n8n.io

n8n.io is a powerful workflow automation tool that lets you deploy smart workflows for your business processes. You can use n8n’s Plivo node to connect it with other nodes (applications) to send SMS or MMS messages or make phone calls.

To start using Plivo with n8n, you’ll need

  1. An n8n Cloud account
  2. Your Plivo Auth ID and Auth Token: You can find your Plivo Auth ID and Auth Token on the overview page of the Plivo console. Find Your Auth Credentials on Plivo Console
  3. A Plivo number (optional): You must have an SMS-enabled Plivo phone number to send SMS messages to numbers in the US and Canada. Purchase numbers from the Phone Numbers page of the Plivo console, or by using the PhoneNumber API. Buy a New Plivo Number

Supported actions

  • Send an SMS message
  • Send an MMS message (US/Canada only)
  • Make a voice call

Example

To see how n8n works, you can create a workflow that sends daily weather updates via SMS messages using the Plivo node, as well as Cron and OpenWeatherMap nodes. You can find the workflow on n8n.io.

The final workflow should look like this.

A workflow with the Plivo node

Cron node

The Cron node will trigger the workflow daily at 9 a.m.

  1. Click on Add Cron Time.
  2. Set hours to 9 in the Hour field.
  3. Click on Execute Node to run the node.

In this screenshot, the Cron node is configured to trigger the workflow every day at 9 a.m.

Using the Cron node to trigger the workflow daily at 9 am

OpenWeatherMap node

The OpenWeatherMap node will return data about the current weather.

  1. Enter credentials for the OpenWeatherMap node.
  2. Enter the name of a city in the City field. We used berlin.
  3. Click on Execute Node to run the node.

In this screenshot, you can see that the node returns data about the current weather in Berlin.

Using the OpenWeatherMap node to get weather updates for Berlin

Plivo node (send: sms)

The Plivo node will send an SMS with the weather update, which was sent by the previous node.

  1. Enter your Plivo Auth ID and Auth Token.
  2. Enter a Plivo phone number in the From field.
  3. Enter the receiver’s phone number in the To field.
  4. Click on the gears icon next to the Message field and click on Add Expression.

  5. Enter this message in the Expression field: Hey! The temperature outside is {{$node["OpenWeatherMap"].json["main"]["temp"]}}°C.

  6. Click on Execute Node to run the node.

In this screenshot, you can see the node sending an SMS message to the phone number that we specified.

Using the Plivo node to send weather updates via SMS

Save the workflow, then click on the Activate toggle on the top right of the screen to activate it. Your workflow will then be triggered as specified by the settings in the Cron node.