About twilio-sms
A skill for Twilio phone-number and SMS operations through the Twilio CLI or REST API. It guides credential checks, number management, message sending and status lookup, with safeguards for secrets and sensitive message content.
Key features
- 01Check CLI profiles and credentials
- 02Find, list, and buy phone numbers
- 03Label numbers to keep
- 04Send SMS and check message status
- 05Inspect inbound and outbound messages
Use cases
- 01Finding an SMS-capable number
- 02Buying and verifying a number
- 03Sending a text and checking delivery status
- 04Reviewing messages for a phone number
Install
Copy the command and run it in a terminal.
npx skills add https:/ / github.com/ steipete/ agent-scripts --skill twilio-smsAfter installing, type/twilio-smsin Claude Code to confirm it loaded.
Bundled filesagents/openai.yaml
Details
From the project READMETwilio 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
$one-passwordfor secret reads.opstays tmux-only. - If desktop 1Password access is needed, unset service-account auth for those commands:
env -u OP_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN op .... - Print credential shape only: field present, length, prefix class if useful.
- Public writes or logs: avoid leaking message bodies unless the user asked to read/check SMS.
Credential Route
- Check Twilio CLI/profile:
twilio --versionornpx -y twilio-cli --versiontwilio profiles:listornpx -y twilio-cli profiles:list
- Check exact env presence only:
TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SIDTWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN- optional API key/secret vars
- If only partial env exists, search 1Password metadata first.
- Prefer an item with fields matching:
TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SIDTWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN- optional
TWILIO_FROM_NUMBER
- If
oponly sees a restricted vault, retry desktop-backed reads withenv -u OP_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN. - Verify auth before any purchase/send:
curl -sS -u "$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.