Send Bulk Messages with Sinch Conversation API and Next.js - code-examples -

Frequently Asked Questions

This guide demonstrates building a Next.js app with a serverless API route ('/api/send-bulk') to send bulk SMS messages using the Sinch Conversation API. The app includes a frontend form for inputting recipients and a message, and backend logic interacts with Sinch to send individual messages efficiently. Security, error handling, and deployment are also covered for a robust solution. This setup enables programmatic sending of notifications, alerts, and marketing messages directly from your application.
The Sinch Conversation API provides a unified interface for sending and receiving messages across various communication channels, including SMS, within a Next.js application. It allows developers to leverage Sinch's reliable infrastructure for bulk messaging, notifications, and other communication needs directly from their Next.js projects.
Next.js is a performant React framework ideal for this task due to its server-side rendering (SSR) capabilities, integrated API routes for handling backend logic, and excellent developer experience. The framework enables seamless interaction with the Sinch Conversation API and facilitates building a user-friendly interface for sending bulk messages.
The Sinch Conversation API is beneficial when you need to send messages programmatically across multiple communication channels, including SMS. This is particularly useful for applications requiring notifications, alerts, two-factor authentication, marketing campaigns, or other communication workflows integrated within your Next.js project.
Yes, Sinch Conversation API supports multiple channels beyond SMS, including WhatsApp and others. While this guide focuses on SMS, the same setup can be extended to other channels by configuring the channel priority and other channel-specific settings within the Sinch API request.
Create a `.env.local` file in your project's root directory and store your Sinch API credentials (SINCH_PROJECT_ID, SINCH_ACCESS_KEY_ID, SINCH_ACCESS_KEY, SINCH_APP_ID, SINCH_SENDER_ID, SINCH_API_BASE_URL). Never commit this file to version control. Next.js loads these variables into process.env server-side. Remember your sender ID must be associated with your Sinch App ID and properly provisioned by Sinch.
The recommended project structure includes 'app/' for frontend and API routes (page.tsx, api/send-bulk/route.ts), and 'lib/' for utility functions like Sinch API interaction logic. This separation organizes frontend, backend, and reusable components effectively.
The example code provides placeholder authentication logic that MUST be verified with Sinch's official documentation. Common methods include Basic Authentication, short-lived JWTs, or pre-generated tokens from Sinch. Securely store and validate credentials following best practices.
While the example provides basic regex validation, implement robust validation using libphonenumber-js to enforce E.164 formatting and prevent invalid numbers from being processed by the Sinch API. This enhances reliability and minimizes errors.
Key security considerations include: securely managing environment variables, strict input validation, rate limiting to prevent abuse, user authentication to protect API access, responsible error handling, and regular dependency updates. These measures protect sensitive data and system integrity.
The API route utilizes try...catch blocks, Promise.allSettled for handling individual send failures, structured JSON error responses with optional details, and server-side logging. The frontend displays user-friendly status updates based on API responses.
Use libraries like @upstash/ratelimit in the /api/send-bulk route to implement rate limiting, which is crucial to prevent abuse, manage costs, and ensure service availability.
Consider adding robust phone validation, user authentication, contact management, message templates, scheduling, delivery status tracking, multi-channel support, and scalability improvements using background job queues for large recipient lists.
Choose a suitable platform (Vercel, Netlify, AWS, self-hosting), configure production environment variables securely, build the application, ensure HTTPS, and set up monitoring/alerting to track performance and errors.