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Getting Started
Quickstart

Quickstart

Send your first iMessage in under 2 minutes | iMessage for Business

1. Install & set up

Section titled “1. Install & set up”

The CLI is the fastest path to a working prototype. It creates a free account, assigns a secure shared Sendblue line, generates API keys, and saves credentials locally. No credit card is required.

Terminal window
npm install -g @sendblue/cli
sendblue setup

Follow the prompts: enter your email, verify it, pick a company name, and add your first contact’s phone number. You’ll get an account, a Sendblue number, and API credentials.

To skip email entirely, verify the primary phone instead. The CLI will show a one-time phrase and wait for that phone to text the phrase to the shared Sendblue number:

Terminal window
sendblue setup --phone +15551234567 --company my-agent

Phone-created accounts use the verified phone as the login identity and receive an internal [email protected] account email for future agent email support.

If an AI coding agent is helping you, the phone flow is usually the simplest path: ask for the user’s primary phone number and account name, then run the command above. The user stays in the loop only to send the verification text. Email setup is still available as a two-step flow:

Terminal window
npx -y @sendblue/cli setup --email [email protected]
# Check your inbox, then provide the 8-digit verification code.
npx -y @sendblue/cli setup --email [email protected] --code 12345678 --company my-agent --contact +15551234567

Before sending, make sure the recipient is comfortable using iMessage/SMS for the test. iMessage traffic uses Apple’s end-to-end encryption, and Sendblue is SOC 2 Type II certified.

2. Send a message

Section titled “2. Send a message”

Once your contact is verified:

Terminal window
sendblue send +15551234567 'Hello from Sendblue!'

Replace +15551234567 with your verified contact’s number.

3. Build something

Section titled “3. Build something”

Option A: AI chatbot via iMessage

Section titled “Option A: AI chatbot via iMessage”

TextMe turns Claude into an iMessage chatbot. Text your Sendblue number, Claude responds.

Terminal window
git clone https://github.com/njerschow/textme.git
cd textme/daemon && npm install && npm run build

Configure it (use sendblue show-keys to get your API key and secret):

Terminal window
mkdir -p ~/.config/claude-imessage
cat > ~/.config/claude-imessage/config.json << 'EOF'
{
  "sendblue": {
    "apiKey": "YOUR_API_KEY",
    "apiSecret": "YOUR_API_SECRET",
    "phoneNumber": "+1YOUR_SENDBLUE_NUMBER"
  },
  "whitelist": ["+1YOUR_PHONE_NUMBER"]
}
EOF

Then start it:

Terminal window
npm start

Option B: OpenClaw plugin

Section titled “Option B: OpenClaw plugin”

OpenClaw-Sendblue adds iMessage as a channel in OpenClaw, an open-source AI agent framework.

Terminal window
git clone https://github.com/njerschow/openclaw-sendblue ~/.openclaw/extensions/sendblue
cd ~/.openclaw/extensions/sendblue
npm install && npm run build

Then add your credentials to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json — see the plugin README for the full config.

Option C: Use the API directly

Section titled “Option C: Use the API directly”
Terminal window
sendblue show-keys

Use the keys as SB-API-KEY-ID and SB-API-SECRET-KEY headers with any HTTP client:

Terminal window
curl -X POST https://api.sendblue.com/api/send-message \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'sb-api-key-id: YOUR_API_KEY' \
  -H 'sb-api-secret-key: YOUR_API_SECRET' \
  -d '{"number": "+15551234567", "from_number": "+1YOUR_SENDBLUE_NUMBER", "content": "Hello from the API!"}'

See the API reference for all endpoints.