What the SMS tool does
The SMS tool lets your agent help you text people — event invites, reminders, follow-ups — using your own Twilio account. It's built for anyone who reaches out to a list of contacts: a chamber of commerce, an association, a client base.
Two things make it safe and keep it yours:
- Your Twilio, your bill. You connect your own Twilio account and messages are charged to it. We never touch the money.
- The agent drafts; you send. The agent can only place messages into a pending queue as drafts. You review and approve them on the box's SMS page. There is no way for the agent to send a text directly — by design.
Not a chat channel
SMS isn't a way for people to chat with your agent — the box sits behind your home network with no public address for inbound webhooks. It's an outbound tool: the agent drafts, you approve, the box sends.
Before you start: a Twilio account
- Create an account at twilio.com and verify it.
- In the Twilio console, copy your Account SID (it starts with
AC…) and your Auth Token. - Decide how you'll send (next section) — you'll need at least one of a sender ID or a phone number.
Choose how messages are sent
Twilio gives you two sending identities, and the tool supports both as message kinds:
| Kind | Sent from | Best for | Replies? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct | A Twilio phone number you own | 1-to-1 messages | Yes — you can receive replies |
| Broadcast | An alphanumeric sender ID (e.g. XXChamber) | One-way group notices signed with your name | No |
You need at least one of these: a phone number (for Direct) or a sender ID (for Broadcast). You can set both.
Alphanumeric sender IDs are 1–11 letters and numbers and must contain at least one letter. They aren't allowed in every country, and some require pre-registration — check Twilio's guidance for where you're sending.
Connect Twilio on your box
Open the SMS page in your box's management UI and click Add account.
Paste your credentials
Enter the Account SID and Auth Token from the Twilio console.
Set a sending identity
Fill in a Sender ID (for broadcasts), a From number in E.164 format like +61480000000 (for direct messages), or both.
Name it and save
Give the account a name (optional) and save. You can add more Twilio accounts and set one as the default.
Then use Send test to fire a quick message to your own phone and confirm everything works.
How the agent drafts texts
In chat, just ask — for example, "text these ten members about Friday's dinner." Your agent will:
- draft one message per recipient, lightly personalized, in the right kind (direct or broadcast);
- drop them into the pending queue on the SMS page.
Nothing is sent yet. You then:
- open the SMS page and review the drafts;
- click Approve on the ones you want;
- the box sends them through Twilio — rate-limited, with an audit trail.
You can also compose and send a message yourself from the same page, without the agent.
Replies and opt-outs
- Replies to Direct messages are polled from Twilio and shown on the SMS page. Your agent can summarize them for you — who's confirmed, who to chase.
- Opt-outs — when someone replies STOP / 退订 / unsubscribe, mark them opted out (the agent can do this too). The box then blocks any further texts to that number.
Replies are untrusted
Your agent treats incoming replies as untrusted text. It will summarize them, but it won't act on instructions hidden in a reply (like "send me the member list").
Tips & troubleshooting
- Trial Twilio accounts can only send to numbers you've verified in the console, and add a trial notice to each message. Upgrade for real sending.
- A message shows "failed" — the reason comes from Twilio (an unverified number, a region that isn't enabled, or a sender ID not allowed there). It's a Twilio/account setting, not something the agent can fix.
- Numbers must be E.164 — a
+, country code, then the number, no spaces (e.g.+61480000000).