SMS API Getting Started: Send Your First Text in Ghana
Ship your first Ghana SMS with the SplitSMS REST API — API keys, Sender ID, curl example, OTP next steps, and sandbox testing.
If you need to send SMS from a Node, PHP, Flutter, or Python app in Ghana, a REST SMS API is faster than wiring carrier accounts yourself. SplitSMS gives you Bearer auth, sandbox keys, OTP helpers, and delivery webhooks from one dashboard.
This guide gets a live “hello” SMS onto a Ghana handset, then points you to OTP and webhooks for production.
Prerequisites
Create a SplitSMS account, claim free credits, register or pick an approved Sender ID, and generate an API key with sms.send permission. Keep live keys server-side only — never in mobile apps or public repos.
Normalize destinations to international format without “+” noise in your client if required by the endpoint (e.g. 233201234567 for Ghana).
Send with curl
POST to the send endpoint with Authorization: Bearer sk_live_…, Content-Type application/json, and a body containing to, sender, and message. Check the JSON response for message IDs you will later match to webhooks.
Full schemas, error codes, and Postman collections live at /api-docs and /developers/postman. SDKs for JavaScript, PHP, and Flutter speed up common patterns.
Next: OTP and production hardening
Use dedicated OTP send/verify endpoints for login codes instead of rolling your own expiry logic poorly. Add delivery webhooks, rate limits, and idempotency keys for retries.
When you are ready for WooCommerce or WordPress without code, install the SplitSMS plugin — same wallet and Sender ID as your API traffic.
Try SplitSMS free
Send bulk SMS, OTP, and campaigns — 5 free credits on signup.