Zavu API Context

Zavu is a unified multi-channel messaging API. One API to send messages via SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, Email, Instagram, and Voice with ML-powered intelligent routing.

SDK Ecosystem

Language	Package	Install
TypeScript	`@zavudev/sdk`	`npm add @zavudev/sdk`
Python	`zavudev`	`pip install zavudev`
Go	`github.com/zavudev/sdk-go`	`go get github.com/zavudev/sdk-go`
PHP	`zavudev/sdk-php`	Composer
Ruby	`zavudev/sdk-ruby`	RubyGems

TypeScript Init

import Zavudev from '@zavudev/sdk';

const zavu = new Zavudev({
  apiKey: process.env['ZAVUDEV_API_KEY'],
});

Python Init

import os
from zavudev import Zavudev

zavu = Zavudev(api_key=os.environ.get("ZAVUDEV_API_KEY"))

Python Async

from zavudev import AsyncZavudev

zavu = AsyncZavudev(api_key=os.environ.get("ZAVUDEV_API_KEY"))

Go Init

import "github.com/zavudev/sdk-go"

client := zavudev.NewClient(os.Getenv("ZAVUDEV_API_KEY"))

Ruby Init

require "zavudev"

client = Zavudev::Client.new(api_key: ENV["ZAVUDEV_API_KEY"])

PHP Init

use Zavudev\Client;

$client = new Client(apiKey: getenv('ZAVUDEV_API_KEY'));

Authentication

Environment variable: ZAVUDEV_API_KEY
Key prefixes: zv_live_ (production), zv_test_ (sandbox)
Header: Authorization: Bearer <api_key>
Sender override header: Zavu-Sender: <sender_id>

Core Conventions

Phone numbers: Always E.164 format (+14155551234)
Channels: auto, sms, sms_oneway, whatsapp, telegram, email, instagram, voice
Message types: text, image, video, audio, document, sticker, location, contact, buttons, list, reaction, template
Pagination: Cursor-based. All list endpoints return { items: [...], nextCursor: string | null }
Idempotency: Use idempotencyKey on send to prevent duplicate messages

Error Handling

TypeScript

import Zavudev, { APIError } from '@zavudev/sdk';

try {
  await zavu.messages.send({ to: "+14155551234", text: "Hello" });
} catch (error) {
  if (error instanceof APIError) {
    console.error(error.status, error.message);
  }
}

Python

from zavudev import Zavudev, APIError

try:
    zavu.messages.send(to="+14155551234", text="Hello")
except APIError as e:
    print(e.status_code, e.message)

Key Business Rules

WhatsApp 24h window: Free-form messages require an open conversation window (user messaged you in last 24h). Use template messages to initiate conversations outside the window.
Email requires KYC: Complete identity verification in the dashboard before sending emails.
URL verification: SMS/email messages containing URLs require those URLs to be pre-verified via /v1/urls.
URL shorteners blocked: bit.ly, t.co, etc. are always blocked. Use full destination URLs.
Smart routing: Channel auto uses ML to pick the best channel based on cost, deliverability, and contact preferences.
Fallback: If WhatsApp fails, messages can automatically fall back to SMS (enabled by default).

MCP Server

For direct API execution from AI assistants:

claude mcp add --transport stdio zavudev_sdk_api \
  --env ZAVUDEV_API_KEY=$ZAVUDEV_API_KEY -- npx -y @zavudev/sdk-mcp

Tools available: search_docs (search API docs), execute (run TypeScript against authenticated client).

CLI

The zavudev/cli package provides terminal access to all API operations.

Rate Limits

Check X-RateLimit-Remaining header. Use .withResponse() (TS) or .with_raw_response() (Python) to access response headers.

Message Statuses

queued -> sending -> sent -> delivered -> read (success path) queued -> sending -> failed (failure path) received (inbound messages) pending_url_verification (message with URLs awaiting verification)

zavu-rules