Send SMS via Clickatell gateway

Audience: Low-code Engineers

Skill Prerequisites: Actions, Tokens

Sends a text message (SMS) to one or more mobile phone numbers through your Clickatell account. The response from Clickatell can be saved in a token.

note

This action is part of the Clickatell add-on, which is installed and licensed separately (feature package CLICKATELL). If it isn't licensed, the action fails with a not-licensed error. You also need a Clickatell account with an SMS integration that uses the REST API.

Typical Use Cases

• Send a confirmation code or a booking confirmation after a form is submitted
• Notify staff by SMS when something needs attention, for example a new high-priority request
• Send the same message to a list of numbers, for example a reminder to all attendees

Don't use it to

• Send email. Use Send Email.
• Receive SMS replies. This action only sends.

Related Actions

Action Name	Description
Send Email	Sends an email instead of an SMS.
Parse JSON into Tokens	Reads values from the Clickatell response, such as whether each message was accepted.
Server Request	Calls other Clickatell API features that this action doesn't cover.

Input Parameter Reference

Parameter	Description	Supports Tokens	Default	Required
Clickatell Api Key	The API key of your Clickatell SMS integration. You'll find it in the Clickatell portal under your SMS integration.	Yes	empty string	Yes
Sender ID	The sender ID or two-way phone number the message comes from. If it's empty, Clickatell uses your integration's default, which only works for one-way messages.	Yes	empty string	No
Phone Number(s) to Send TO	One or more phone numbers in international format: country code followed by the number, with no leading zero, + or spaces. For example, the UK number 07901231234 becomes 447901231234. Separate several numbers with new lines, semicolons or commas.	Yes	empty string	Yes
Message	The text of the message.	Yes	empty string	No

Output Parameters Reference

Parameter	Description
Response Token Name	The name of a token that receives Clickatell's response, as JSON. It lists each message and whether Clickatell accepted it.

Considerations

• Avoid double quotes in the message. The action doesn't escape them, so a " in the message, including one from a token, breaks the request and the action fails. Also avoid a message that starts or ends with [ or ].
• Clickatell errors fail the action. If Clickatell rejects the request, for example because the API key is wrong, the action fails with the error and the actions after it don't run.
• Accepted isn't delivered. A successful response means Clickatell accepted the message, not that it reached the phone. A single invalid number can be rejected in the response while the others are sent, so check the response token.
• Keep the API key out of the action. Put it in a token, for example from a setting, rather than typing it into every action.
• Long messages are split and charged as several SMS by Clickatell.

Examples

tip

To understand how to use the below examples, please see Running Examples.

1. Send a booking confirmation

This action texts the phone number entered in the form's Phone field and saves the response in [SmsResponse].

{
    "Title": "Send SMS via Clickatell gateway",
    "ActionType": "SendBulkSMSRestAPI",
    "Description": "Text the booking confirmation",
    "Parameters": {
        "ClickatellApiKey": "[ClickatellApiKey]",
        "Sender": "",
        "Recipients": "[Phone]",
        "Message": "Hi [FirstName], your booking for [BookingDate] is confirmed. Reference: [BookingId]",
        "ResponseTokenName": "SmsResponse"
    }
}

2. Send a reminder to several numbers

This action sends the same message to three numbers, separated by semicolons.

{
    "Title": "Send SMS via Clickatell gateway",
    "ActionType": "SendBulkSMSRestAPI",
    "Description": "Send the event reminder",
    "Parameters": {
        "ClickatellApiKey": "[ClickatellApiKey]",
        "Sender": "",
        "Recipients": "447700900001;447700900002;447700900003",
        "Message": "Reminder: the workshop starts tomorrow at 10:00.",
        "ResponseTokenName": "SmsResponse"
    }
}

Revised 09/27/2026