Provides tools for sending, receiving, and scheduling SMS and MMS messages, managing conversation threads, and retrieving Twilio account and phone number information.
Click on "Deploy Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type @ followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@Twilio SMS MCP Server Send a text to +12025551234 asking if they're free for lunch today"
That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed.
Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.
Production-grade Model Context Protocol server for Twilio SMS.
Send, receive, schedule, redact, and inspect SMS/MMS conversations through any MCP-compatible client — VS Code Copilot, Codex CLI, Claude Desktop, and more.
Tool | Description |
| Send a single SMS or MMS |
| Send the same message to up to 100 recipients with bounded concurrency |
| Schedule a message for future delivery (requires Messaging Service) |
| Cancel a scheduled message |
| List outbound messages with optional filters |
| Fetch one message by SID, enriched with delivery status |
| Delete a message record from Twilio |
| NEW — Redact message body for GDPR / privacy compliance |
| List inbound webhook-captured messages |
| Merge local inbox with Twilio history for a full thread |
| Mark inbox messages as read |
| List Twilio phone numbers on the account |
| Carrier and line-type intelligence lookup |
| NEW — Validate any phone string and return E.164 + national format |
| NEW — Daily SMS/MMS usage and cost analytics |
| Account balance, status, and metadata |
URI | Description |
| High-level account summary (SID, sender, version) |
Prompt | Description |
| AI-assisted SMS drafting given a recipient and topic |
| Summarize all messages exchanged with a number |
Retry with exponential backoff on transient Twilio API errors (429, 5xx, network failures)
Webhook rate limiting — in-memory per-IP throttle (120 req/min)
Structured logging — timestamped, leveled, consistent format on stderr
Input validation — Pydantic v2 strict schemas with E.164, SID pattern enforcement
Webhook signature verification — Twilio RequestValidator on all inbound hooks
Health and readiness endpoints — /healthz, /readyz for orchestrators
Docker multi-stage build with non-root user, health checks, persistent volume
py.typed marker for downstream type-checker compatibility
Related MCP server: Twilio MCP Server
Python 3.11+
A Twilio account and a Twilio phone number
For scheduled messages: a Twilio Messaging Service SID
For inbound messages: a publicly reachable webhook URL
Docker Desktop (optional, for container deployment)
cp env.example .env # fill in your Twilio credentials; for local runs set TWILIO_DB_PATH=inbox.db
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest # run the test suite
python -m twilio_sms_mcp.boot # start MCP + webhook serverAdd to your VS Code settings.json or .vscode/mcp.json:
{
"mcp": {
"servers": {
"twilio-sms": {
"command": "python",
"args": ["-m", "twilio_sms_mcp.boot"],
"env": {
"TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID": "ACxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
"TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN": "your_auth_token_here",
"TWILIO_FROM_NUMBER": "+12025551234"
}
}
}
}
}Add to claude_desktop_config.json (macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/, Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\):
{
"mcpServers": {
"twilio-sms": {
"command": "python",
"args": ["-m", "twilio_sms_mcp.boot"],
"env": {
"TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID": "ACxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
"TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN": "your_auth_token_here",
"TWILIO_FROM_NUMBER": "+12025551234"
}
}
}
}codex mcp add twilio-sms \
-- docker run --rm -i \
--env-file .env \
-p 8080:8080 \
-v twilio_sms_data:/data \
twilio-sms-mcpVerify:
codex mcp get twilio-sms
codex mcp listBuild and run:
docker build -t twilio-sms-mcp .
docker run --rm -i \
--env-file .env \
-p 8080:8080 \
-v twilio_sms_data:/data \
twilio-sms-mcpOr use Docker Compose:
docker compose up -dConfigure Twilio to POST to <your-host>/webhook/sms for inbound messages.
Configure Twilio to POST to <your-host>/webhook/status for delivery callbacks.
Set TWILIO_PUBLIC_WEBHOOK_BASE_URL when behind a reverse proxy or ngrok.
Keep TWILIO_VALIDATE_WEBHOOK_SIGNATURES=true in production.
Variable | Required | Default | Description |
| Yes | — | Twilio Account SID (starts with |
| Yes | — | Twilio Auth Token |
| Yes | — | Default sender in E.164 format |
| No | — | Required for |
| No | — | Override for webhook signature validation |
| No | — | Public URL for webhook signature validation |
| No |
| Disable only for local debugging |
| No |
| Max parallel sends for |
| No |
| Logging verbosity |
| No |
| SQLite database location |
| No |
| Webhook HTTP server port |
| No |
| Retry count for transient API errors |
| No |
| Base delay in seconds between retries |
| No |
| MCP transport: |
| No |
| Bind address for SSE/HTTP transport |
| No |
| Port for SSE/HTTP transport |
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest -vUse HTTPS for webhook delivery
Set TWILIO_VALIDATE_WEBHOOK_SIGNATURES=true
Use a Messaging Service SID for sender pooling and scheduled messages
Persist /data volume so inbox state survives restarts
Never commit .env — it is excluded via .gitignore and .dockerignore
Monitor /healthz and /readyz from your orchestrator
Set TWILIO_LOG_LEVEL=WARNING in high-traffic environments
Fetch account balance, status, and friendly name.
Inputs: no named parameters. Returns: result
Inputs: params (required). Returns: result
Inputs: params (required). Returns: result
Validate a phone number and return its E.164 form, national format, and country code.
Inputs: params (required). Returns: result
Inputs: params (required). Returns: result
Inputs: params (required). Returns: result
Inputs: params (required). Returns: result
Inputs: no named parameters. Returns: result
Inputs: params (required). Returns: result
Inputs: params (required). Returns: result
Inputs: params (required). Returns: result
Redact the body of a delivered message. Twilio keeps metadata but clears the text for compliance / privacy.
Inputs: params (required). Returns: result
Inputs: params (required). Returns: result
Inputs: params (required). Returns: result
Inputs: params (required). Returns: result
Retrieve daily SMS/MMS usage statistics for the account, useful for cost monitoring and analytics.
Inputs: params (required). Returns: result
Recent tool additions, removals, and schema changes observed during successful MCP inspections.
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Scored across 16 tools
Most tools have distinct purposes targeting different SMS operations like sending, scheduling, listing, and managing messages, but some ambiguity exists between 'sms_list_inbox', 'sms_list_sent', and 'sms_get_conversation' without descriptions, which could cause confusion in message retrieval contexts. Overall, the set is well-differentiated with clear resource-action pairs.
All tool names follow a consistent 'sms_' prefix with snake_case and clear verb_noun patterns (e.g., 'sms_send', 'sms_list_numbers', 'sms_delete_message'), making them predictable and easy to parse. There are no deviations in naming conventions across the 16 tools.
With 16 tools, the count is slightly high but reasonable for a comprehensive SMS management server covering account info, message handling, number operations, and usage stats. It might feel heavy but each tool appears to serve a specific function in the domain without obvious redundancy.
The tool set covers core SMS functionalities like sending, scheduling, listing, and deleting messages, but lacks clear update operations (e.g., no tool for modifying scheduled messages) and has several tools without descriptions, making it hard to assess full lifecycle coverage. Gaps in update capabilities could lead to agent workarounds.
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