Twilio SDK Starter Application for Node.js
This sample project demonstrates how to use Twilio APIs in a Node.js web application. Once the app is up and running, check out the home page to see which demos you can run. You'll find examples for Chat, Video, Sync, and more.
Let's get started!
Configure the sample application
To run the application, you'll need to gather your Twilio account credentials and configure them
in a file named .env
. To create this file from an example template, do the following in your
Terminal.
cp .env.example .env
Open .env
in your favorite text editor and configure the following values.
Configure account information
Every sample in the demo requires some basic credentials from your Twilio account. Configure these first.
Config Value | Description |
---|---|
TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID |
Your primary Twilio account identifier - find this in the console here. |
TWILIO_API_KEY |
Used to authenticate - generate one here. |
TWILIO_API_SECRET |
Used to authenticate - just like the above, you'll get one here. |
A Note on API Keys
When you generate an API key pair at the URLs above, your API Secret will only be shown once -
make sure to save this information in a secure location, or possibly your ~/.bash_profile
.
Configure product-specific settings
Depending on which demos you'd like to run, you may need to configure a few more values in your .env
file.
Configuring Twilio Sync
Twilio Sync works out of the box, using default settings per account. Once you have your API keys configured, execute npm install; npm run start
and open a browser!
Configuring Twilio Chat
In addition to the above, you'll need to generate a Chat Service in the Twilio Console. Put the result in your .env
file.
Config Value | Where to get one. |
---|---|
TWILIO_CHAT_SERVICE_SID |
Chat |
Configuring Twilio Notify
You will need to create a Notify Service and add at least one credential on the Mobile Push Credential screen (such as Apple Push Notification Service or Firebase Cloud Messaging for Android) to send notifications using Notify.
Config Value | Where to get one. |
---|---|
TWILIO_NOTIFICATION_SERVICE_SID |
Generate one in the Notify Console and put this in your .env file. |
A Push Credential | Generate one with Apple or Google and configure it as a Notify credential. |
Once you've done that, run the application and open a browser!
Run the sample application
Now that the application is configured, we need to install our dependencies from npm.
npm install
Now we should be all set! Run the application using the node
command.
npm start
Your application should now be running at http://localhost:3000/.
Check your config values, and follow the links to the demo applications!
Running the SDK Starter Kit with ngrok
If you are going to connect to this SDK Starter Kit with a mobile app (and you should try it out!), your phone won't be able to access localhost directly. You'll need to create a publicly accessible URL using a tool like ngrok to send HTTP/HTTPS traffic to a server running on your localhost. Use HTTPS to make web connections that retrieve a Twilio access token.
ngrok http 3000
Meta
- No warranty expressed or implied. Software is as is. Diggity.
- MIT License
- Lovingly crafted by Twilio Developer Education.