I followed the Telnyx MMS Tutorial to build this.
The Telnyx MMS Tutorial repo has VERY similar code. I should've forked it. LOL. I removed the AWS code. I removed the functions for downloading and uploading images too. That's the main difference between this project and the tutorial. I copied the tutorial README.md as well. I did read through it multiple times to ensure there weren't any typos or errors not relevent for this project. There weren't any typos and I've made changes to the README.md where the projects differ. I asked a non-tech person to read it to ensure the instructions may be followed.
I chose to alter the existing README.md instead of writing a new one because I've learned in tech that it's best to build on the work of smarter humans.
By the way, it works on my machine.
Enjoy.
This is what you will need to set it up:
- Telnyx Account
- Telnyx Phone Number enabled with:
- Node & NPM installed
- Send an SMS and receive a response back to your phone number.
- The response is based on the content of the text message sent.
- It expects the text of the message to be
pizzaorice cream. - It has a default response for text messages that don't match what's expected.
The following environmental variables need to be set. There's a .env.SAMPLE file in the repo. Change its name to .env. Choose the default PORT using the TELNYX_APP_PORT environment variable. The config.js file in the root directory will check that the .env file loads the environment variables. It may cause a bug if the TELNYX_APP_PORT value in the .env file and the TELNYX_APP_PORT value in the config.js file don't match.
Check both TELNYX_APP_PORT values before starting the app to ensure they're the same.
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
TELNYX_API_KEY |
Your Telnyx API Key |
TELNYX_PUBLIC_KEY |
Your Telnyx Public Key |
TELNYX_APP_PORT |
Defaults to 5000 The port the app will be served |
This app uses the excellent dotenv package to manage environment variables.
Make a copy of .env.SAMPLE and save as .env and update the variables to match your creds.
TELNYX_API_KEY=
TELNYX_PUBLIC_KEY=
TENYX_APP_PORT=5000
| Callback Type | URL |
|---|---|
| Inbound Message Callback | {ngrok-url}/messaging/inbound |
| Outbound Message Status Callback | {ngrok-url}/messaging/outbound |
Run the following commands to get started
$ git clone git@github.com:dapperAuteur/telnyx-take-home-test.git
This application is served on the port defined in the runtime environment (or in the .env file). Be sure to launch ngrok for that port. Run this command in the directory where you unzipped ngrok.
./ngrok http 5000
Terminal should look something like
ngrok by @inconshreveable (Ctrl+C to quit)
Session Status online
Account Little Bobby Tables (Plan: Free)
Version 2.3.35
Region United States (us)
Web Interface http://127.0.0.1:4040
Forwarding http://your-url.ngrok.io -> http://localhost:5000
Forwarding https://your-url.ngrok.io -> http://localhost:5000
Connections ttl opn rt1 rt5 p50 p90
0 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
At this point you can point your application to generated ngrok URL + path (Example: http://{your-url}.ngrok.io/messaging/inbound). ngrok will produce a unique url each time it starts.
For messaging, webhooks set the webhook URL on your messaging profile from the Telnyx Portal Messaging dashboard. Edit your Messaging Profile by clicking the “Basic Options” button ✎. Select the “Inbound” section and paste the forwarding address from ngrok into the Webhook URL field. Append /messaging/inbound to the end of the URL to direct the request to the webhook endpoint in your local application.
Start the server using node index.js from the root of the project.
When you're able to run the server locally, the final step involves making your application accessible from the internet. So far, we've set up a local web server. This isn't accessible from the public internet.
The best workaround is a tunneling service. They come with client software that runs on your computer and opens an outgoing permanent connection to a publicly available server in a data center. Then, they assign a public URL (typically on a random or custom subdomain) on that server to your account. The public server acts as a proxy that accepts incoming connections to your URL. The public server forwards (tunnels) them through the already established connection. It sends them to the local web server as if they originated from the same machine. The most popular tunneling tool is ngrok. Check out the ngrok setup walkthrough to set it up on your computer and start receiving webhooks from inbound messages to your newly created application.
Once you've set up ngrok or another tunneling service you can add the public proxy URL to your Inbound Settings in the Mission Control Portal. To do this, click the edit symbol [✎] next to your Messaging Profile. In the "Inbound Settings" > "Webhook URL" field, paste the forwarding address from ngrok into the Webhook URL field. Add messaging/inbound to the end of the URL to direct the request to the webhook endpoint in your server.
For now you'll leave “Failover URL” blank, but if you'd like to have Telnyx resend the webhook in the case where sending to the Webhook URL fails, you can specify an alternate address in this field.
Once everything is setup, you should now be able to:
- Text your phone number and receive a response.
- Send a picture to your phone number and get that same picture right back.