$TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/$TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID/AvailablePhoneNumbers/US/Local.json?SmsEnabled=true&VoiceEnabled=true&PageSize=5"

Buy one candidate:

curl -sS -u "$TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID:$TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN" \
  -X POST "https://api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/$TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID/IncomingPhoneNumbers.json" \
  --data-urlencode "PhoneNumber=$PHONE_NUMBER"

Verify ownership/capabilities after purchase. Twilio JSON uses lowercase keys:

capabilities.sms
capabilities.mms
capabilities.voice

Mark numbers the user wants to keep:

npx -y twilio-cli api:core:incoming-phone-numbers:update \
  --sid "$PHONE_NUMBER_SID" \
  --friendly-name "KEEP - <purpose>"

Retention rule: a number is kept while it remains in the Twilio account and billing is healthy. Do not release/delete unless explicitly asked.

SMS

Send:

npx -y twilio-cli api:core:messages:create \
  --from "$FROM_NUMBER" \
  --to "$TO_NUMBER" \
  --body "$BODY" \
  -o json

Fetch status:

npx -y twilio-cli api:core:messages:fetch --sid "$MESSAGE_SID" -o json

Check inbound to a number:

npx -y twilio-cli api:core:messages:list \
  --to "$NUMBER" --limit 20 -o json

Check outbound from a number:

npx -y twilio-cli api:core:messages:list \
  --from "$NUMBER" --limit 20 -o json

Twilio CLI JSON can return an array for single-resource commands. Parse defensively:

jq 'if type=="array" then .[0] else . end'

Notes

  • International SMS may show an alphanumeric or carrier sender instead of the purchased US number.
  • US SMS can be compliance-gated. If sending to US recipients fails, check A2P/10DLC registration state before retrying blindly.
  • Trial accounts may restrict recipients.
Install via CLI
npx skills add https://github.com/steipete/agent-scripts --skill twilio-sms
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