Twilio is a Communication MCP server that lets Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf and any MCP-compatible AI agent send SMS, make voice calls, and manage messaging campaigns via Twilio APIs. Install in 1 minute with mcpizy install twilio.
Communication
Send SMS, make voice calls, and manage messaging campaigns via Twilio APIs.
Official homepagemcpizy install twilionpx -y @twilio/mcpsend_smsSend an SMS message
Inputs
tostringrequiredfromstringrequiredbodystringrequiredlist_messagesList recent SMS/MMS messages
Inputs
limitnumberoptionalmake_callPlace a phone call with TwiML
Inputs
tostringrequiredfromstringrequiredurlstringrequiredlist_phone_numbersList phone numbers on the account
buy_phone_numberPurchase a new phone number
Inputs
country_codestringrequiredWorks identically across clients. Only the config file path differs.
~/.claude.json{
"mcpServers": {
"twilio": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@twilio/mcp"
],
"env": {
"TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID": "AC...",
"TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN": "..."
}
}
}
}.cursor/mcp.json{
"mcpServers": {
"twilio": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@twilio/mcp"
],
"env": {
"TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID": "AC...",
"TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN": "..."
}
}
}
}~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json{
"mcpServers": {
"twilio": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@twilio/mcp"
],
"env": {
"TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID": "AC...",
"TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN": "..."
}
}
}
}Paste any of these prompts into Claude Code, Cursor or another MCP-compatible client.
“Send an SMS to +33612345678 saying 'Your pizza is ready'”
Uses: send_sms
“Show me my last 50 SMS messages”
Uses: list_messages
“Buy a French phone number starting with +33”
Uses: buy_phone_number
Twilio MCP wraps Twilio's REST API (api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/{Sid}/), covering Programmable SMS, Voice (Calls, Conferences, IVR via TwiML), WhatsApp Business API, Verify (OTP), Lookup (phone number intelligence), Studio (visual flow builder), and the Conversations API for unified messaging. Auth uses Account SID + Auth Token (HTTP Basic) or API Keys (recommended for production rotation). Tools include sms_send, call_create, verify_send_code, lookup_phone_number, conversation_create, and message_status_get.
We use Twilio for OTP authentication (SMS + WhatsApp), transactional SMS notifications (order shipped, appointment reminders), two-way customer support via SMS/WhatsApp, IVR menus for inbound calls, and number lookup for fraud prevention (carrier, line type, ported status). Token cost per send is minimal (200-400 tokens). Pricing is usage-based: SMS in US is $0.0079/segment outbound, $0.0075/segment inbound; WhatsApp is $0.005-0.10/message depending on conversation type; Voice is $0.014/minute US outbound.
Vs. MessageBird/Bandwidth, Twilio has the largest ecosystem, best documentation, and broadest country coverage but is rarely the cheapest. Vs. AWS SNS or Pinpoint, Twilio is more developer-friendly with richer features but more expensive. Trade-offs: Twilio's pricing complexity is real (per-segment SMS, per-leg voice, A2P 10DLC fees in US, regulatory fees per country); WhatsApp Business API requires template pre-approval for outbound; deliverability on lower-quality routes varies by carrier and time of day.
SMS messages over 160 GSM characters (or 70 UCS-2 if any emoji/non-Latin) are split into segments, and you're billed per segment — a single 'message' can cost 4x what you expect if it contains an emoji that pushes it to UCS-2 encoding.
US A2P 10DLC registration is mandatory for business SMS to US numbers — unregistered traffic is throttled or blocked. Registration takes 1-3 weeks and requires brand + campaign setup.
WhatsApp Business templates must be pre-approved by Meta, and approval can take hours to days. Free-form messages are only allowed within a 24-hour customer-service window after an inbound message from the user.
Webhooks for delivery status must respond with 200 OK within 15 seconds — Twilio retries on timeout, causing duplicate processing. Use idempotency keys on MessageSid.
Honest pros/cons against the closest communication MCP servers.
| Server | Strengths | Trade-offs |
|---|---|---|
| MessageBird | Often cheaper outside US, strong European coverage, unified Inbox UI for omnichannel | Smaller ecosystem, less mature WhatsApp tooling, support quality varies |
| Vonage (formerly Nexmo) | Competitive pricing, strong Voice API, good for IVR and PSTN integration | Less developer-friendly docs, smaller community, fewer integration libraries |
| AWS Pinpoint / SNS | AWS-native, cheap at scale for SMS, integrates with other AWS services | Less polished SMS UX, weaker WhatsApp story, voice is via separate Connect product |
If Twilio doesn't fit your stack, these Communication MCP servers solve similar problems.
The Twilio MCP server is an Communication Model Context Protocol server that lets Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code with Copilot, and other MCP-compatible AI agents send SMS, make voice calls, and manage messaging campaigns via Twilio APIs. It exposes Twilio's capabilities as tools the AI can call directly from your editor or CLI.
The fastest way is the MCPizy CLI: run `mcpizy install twilio` and MCPizy will add the server to your `.claude.json` automatically. You can also install it manually by adding an entry under `mcpServers` in `.claude.json` with the command `npx -y @twilio/mcp` and restarting Claude Code.
Yes. The Twilio MCP server is free and open source (see the GitHub repository linked on this page). You may still need a Twilio account or API key to connect the server to the underlying service, but the MCP layer itself has no MCPizy subscription cost.
Yes. Any MCP-compatible client works — including Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor (via `.cursor/mcp.json`), Windsurf, VS Code with Copilot Chat, and custom agents built on the MCP SDK. The same install command targets all of them; only the config file path differs.
Once installed, your AI agent can send SMS, make voice calls, and manage messaging campaigns via Twilio APIs directly inside your conversation. Typical use cases include asking Claude Code or Cursor to run Twilio operations, inspect results, chain Twilio with other MCP servers (see our Workflow Recipes), and automate repetitive communication tasks without leaving your editor.