Send Text Message

Send SMS messages via the Textbelt API on Orthogonal.

Workflow

Step 1: Gather Info

Ask the user for:

• Phone number (required) - US/Canada: 10-digit with area code. International: E.164 format (e.g., +44...)
• Message (required) - Max 800 characters. No URLs allowed.

Step 2: Send the Message

orth run textbelt /text --body '{
  "phone": "<phone_number>",
  "message": "<message_text>"
}'

Step 3: Confirm Delivery

The response includes a textId. Use it to check delivery status:

orth run textbelt /status/{textId}

This endpoint is free.

Response

Send Response (/text)

• success (boolean) - true if message was queued
• textId (string) - Message ID for delivery tracking (only on success)
• quotaRemaining (integer) - Remaining SMS credits
• error (string) - Error message (only on failure)

Status Response (/status/{textId})

• status (string) - DELIVERED, SENDING, FAILED, or UNKNOWN

Constraints

• Max 800 characters per message
• No URLs in message text
• Sender name is optional and not visible to the recipient in most countries

Optional Parameters

When sending, you can also include:

• sender (string) - Business/org name for regulatory purposes
• replyWebhookUrl (string) - US only: URL to receive reply webhooks
• webhookData (string) - Extra data passed to webhook (max 100 chars)

Error Handling

• success: false with error field describes the issue (e.g., invalid phone number, insufficient credits)
• US/Canada numbers only work from US/Canada IP region
• International numbers require E.164 format (e.g., +44...)
• Messages containing URLs are rejected — use descriptions instead
• Max 800 characters — longer messages are rejected, not truncated