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.
This guide provides a complete walkthrough for building a Next.js application capable of sending bulk or broadcast messages using the Sinch Conversation API. We'll cover everything from project setup and core implementation to security, error handling, and deployment.
This implementation enables developers to leverage Sinch's robust communication infrastructure for sending notifications, alerts, or marketing messages to multiple recipients efficiently directly from a Next.js application. By the end, you'll have a functional API endpoint and a basic interface to trigger bulk message sends.
Project Overview and Goals
What We're Building:
/api/send-bulk
).Problem Solved: This guide addresses the need to programmatically send the same message content to a list of recipients via SMS (or other channels supported by the Conversation API) using Sinch, integrated within a modern web framework like Next.js.
Technologies Used:
System Architecture:
Prerequisites:
APP_ID
) within your Sinch project.SINCH_PROJECT_ID
: Your project's unique identifier.SINCH_ACCESS_KEY_ID
: The Key ID for your API access key pair.SINCH_ACCESS_KEY
: The Key Secret for your API access key pair (treat like a password).APP_ID
.Expected Outcome: A Next.js application where users can input a comma-separated list of phone numbers, type a message, and click 'Send'. The application's backend will then iterate through the numbers and attempt to send the message to each via the Sinch Conversation API, providing feedback on success or failure.
1. Setting up the Project
Let's initialize a new Next.js project and configure the necessary environment.
1.1 Create Next.js App:
Open your terminal and run the following command:
sinch-bulk-messaging
: Your project name.--typescript
: Enables TypeScript (recommended).--eslint
: Includes ESLint for code linting.--tailwind
: Includes Tailwind CSS for styling (optional).--src-dir
: Creates asrc
directory for code.--app
: Uses the App Router (standard for new projects).--import-alias "@/*"
: Configures path aliases.Navigate into your new project directory:
1.2 Install Dependencies:
We'll use
axios
for API requests,jsonwebtoken
for potential token generation, andlibphonenumber-js
for validation.1.3 Configure Environment Variables:
Create a file named
.env.local
in the root of your project. Never commit this file to version control..env.local
? Next.js automatically loads variables from this file intoprocess.env
on the server side. It's designated for secret keys and should be listed in your.gitignore
file (whichcreate-next-app
does by default).SINCH_PROJECT_ID
and create anACCESS_KEY
(consisting of a Key ID (SINCH_ACCESS_KEY_ID
) and a Key Secret (SINCH_ACCESS_KEY
)). Find your Application (SINCH_APP_ID
) under the Conversation API section or Apps. YourSINCH_SENDER_ID
is the phone number or identifier you've configured within Sinch to send messages from. Ensure this sender is linked to yourSINCH_APP_ID
.1.4 Project Structure:
Your
src
directory will primarily contain:app/
: App Router files (pages, layouts, API routes).page.tsx
: The main frontend page with the form.api/send-bulk/route.ts
: The API route handler for sending messages.lib/
: Utility functions (e.g., Sinch API interaction logic).This structure separates frontend, backend (API routes), and reusable logic.
2. Implementing Core Functionality
We'll build the frontend form and the backend API route logic.
2.1 Frontend Form (
src/app/page.tsx
):Replace the contents of
src/app/page.tsx
with a simple form:'use client'
: Marks this as a Client Component, necessary for using hooks likeuseState
and handling events.recipients
,message
), loading state (isLoading
), and status messages (status
).handleSubmit
: Prevents default form submission, performs basic validation, formats the recipient list, calls the/api/send-bulk
endpoint, and updates the status based on the response.2.2 Sinch API Utility (
src/lib/sinch.ts
):Create a utility file to encapsulate Sinch API interactions.
getSinchAccessToken
(CRITICAL PLACEHOLDER): This function now clearly highlights that the authentication logic MUST BE VERIFIED with Sinch documentation. It provides commented examples of common methods (Long-lived token, Basic Auth, JWT signed withSINCH_ACCESS_KEY
). The JWT example is a guess and needs validation.axios
with base URL, timeout, and an interceptor to automatically add the (placeholder)Authorization
header.sendSinchMessage
:/v1/projects/{projectId}/messages:send
endpoint. Includes warnings to verify the payload structure with Sinch docs.sinchApiClient
.SendMessageResult
.sendSinchMessageWithRetry
:sendSinchMessage
.2.3 Backend API Route (
src/app/api/send-bulk/route.ts
):Create the API route handler.
NextResponse
,sendSinchMessageWithRetry
,SendMessageResult
.POST
Handler: Standard structure for Next.js App Router API routes.recipients
array andmessage
string, includes an example max recipient limit.recipients.map
withsendSinchMessageWithRetry
andPromise.allSettled
. This ensures each message attempt benefits from the retry logic, and the API waits for all attempts to complete or fail definitively.allSettled
results, distinguishing between fulfilled promises (which contain theSendMessageResult
) and rejected promises (unexpected errors). Counts successes and failures, collecting details for failures.sentCount
,failedCount
, optionalfailures
details).3. Building a Complete API Layer
The
/api/send-bulk/route.ts
file constitutes our basic API layer.POST
handler.zod
for schema validation, including format checks (e.g., E.164 for numbers) and length limits.POST /api/send-bulk
{ "recipients": ["+1...", "+44..."], "message": "..." }
{ "success": true, "sentCount": N, "failedCount": M, "failures": [...] }
(failures optional)curl
:localhost:3000
and use valid test numbers).4. Integrating with Third-Party Services (Sinch)
This section details obtaining and configuring Sinch credentials.
(Note: This section seems redundant as credential setup was covered in Section 1.3. Ensure the information here aligns or remove redundancy if necessary.)
Ensure you have correctly obtained the following from your Sinch dashboard and placed them in
.env.local
:SINCH_PROJECT_ID
SINCH_ACCESS_KEY_ID
SINCH_ACCESS_KEY
(Secret)SINCH_APP_ID
SINCH_SENDER_ID
(Your provisioned number/ID linked to the App ID)SINCH_API_BASE_URL
(Correct regional URL)Critical: The authentication mechanism (
getSinchAccessToken
insrc/lib/sinch.ts
) must be verified against the official Sinch Conversation API documentation for the/messages:send
endpoint. Do not assume the placeholder JWT logic is correct. Check if Basic Auth or a different token format is required.5. Security Considerations
.env.local
out of version control (.gitignore
). Use platform-specific environment variable management for deployment (Vercel, AWS Secrets Manager, etc.).recipients
,message
) on the server-side (/api/send-bulk
) to prevent injection attacks or malformed requests. Use libraries likezod
. Validate phone number formats strictly (e.g., usinglibphonenumber-js
for more robust validation than regex). Limit message length and recipient count./api/send-bulk
) to prevent abuse and manage costs. Use libraries like@upstash/ratelimit
with Redis or similar solutions. Limit based on IP address, user ID (if authenticated), or other factors.SINCH_ACCESS_KEY
as highly sensitive. Ensure it's stored securely and never exposed client-side. Rotate keys periodically if possible.npm
/yarn
/pnpm
) updated to patch security vulnerabilities (npm audit fix
or similar).6. Error Handling and Logging
/api/send-bulk
route usestry...catch
for request parsing andPromise.allSettled
to handle individual send failures gracefully. It logs errors and returns structured JSON responses (including failure details).sendSinchMessage
catches Axios errors, extracts status codes and Sinch error messages, and returns aSendMessageResult
.sendSinchMessageWithRetry
handles retry logic based on status codes and logs retry attempts.HomePage
component usestry...catch
for theaxios.post
call and updates the UI based on the API response (success
,error
, counts). It displays user-friendly status messages.pino
,winston
) instead ofconsole.log
in production for better log management, filtering, and integration with monitoring services. Log key events: request received, validation success/failure, Sinch request initiation, Sinch response (success/failure, ID), retry attempts, final outcome. Include correlation IDs to track requests.7. Deployment
.env.local
.npm run build
(oryarn build
,pnpm build
) to create an optimized production build.npm start
(oryarn start
,pnpm start
) to serve the application.8. Conclusion and Next Steps
You have successfully built a Next.js application that can send bulk messages via the Sinch Conversation API. This includes a basic frontend, a robust API route with validation and error handling, and integration with Sinch using secure practices.
Potential Enhancements:
libphonenumber-js
fully in the API route for stricter E.164 validation and formatting.callback_url
in the payload) to receive real-time delivery status updates and store/display them.