Quickstart

Send your first message in about five minutes.

1. Get your credentials

In the dashboard, go to API keys and create a key. Start with a Test key — it exercises the full pipeline without sending to a handset or charging you.

You will be shown the secret exactly once. It is hashed at rest and cannot be recovered; if you lose it, revoke the key and create another.

.env

JKASMS_ORG_ID=ORG_XXXXXXXXXXXX
JKASMS_SECRET_KEY=sk_test_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
JKASMS_WEBHOOK_SECRET=whsec_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

2. Register a sender ID

The sender ID is the name recipients see instead of a phone number. Go to Sender IDs and request one — up to 11 characters, and subject to network approval, which usually takes 1–2 business days.

You cannot send with a sender ID that is not approved. This is deliberate: it is what stops anyone on the platform sending as a bank they do not own.

3. Check what it will cost

Optional, but worth doing once so you understand how segments are counted. This charges nothing.

Shell

curl -X POST https://api.jkasms.com/api/v1/sms/quote \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $JKASMS_SECRET_KEY" \
  -H "X-JKASMS-Org-Id: $JKASMS_ORG_ID" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "message": "Your order is on the way.",
    "recipients": ["0241234567", "0551234567"]
  }'

Response

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "recipients": 2,
    "invalid_recipients": 0,
    "duplicates_removed": 0,
    "segments_per_message": 1,
    "total_segments": 2,
    "encoding": "GSM7",
    "total_cost": "0.12",
    "balance_after": "99.88",
    "sufficient_balance": true,
    "currency": "GHS",
    "paid_with": "credits",
    "credits_required": 2,
    "credits_available": 4814,
    "credits_after": 4812
  }
}

4. Send

Shell

curl -X POST https://api.jkasms.com/api/v1/sms/send \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $JKASMS_SECRET_KEY" \
  -H "X-JKASMS-Org-Id: $JKASMS_ORG_ID" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: order-4471-confirmation" \
  -d '{
    "sender": "JKASMS",
    "message": "Your order is on the way.",
    "recipients": ["0241234567"]
  }'

Node.js

const res = await fetch("https://api.jkasms.com/api/v1/sms/send", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.JKASMS_SECRET_KEY}`,
    "X-JKASMS-Org-Id": process.env.JKASMS_ORG_ID,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
    // Safe to retry: the same key returns the original result
    // instead of sending a second time.
    "Idempotency-Key": `order-${orderId}-confirmation`,
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    sender: "JKASMS",
    message: "Your order is on the way.",
    recipients: ["0241234567"],
  }),
});

const { data } = await res.json();
console.log(data.messages[0].message_id);

Python

import os, requests

res = requests.post(
    "https://api.jkasms.com/api/v1/sms/send",
    headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['JKASMS_SECRET_KEY']}",
        "X-JKASMS-Org-Id": os.environ["JKASMS_ORG_ID"],
        "Idempotency-Key": f"order-{order_id}-confirmation",
    },
    json={
        "sender": "JKASMS",
        "message": "Your order is on the way.",
        "recipients": ["0241234567"],
    },
    timeout=20,
)

data = res.json()["data"]
print(data["messages"][0]["message_id"])

PHP

<?php
$ch = curl_init("https://api.jkasms.com/api/v1/sms/send");
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_POST => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
        "Authorization: Bearer " . getenv("JKASMS_SECRET_KEY"),
        "X-JKASMS-Org-Id: " . getenv("JKASMS_ORG_ID"),
        "Content-Type: application/json",
        "Idempotency-Key: order-{$orderId}-confirmation",
    ],
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode([
        "sender" => "JKASMS",
        "message" => "Your order is on the way.",
        "recipients" => ["0241234567"],
    ]),
]);

$response = json_decode(curl_exec($ch), true);
echo $response["data"]["messages"][0]["message_id"];

5. Receive the delivery receipt

The send returns 202 Accepted — the message is queued, not yet delivered. Set a notification URL in Settings and we will POST a signed update when the message reaches its final state.

Verify the signature before trusting the payload.