How to Use OpenClaw with Twilio — SMS and Voice Automation

Twilio unlocks SMS, voice, and WhatsApp for OpenClaw. Once connected, your agent can send alerts when things happen, respond to inbound messages, or run entire customer communication workflows without a human in the loop.

Get Your Twilio Credentials

Sign up at twilio.com, get a phone number, and grab your Account SID and Auth Token from the console:

TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID=ACxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN=your_auth_token
TWILIO_PHONE_NUMBER=+15551234567

Install the Twilio SDK

npm install twilio

Send SMS from Your Agent

const twilio = require('twilio');
const client = twilio(
  process.env.TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID,
  process.env.TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN
);

async function sendSMS(to, body) {
  return await client.messages.create({
    body,
    from: process.env.TWILIO_PHONE_NUMBER,
    to
  });
}

Receive Inbound SMS via Webhook

Point your Twilio phone number webhook to your OpenClaw gateway. In your agent config:

{
  "plugins": [{
    "id": "twilio-webhook",
    "config": {
      "path": "/hooks/twilio",
      "secret": "your_twilio_webhook_signature_key"
    }
  }]
}

Practical Use Cases

Alert on Critical Events

When a payment fails or a server goes down, your agent texts you immediately rather than waiting for you to notice.

Customer Lead Follow-Up

When a new lead signs up, your agent texts them within seconds: a personalized welcome with the next step. Response rates from immediate SMS are dramatically higher than email follow-ups sent hours later.

Two-Way Support Conversations

Your agent handles the full back-and-forth over SMS — reads a customer message, processes it, replies — until the issue is resolved or escalated to a human.

Voice Calls with Twilio TwiML

For voice automation, Twilio TwiML lets your agent script calls. Use it for outbound notifications, IVR flows, or appointment reminders:

const twiml = new twilio.twiml.VoiceResponse();
twiml.say('Hello! Your appointment is confirmed for tomorrow at 2pm.');
twiml.pause({ length: 1 });
twiml.say('Reply to this message if you need to reschedule.');

Want the complete setup? The OpenClaw Playbook ($9.99) covers everything from first install to production deployment.