Send a Message with Failover

If a message sent with the Vonage Messages API is rejected, failover messages can be defined to be sent in its place. Failover can be done from any channel or message type to any other channel or message type, however the following example shows failover from RCS to SMS.

Example

Find the description for all variables used in each code snippet below:

KeyDescription
VONAGE_APPLICATION_ID

The Vonage Application ID.

VONAGE_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH

Private key path.

TO_NUMBER

The number you are sending the to in E.164 format. For example 447700900000.

RCS_SENDER_ID

The sender ID for the RCS message.

JWT

Used to authenticate your request. See Authentication for more information, including how to generate a JWT.

SMS_SENDER_ID

The alphanumeric string that represents the name or number of the organization sending the message.

MESSAGES_API_URL

There are two versions of the API, each with their own endpoints. For production the previous Messages API endpoint was https://api.nexmo.com/v0.1/messages, the new one is https://api.nexmo.com/v1/messages. For sandbox testing the Messages API endpoint is https://messages-sandbox.nexmo.com/v0.1/messages or https://messages-sandbox.nexmo.com/v1/messages, depending on which version you have set in the sandbox dashboard.

Prerequisites

If you do not have an application you can create one. Make sure you also configure your webhooks.

Write the code

Add the following to send-message-with-failover.sh:

curl -X POST "${MESSAGES_API_URL}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer "$JWT\
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json' \
  -d $'{
    "to": "'${MESSAGES_TO_NUMBER}'",
    "from": "'${RCS_SENDER_ID}'",
    "channel": "rcs",
    "message_type": "text",
    "text": "This is an RCS text message sent via the Vonage Messages API",
    "failover": [
      {
        "to": "'${MESSAGES_TO_NUMBER}'",
        "from": "'${SMS_SENDER_ID}'",
        "channel": "sms",
        "message_type": "text",
        "text": "This is an SMS sent using the Vonage Messages API."
      }
    ]
  }'

View full source

Run your code

Save this file to your machine and run it:

bash send-message-with-failover.sh

Try it out

When you run the code an RCS message is sent to the destination number; if that message is rejected, an SMS message will be sent in its place.