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Why use this?

We noticed that many of you needed a fast, reliable way to trigger workflows directly from SMS. Whether you’re coordinating teams or reaching customers, SMS triggers ensure that your workflow starts instantly in response to an inbound SMS to your Twilio numbers without needing manual intervention.

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Example Use Cases

  • Build AI Agent in SMS that would receive a question and take action using workflows - perfect for creating responsive chatbots that can handle customer inquiries, process requests, and trigger appropriate workflows based on the message content.
  • Trigger an internal workflow when a delivery driver sends an update - streamline logistics operations by automatically updating systems, notifying stakeholders, or adjusting schedules based on real-time SMS updates from the field.
  • Initiate a marketing follow-up sequence based on customer text responses - automatically segment and engage customers based on their SMS interactions, ensuring timely and relevant communication flows.

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Prerequisites

  • A published Workflow
  • A Twilio account with SMS capabilities

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Steps

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1. Create a Webhook Trigger

  1. Navigate to your published Workflow
  2. Add a new API Trigger
  3. Copy your webhook URL (the API key is already embedded in the URL)

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2. Configure Twilio

  1. Go into the number you want to edit.
  2. Click “Configure”
  3. Scroll to “Messaging Configuration”
  4. For “A message comes in” “Webhook”, paste your webhook URL directly
Twilio The webhook URL handles all the necessary handshakes and authentication automatically Your Workflow will now run whenever an SMS is received by your Twilio number. The contents of the SMS will be available in the inputs.

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3. Responding

If you want to respond back to the user, you would add a step in your workflow that sends an SMS out via Twilio via that same number.