Google's RCS Business Messaging: Node.js Client

RCS Business Messaging upgrades SMS with branding, rich media, interactivity, and analytics. With RCS, businesses can bring branded, interactive mobile experiences, right to the native Android messaging app.

This document contains an API reference, samples, and other resources useful to developing Node.js applications. For additional help developing RCS Business Messaging applications, in Node.js and other languages, see our RCS Business Messages quickstart guide.

Documentation

The documentation for the RCS Business Messaging API can be found here.

Quickstart

Before you begin

1. Register with RCS Business Messaging.

Adding a dependency

Add the following to the dependencies section in your package.json :

"dependencies": {
  ...
  "@google/rcsbusinessmessaging": "^1.0.10"
  ...
},

We recommend you use the latest version available in the npm repository.

Sample usage

Samples below assume a similar library initialization as shown in the Using the client library section.

Initialisation

You initialise the library by providing your service account key and agentId.

const SERVICE_ACCOUNT_PUBLIC_KEY = 'REPLACE_ME';

// Get the RCS Business Messaging client library helper
const rbmApiHelper = require('@google/rcsbusinessmessaging');

rbmApiHelper.initRbmApi(SERVICE_ACCOUNT_PUBLIC_KEY);
rbmApiHelper.setAgentId('myrbmagent'); // my agent id was [email protected]

Since release 1.0.8, you can optionally initialise the library to use a specific regional endpoint. This may provide improved performance depending on the geographic location of your code.

rbmApiHelper.initRbmApi(privateKey);

// The RBM API can now be initialised to use a specific regional
// entry point.
// rbmApiHelper.initRbmApi(privateKey, rbmApiHelper.REGION_APAC);
// rbmApiHelper.initRbmApi(privateKey, rbmApiHelper.REGION_EU);
// rbmApiHelper.initRbmApi(privateKey, rbmApiHelper.REGION_US);

Sending a text message with suggested replies and actions

// Create the payload for sending a message of "Hello, World!" along with
// a suggested reply and two suggested actions
rbmApiHelper.sendMessage({
  messageText: 'Hello, World!',
  msisdn: phoneNumber,
  suggestions: [
      {
        reply: {
          text: 'Sample Chip',
          postbackData: 'sample_chip',
        },
      },
      {
        action: {
          text: 'URL Action',
          postbackData: 'url_action',
          openUrlAction: {
            url: 'https://www.google.com',
          },
        },
      },
      {
        action: {
          text: 'Dial Action',
          postbackData: 'dial_action',
          dialAction: {
            phoneNumber: '+12223334444',
          },
        },
      },
    ]
  }
);

Sending a rich card

// Create the payload for sending a rich card
rbmApiHelper.sendRichCard({
  messageText: 'Hello, world!',
  messageDescription: 'RBM is awesome!',
  msisdn: phoneNumber,
  suggestions: [
    {
      reply: {
         'text': 'Suggestion #1',
         'postbackData': 'suggestion_1',
      },
    },
    {
      reply: {
         'text': 'Suggestion #2',
         'postbackData': 'suggestion_2',
      },
    },
  ],
  imageUrl: 'http://www.google.com/logos/doodles/2015/googles-new-logo-5078286822539264.3-hp2x.gif',
  height: 'TALL',
});

Sending a carousel

// Create the payload for sending a carousel
rbmApiHelper.sendCarouselCard({
  msisdn: phoneNumber,
  cardContents: [
    {
      title: 'Card #1',
      description: 'The description for card #1',
      suggestions: [
         {
            reply: {
               text: 'Card #1',
               postbackData: 'card_1',
            }
         }
      ],
      media: {
         height: 'MEDIUM',
         contentInfo: {
            fileUrl: 'https://storage.googleapis.com/kitchen-sink-sample-images/cute-dog.jpg',
            forceRefresh: false,
         },
      },
    },
    {
      title: 'Card #2',
      description: 'The description for card #2',
      suggestions: [
         {
            reply: {
               text: 'Card #2',
               postbackData: 'card_2',
            }
         }
      ],
      media: {
         height: 'MEDIUM',
         contentInfo: {
            fileUrl: 'https://storage.googleapis.com/kitchen-sink-sample-images/elephant.jpg',
            forceRefresh: false,
         },
      },
    },
});

Sending a message with a Time to Live

Sending an RBM message which will be cancelled if the time to live is reached before it is delivered. Added in release 1.0.3.

const params = {
  messageText: 'This message will expire!',
  msisdn: config.phoneNumber,
  // allow 10 seconds for message delivery
  timeToLive: '10s',
};

rbmApiHelper.sendMessage(params,
  function(response, err) {
    if (err !== undefined) {
      console.log(
        util.inspect(err, {showHidden: false, depth: null, colors: true}));
    }
    if (response !== undefined) {
      console.log(
        util.inspect(response, {showHidden: false, depth: null, colors: true}));
    }
  }
);

Sending a message with an expiry time

Sending an RBM message which will be cancelled if the expiry time is reached before it is delivered. Added in release 1.0.3.

// Calculate UTC time in zulu format 20 seconds from now
const d = new Date();

d.setSeconds(d.getSeconds()+20);

const params = {
  messageText: 'This message will expire!',
  msisdn: config.phoneNumber,
  expireTime: d.toISOString()
};

rbmApiHelper.sendMessage(params,
  function(response, err) {
    if (err !== undefined) {
      console.log(
        util.inspect(err, {showHidden: false, depth: null, colors: true}));
    }
    if (response !== undefined) {
      console.log(
        util.inspect(response, {showHidden: false, depth: null, colors: true}));
    }
  }
);

Uploading a file to the RBM Content Store

Support for file uploading added in release 1.0.6.

const params = {
  fileUrl: 'https://storage.googleapis.com/kitchen-sink-sample-images/cute-dog.jpg',
  thumbnailUrl: 'https://storage.googleapis.com/kitchen-sink-sample-images/elephant.jpg',
  // contentDescription: string
};

rbmApiHelper.uploadFile(params,
  function(response, err) {
    if (err !== undefined) {
      console.log(
        util.inspect(err, {showHidden: false, depth: null, colors: true}));
    }
    if (response !== undefined) {
      console.log(
        util.inspect(response, {showHidden: false, depth: null, colors: true}));
    }
  }
);

Sending a previously uploaded file

Support added in release 1.0.6.

const params = {
  // Uploaded file id. If this uplod also contains a thumbnail, it will be used
  uploadedFileName: 'files/lpcg6f1tnYg1ryaQNho6hjka',
  // Uploaded thumbnail id. If this upload contains a thumbnail then it will be
  // used in preference to the one above.
  // uploadedThumbnailName: "files/lpchblt9boYTjT8ck6UGQ8uK",
  msisdn: config.phoneNumber,
};

rbmApiHelper.sendMessage(params,
  function(response, err) {
    if (err !== undefined) {
      console.log(
        util.inspect(err, {showHidden: false, depth: null, colors: true}));
    }
    if (response !== undefined) {
      console.log(
      util.inspect(response, {showHidden: false, depth: null, colors: true}));
    }
  }
);

Versioning

This library follows Semantic Versioning.

This library is considered to be General Availability (GA). This means it is stable; the code surface will not change in backwards-incompatible ways unless absolutely necessary (e.g. because of critical security issues) or with an extensive deprecation period. Issues and requests against GA libraries are addressed with the highest priority.

Contributing

Contributions welcome! See the Contributing Guide.

License

Apache Version 2.0

See LICENSE

Known issues

On recent versions of node.js you may see this deprecation warning:

(node:23043) [DEP0040] DeprecationWarning: The `punycode` module is deprecated. Please use a userland alternative instead.
(Use `node --trace-deprecation ...` to show where the warning was created)

This is due to a dependency in the underlying googleapis library. This will be resolved when the team responsible for this library ship an updated release.