@textbee/mcp

MCP server for textbee.dev, the open source SMS gateway that turns an Android phone into an SMS API. Gives Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP client the ability to send and read SMS through your own phone and your own number.

Three tools, no per-message markup, works with self-hosted textbee instances.

Setup

You need a textbee account with a paired Android device and an API key from the dashboard. The key has full account access; treat it like a password.

Claude Code

claude mcp add textbee -s user -e TEXTBEE_API_KEY=your-key -- npx -y @textbee/mcp

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json (macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "textbee": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@textbee/mcp"],
      "env": { "TEXTBEE_API_KEY": "your-key" }
    }
  }
}

Cursor

The same object in ~/.cursor/mcp.json.

Slow first start

npx downloads the package on first run. If your client times out waiting, install globally once and point the config at the binary:

npm install -g @textbee/mcp

{ "mcpServers": { "textbee": { "command": "textbee-mcp", "env": { "TEXTBEE_API_KEY": "your-key" } } } }

Tools

send_sms

Send an SMS to one or more recipients (E.164 format, for example +15550100123). The sending phone is chosen automatically: your default device, otherwise the enabled device with the most recent heartbeat. Optional device_id, sim_subscription_id, and scheduled_at. Returns an sms_batch_id for delivery checks when the account uses the SMS queue.

get_messages

Read messages across every device on the account. Defaults to received messages, newest first. Filter by direction (received, sent, all), free-text search, sms_batch_id (per-recipient delivery status of a send), device_ids, and a from/to time window. Supports cursor pagination for polling without duplicates or gaps.

list_devices

The phones on the account: ids, enabled state, which one sends by default, last check-in, and message counts.

Self-hosted textbee

Point the server at your own instance:

"env": {
  "TEXTBEE_API_KEY": "your-key",
  "TEXTBEE_BASE_URL": "https://sms.example.com"
}

The /api/v1 suffix is optional and added automatically. Subpath deployments like https://example.com/textbee work too. An invalid URL is an error rather than a silent fallback, so a typo never sends your key to the public API.

Environment variables

Variable	Required	Default	Purpose
TEXTBEE_API_KEY	yes	none	API key from the textbee dashboard
TEXTBEE_BASE_URL	no	https://api.textbee.dev	Your instance's URL when self-hosting
TEXTBEE_TIMEOUT_MS	no	30000	Per-request timeout in milliseconds

Notes

• Your key stays on your machine: this server talks only to the textbee API at the base URL above.
• Sends count against your textbee plan quota, and the plan's rate limits apply server-side.
• All diagnostics go to stderr; stdout is reserved for the MCP protocol.

Using it as a library

The package also exports its tool definitions for embedding in another MCP host (this is how the hosted remote endpoint reuses them):

import { createTextbeeMcpServer, staticCredentials, loadConfig } from '@textbee/mcp'

const server = createTextbeeMcpServer({
  credentials: staticCredentials(loadConfig(process.env)),
})

Credentials are resolved per tool call, so a multi-tenant host can inject a different key per request. See credentialsFromAuthInfoExtra.

License

MIT. Part of the textbee project.