Quickstart

Create an account and top upCopy Anchor Link

Sign up at app.softlinksms.co.ke, create an account, and add funds under Settings → Billing. Every send is paid from this wallet, so it needs a balance before your first request.

Generate an API keyCopy Anchor Link

In the dashboard, open Settings → Developer tools and choose Generate key. Confirm your password, then enter the code we email you.

Your key looks like this, and is shown once:

bsk_9fcc4guB2yD.ilIexampleSecretPortionNeverShownAgain

Copy it into your secret manager or an environment variable now. We store only a hash, so a lost key can't be recovered, only replaced.

export SOFTLINK_API_KEY="bsk_..."

Send an SMSCopy Anchor Link

Replace the number with your own and run:

curl https://api.softlinksms.co.ke/api/v1/sms \
  -H "X-Api-Key: $SOFTLINK_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "recipients": ["+254712345678"],
    "body": "Hello from SoftLinkSMS"
  }'

You get 201 Created with the send's batch_id, its total price, and one message per recipient. Each starts as pending:

{
  "batch_id": "1c9d7f2a-55e3-4b8e-9a61-0f2d3c4b5a69",
  "recipients": 1,
  "total_price": "0.50",
  "currency": "KES",
  "messages": [
    {
      "id": "3fae8b8e-9c3a-4e9a-9d3a-7e8e9c3a4e9a",
      "body": "Hello from SoftLinkSMS",
      "traffic_class": "promotional",
      "sender_id": "SOFTLINK",
      "price": "0.50",
      "currency": "KES",
      "batch_id": "1c9d7f2a-55e3-4b8e-9a61-0f2d3c4b5a69",
      "message_id": null,
      "recipient": "+254712345678",
      "response_code": null,
      "response_description": null,
      "status": "pending",
      "duration_ms": null,
      "created_at": "2026-10-19T08:15:00.412000Z",
      "updated_at": "2026-10-19T08:15:00.412000Z"
    }
  ]
}

Check that it arrivedCopy Anchor Link

Within a few seconds the network confirms delivery. Fetch the message by the id in messages:

curl https://api.softlinksms.co.ke/api/v1/sms/3fae8b8e-9c3a-4e9a-9d3a-7e8e9c3a4e9a \
  -H "X-Api-Key: $SOFTLINK_API_KEY"

status moves from pending to sent (the network accepted it) to delivered (it reached the handset). Polling is fine while you're testing. In production, let webhooks tell you instead.