> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://plivo.com/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Get Started with Python > Send your first SMS using Python and Flask with Plivo APIs # Get Started with Python Using the Flask Framework ## Sign up for a Plivo account When you [sign up with Plivo](https://cx.plivo.com/signup), we give you a free trial account and free credits to experiment with and learn about our services. You can [add a number](https://cx.plivo.com/phone-numbers) to your account to start testing the full range of our voice and SMS service features. Follow these steps to get a free trial account: 1. [Sign up](https://cx.plivo.com/signup) with your work email address. 2. Check your inbox for an activation email message from Plivo. Click on the link in the message to activate your account. 3. Enter your mobile number to complete the phone verification step. ### Sign up with your work email address

If you have any issues creating a Plivo account, please contact our [support team](https://support.plivo.com/hc/en-us/) for assistance. To get started, try sending an SMS message either by using our API and XML documents, or via {/* [PHLO](/phlo/) */}, our visual design tool, which allows you to create message flows using an intuitive canvas and deploy them with few clicks. ## Install Python, Flask, and the Plivo Python SDK You must set up and install Python, Flask, and Plivo’s Python SDK before you send your first SMS message. ### Install Python [Download and install Python](https://www.python.org/downloads/) from its official site. ### Install Flask and the Plivo Python SDK Create a project directory and change into it. ```sh theme={null} $ mkdir mypythonapp $ cd mypythonapp ``` Install Flask and the Plivo SDK using [pip](https://pip.pypa.io/en/latest/). ```shell theme={null} $ pip install flask plivo ``` Alternatively, you can download the [source code](https://github.com/plivo/plivo-python/) and run ```sh theme={null} $ python setup.py install ``` We recommend that you use [virtualenv](https://virtualenv.pypa.io/en/stable/) to manage and segregate your Python environments, instead of using sudo with your commands and overwriting dependencies. ## Send your first outbound SMS/MMS message You must have a Plivo phone number to send messages to the US or Canada; you can rent a Plivo number from Phone Numbers > [Buy Numbers](https://cx.plivo.com/phone-numbers) on the Plivo console or via the [Numbers API](/numbers/api/phone-number/#buy-a-phone-number). Create a file called `SendSMS.py` and paste into it this code. ```py theme={null} from flask import Flask, Response from plivo import plivo app = Flask(__name__) @app.route('/send_sms/', methods=['GET', 'POST']) def outbound_sms(): client = plivo.RestClient('','') response = client.messages.create( src='', dst='', text='Hello, from Flask!') return Response(response.to_string()) if __name__ == '__main__': app.run(host='0.0.0.0', debug=True) ``` ```py theme={null} from flask import Flask, Response from plivo import plivo app = Flask(__name__) @app.route('/send_mms/', methods=['GET', 'POST']) def outbound_mms(): client = plivo.RestClient('','') response = client.messages.create( src='', dst='', media_ids=['801c2056-33ab-499c-80ef-58b574a462a2'], text='Hello, MMS from Flask!', media_urls=['https://media.giphy.com/media/26gscSULUcfKU7dHq/source.gif'], type_='mms') return Response(response.to_string()) if __name__ == '__main__': app.run(host='0.0.0.0', debug=True) ``` Replace the auth placeholders with your authentication credentials from the [Plivo console](https://cx.plivo.com/home). Replace the phone number placeholders with actual phone numbers in [E.164 format](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.164) (for example, +12025551234). In countries other than the US and Canada you can use a [sender ID](/messaging/concepts/sender-id-usage/) for the message source. **Note:** We recommend that you store your credentials in the `auth_id` and `auth_token` environment variables to avoid the possibility of accidentally committing them to source control. If you do this, you can initialize the client with no arguments and Plivo will automatically fetch the values from the environment variables. You can use `os.environ` to store environment variables and fetch them when initializing the client. Save the file and run it. ```shell theme={null} $ python SendSMS.py ``` ## Receive your first inbound SMS/MMS message To receive incoming messages, you must have a Plivo phone number that supports SMS; you can rent numbers from the [Numbers](https://cx.plivo.com/phone-numbers) page of the Plivo console or by using the [Numbers API](/numbers/). ### Set up a Flask server Create a file called `receive_sms.py` and paste into it this code. ```py theme={null} from flask import Flask, request app = Flask(__name__) @app.route('/receive_sms/', methods=['GET', 'POST']) def inbound_sms(): from_number = request.values.get('From') to_number = request.values.get('To') text = request.values.get('Text') print('Message received - From: %s, To: %s, Text: %s' %(from_number, to_number, text)) return 'Message Received' if __name__ == '__main__': app.run(host='0.0.0.0', debug=True) ``` ```py theme={null} from flask import Flask, request app = Flask(__name__) @app.route('/receive_mms/', methods=['GET', 'POST']) def inbound_mms(): from_number = request.values.get('From') to_number = request.values.get('To') text = request.values.get('Text') media_url = request.values.get('Media0') print('Message received - From: %s, To: %s, Text: %s, Media: %s' %(from_number, to_number, text, media_url)) return 'Message Received' if __name__ == '__main__': app.run(host='0.0.0.0', debug=True) ``` Save the file and run it. ```shell theme={null} $ python receive_sms.py ``` And you should see your basic server app in action on [http://localhost:5000/receive\_sms/](http://localhost:5000/receive_sms/). ### Expose your local server to the internet To receive incoming messages, your local server must connect with Plivo API services. For that, we recommend using [ngrok](https://ngrok.com/download), which exposes local servers running behind NATs and firewalls to the public internet over secure tunnels. Using ngrok, you can set webhooks that can talk to the Plivo server.

Run ngrok on the command line, specifying the port that hosts the application on which you want to receive messages (80 in this case): ```shell theme={null} $ ./ngrok http 80 ``` This starts the ngrok server on your local server. Ngrok will display a forwarding link that you can use as a webhook to access your local server over the public network.

Now people can send messages to your Plivo number. ### Create a Plivo application to receive messages Associate the controller you created with Plivo by creating a Plivo application. Visiting Messaging > [Applications](https://cx.plivo.com/xml-applications) and click **Add New Application**. You can also use Plivo's [Application API](/account/api/application/#create-an-application). Give your application a name — we called ours `Receive SMS`. Enter the server URL you want to use (for example `https://.com/receive_sms/`) in the `Message URL` field and set the method to `POST`. Click **Create Application** to save your application.

### Test Send a text message to the Plivo number you specified using any phone. ## Reply to an incoming SMS/MMS message To receive incoming messages, you must have a Plivo phone number that supports SMS; you can rent numbers from the [Numbers](https://cx.plivo.com/phone-numbers) page of the Plivo console or by using the [Numbers API](/numbers/). ### Set up a Flask server Create a file called `reply_to_sms.py` and paste into it this code. ```py theme={null} from flask import Flask, request, make_response, Response from plivo import plivoxml app = Flask(__name__) @app.route('/reply_to_sms/', methods=['GET', 'POST']) def reply_sms(): from_number = request.values.get('From') to_number = request.values.get('To') text = request.values.get('Text') print('Message received - From: %s, To: %s, Text: %s' %(from_number, to_number, text)) # send the details to generate an XML response = plivoxml.ResponseElement() response.add( plivoxml.MessageElement( 'This is an automatic response', src=to_number, dst=from_number)) print(response.to_string()) # Prints the XML # Returns the XML return Response(response.to_string(), mimetype='application/xml') if __name__ == '__main__': app.run(host='0.0.0.0', debug=True) ``` If you haven’t done so already, [expose your local server to the internet](/sdk/server/set-up-python-dev-environment-api-messaging/#ngrok-setup). ### Create a Plivo application to reply to messages Associate the controller you created with Plivo by creating a Plivo application. Visiting Messaging > [Applications](https://cx.plivo.com/xml-applications) and click **Add New Application**. You can also use Plivo's [Application API](/account/api/application/#create-an-application). Give your application a name — we called ours `Reply Incoming SMS`. Enter the server URL you want to use (for example `http://.com/replysms/`) in the `Message URL` field and set the method to `POST`. Click **Create Application** to save your application.

### Assign a Plivo number to your application Navigate to the [Numbers](https://cx.plivo.com/phone-numbers) page and select the phone number you want to use for this application. From the Application Type drop-down, select `XML Application`. From the Plivo Application drop-down, select `Reply Incoming SMS` (the name we gave the application). Click **Update Number** to save. ### Test Send a text message to the Plivo number you specified using any phone. You should receive a reply. ## More use cases We illustrate [more than a dozen use cases](/messaging/use-cases/send-an-sms/python/) with code for both API/XML and PHLO on our documentation pages. # Get Started with Python Using the Django Framework ## Sign up for a Plivo account When you [sign up with Plivo](https://cx.plivo.com/signup), we give you a free trial account and free credits to experiment with and learn about our services. You can [add a number](https://cx.plivo.com/phone-numbers) to your account to start testing the full range of our voice and SMS service features. Follow these steps to get a free trial account: 1. [Sign up](https://cx.plivo.com/signup) with your work email address. 2. Check your inbox for an activation email message from Plivo. Click on the link in the message to activate your account. 3. Enter your mobile number to complete the phone verification step. ### Sign up with your work email address

If you have any issues creating a Plivo account, please contact our [support team](https://support.plivo.com/hc/en-us/) for assistance. To get started, try sending an SMS message either by using our API and XML documents, or via {/* [PHLO](/phlo/) */}, our visual design tool, which allows you to create message flows using an intuitive canvas and deploy them with few clicks. ## Install Python, Django, and the Plivo Python SDK You must set up and install Python, Django, and Plivo’s Python SDK before you send your first SMS message. ### Install Python [Download and install Python](https://www.python.org/downloads/) from its official site. ### Install Django and the Plivo Python SDK Create a project directory and change into it. ```shell theme={null} $ mkdir mydjangoapp $ cd mydjangoapp ``` Install Django and the Plivo Python SDK using [pip](https://pip.pypa.io/en/latest/). ```shell theme={null} $ pip install django plivo ``` We recommend that you use [virtualenv](https://virtualenv.pypa.io/en/stable/) to manage and segregate your Python environments, instead of using sudo with your commands and overwriting dependencies. ## Send your first outbound SMS/MMS message You must have a Plivo phone number to send messages to the US or Canada; you can rent a Plivo number from Phone Numbers > [Buy Numbers](https://cx.plivo.com/phone-numbers) on the Plivo console or via the [Numbers API](/numbers/api/phone-number#buy-a-phone-number). ### Create a Django project Use django-admin to auto-generate code for a Django project. ```shell theme={null} $ django-admin startproject SMSProj ``` ### Create a Django app Change to the project directory and create a Django app for outbound calls. ```shell theme={null} $ python manage.py startapp sendsms ``` Edit `sendsms/views.py` and paste into it this code. ```py theme={null} from django.conf import settings from django.http import HttpResponse from django.views.decorators.csrf import csrf_exempt import plivo @csrf_exempt def sendsms_response(request): client = plivo.RestClient(settings., settings.) response = client.messages.create( src='', dst='', text='Hello, from Django!') return HttpResponse(response) ``` ```py theme={null} from django.conf import settings from django.http import HttpResponse from django.views.decorators.csrf import csrf_exempt import plivo @csrf_exempt def sendmms_response(request): client = plivo.RestClient(settings.PLIVO_AUTH_ID, settings.PLIVO_AUTH_TOKEN) response = client.messages.create( src='', dst='', media_ids=['801c2056-33ab-499c-80ef-58b574a462a2'], text='Hello, MMS from Django!', media_urls=['https://media.giphy.com/media/26gscSULUcfKU7dHq/source.gif'], type_='mms') return HttpResponse(response) ``` Replace the auth placeholders with your authentication credentials from the [Plivo console](https://cx.plivo.com/home). Replace the phone number placeholders with actual phone numbers in [E.164 format](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.164) (for example, +12025551234). In countries other than the US and Canada you can use a [sender ID](/messaging/concepts/sender-id-usage/) for the message source. **Note:** We recommend that you store your credentials in the `auth_id` and `auth_token` environment variables to avoid the possibility of accidentally committing them to source control. If you do this, you can initialize the client with no arguments and Plivo will automatically fetch the values from the environment variables. You can use `os.environ` to store environment variables and fetch them when initializing the client. ### Add a route Create a file `sendsms/urls.py` and paste into it this code. ```py theme={null} from django.conf.urls import url from . import views urlpatterns = [ url(r'^$', views.sendsms_response, name='sendsms'), ] ``` Add a route for the sendsms app into the urls.py of your SMSProj project. Edit `SMSProj/urls.py` and paste into it this code. ```py theme={null} from django.conf.urls import include, url from django.contrib import admin urlpatterns = [ url(r'^sendsms/', include('sendsms.urls')), url(r'^admin/', admin.site.urls), ] ``` ### Test Run your code. ```shell theme={null} $ python3 manage.py runserver ``` ## Receive your first inbound SMS/MMS message To receive incoming messages, you must have a Plivo phone number that supports SMS; you can rent numbers from the [Numbers](https://cx.plivo.com/phone-numbers) page of the Plivo console or by using the [Numbers API](/numbers/). ### Create a Django app Change to the project directory and create a Django app to handle incoming calls. ```shell theme={null} $ python3 manage.py startapp receivesms ``` Edit `receivesms/views.py` file and paste into it this code. ```py theme={null} from django.conf import settings from django.http import HttpResponse from django.views.decorators.csrf import csrf_exempt from plivo import plivoxml @csrf_exempt def receivesms_response(request): from_number = form.cleaned_data['From'] to_number = form.cleaned_data['To'] text = form.cleaned_data['Text'] print 'Message received - From: %s, To: %s, Text: %s'% (from_number, to_number, text) return HttpResponse('Message Received') ``` ```py theme={null} from django.conf import settings from django.http import HttpResponse from django.views.decorators.csrf import csrf_exempt from plivo import plivoxml @csrf_exempt def receivesms_response(request): from_number = form.cleaned_data['From'] to_number = form.cleaned_data['To'] text = form.cleaned_data['Text'] media_url = form.cleaned_data['Media0'] print 'Message received - From: %s, To: %s, Text: %s, Media: %s' % (from_number, to_number, text, media_url) return HttpResponse('Message Received') ``` ### Add a route Create a file `receivesms/urls.py` and paste into it this code. ```py theme={null} from django.conf.urls import url from . import views urlpatterns = [ url(r'^$', views.receivesms_response, name='receivesms'), ] ``` Add a route for the receivesms app into the urls.py of your SMSProj project. Edit SMSProj/urls.py and paste into it this code. ``` from django.conf.urls import include, url from django.contrib import admin urlpatterns = [ url(r'^outboundsms/', include('outboundsms.urls')), url(r'^receivesms/', include('receivesms.urls')), url(r'^admin/', admin.site.urls), ] ``` Run your code. ```shell theme={null} $ python3 manage.py runserver ``` ### Expose your local server to the internet To receive incoming messages, your local server must connect with Plivo API services. For that, we recommend using [ngrok](https://ngrok.com/download), which exposes local servers running behind NATs and firewalls to the public internet over secure tunnels. Using ngrok, you can set webhooks that can talk to the Plivo server. ngrok block diagram

**Note:** Before starting the service, add ngrok i\*\*hosts list in the settings.py file in your project. ```python theme={null} ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['.ngrok.io'] ``` Run ngrok on the command line, specifying the port that hosts the application on which you want to receive messages (8000 in this case): ```shell theme={null} $ ./ngrok http 8000 ``` This starts the ngrok server on your local server. Ngrok will display a forwarding link that you can use as a webhook to access your local server over the public network. Sample ngrok CLI

### Test Send a text message to the Plivo number you specified using any phone. ## Reply to an incoming SMS/MMS message To receive incoming messages, you must have a Plivo phone number that supports SMS; you can rent numbers from the [Numbers](https://cx.plivo.com/phone-numbers) page of the Plivo console or by using the [Numbers API](/numbers/). ### Create a Django app Change to the project directory and create a Django app to forward incoming SMS messages. ```shell theme={null} $ python manage.py startapp replysms ``` Edit `replysms/views.py` and paste into it this code. ```py theme={null} from django.conf import settings from django.http import HttpResponse from django.views.decorators.csrf import csrf_exempt from plivo import plivoxml @csrf_exempt def reply_response(request): from_number = form.cleaned_data["From"] to_number = form.cleaned_data["To"] text = form.cleaned_data["Text"] # send the details to generate an XML response = plivoxml.ResponseElement() response.add( plivoxml.MessageElement( 'This is an automatic response', src=to_number, dst=from_number)) print(response.to_string()) # Prints the XML return HttpResponse(response.to_string(), content_type='text/xml') ``` ### Add a route Create a file `replysms/urls.py` and paste into it this code. ```py theme={null} from django.conf.urls import url from . import views urlpatterns = [ url(r'^$', views.reply_response, name='replysms'), ] ``` Add a route for the replysms app into the urls.py of your project, SMSProj. Edit SMSProj/urls.py and paste into it this code. ```py theme={null} from django.conf.urls import include, url from django.contrib import admin urlpatterns = [ url(r'^outboundsms/', include('outboundsms.urls')), url(r'^receivesms/', include('receivesms.urls')), url(r'^replysms/', include('replysms.urls')), url(r'^admin/', admin.site.urls), ] ``` If you haven’t done so already, [expose your local server to the internet](/sdk/server/set-up-python-dev-environment-api-messaging/#ngrok-setup). ### Create a Plivo application to reply to messages Associate the controller you created with Plivo by creating a Plivo application. Visiting Messaging > [Applications](https://cx.plivo.com/xml-applications) and click **Add New Application**. You can also use Plivo's [Application API](/account/api/application/#create-an-application). Give your application a name — we called ours `Reply Incoming SMS`. Enter the server URL you want to use (for example `http://.com/replysms/`) in the `Message URL` field and set the method to `POST`. Click **Create Application** to save your application.

### Assign a Plivo number to your application Navigate to the [Numbers](https://cx.plivo.com/phone-numbers) page and select the phone number you want to use for this application. From the Application Type drop-down, select `XML Application`. From the Plivo Application drop-down, select `Reply Incoming SMS` (the name we gave the application). Click **Update Number** to save. ### Test Send a text message to the Plivo number you specified using any phone. You should receive a reply. ## More use cases We illustrate [more than a dozen use cases](/messaging/use-cases/send-an-sms/python/) with code for both API/XML and PHLO on our documentation pages. # Get Started with Python Using the FastAPI Framework ## Sign up for a Plivo account When you [sign up with Plivo](https://cx.plivo.com/signup), we give you a free trial account and free credits to experiment with and learn about our services. You can [add a number](https://cx.plivo.com/phone-numbers) to your account to start testing the full range of our voice and SMS service features. Follow these steps to get a free trial account: 1. [Sign up](https://cx.plivo.com/signup) with your work email address. 2. Check your inbox for an activation email message from Plivo. Click on the link in the message to activate your account. 3. Enter your mobile number to complete the phone verification step. ### Sign up with your work email address

If you have any issues creating a Plivo account, please contact our [support team](https://support.plivo.com/hc/en-us/) for assistance. To get started, try sending an SMS message either by using our API and XML documents, or via {/* [PHLO](/phlo/) */}, our visual design tool, which allows you to create message flows using an intuitive canvas and deploy them with few clicks. ## Install Python, FastAPI, and the Plivo Python SDK You must set up and install Python, FastAPI, and Plivo’s Python SDK before you send your first SMS message. ### Install Python [Download and install Python](https://www.python.org/downloads/) from its official site. ### Install FastAPI and Plivo Python SDK Create a project directory and change into it. ```sh theme={null} $ mkdir mypythonapp $ cd mypythonapp ``` Install the FastAPI framework using [pip](https://pip.pypa.io/en/latest/). ```shell theme={null} $ pip install fastapi ``` Install an ASGI server for production. [Uvicorn](https://www.uvicorn.org/) and [Hypercorn](https://gitlab.com/pgjones/hypercorn) are two good ones. ```shell theme={null} $ pip install uvicorn ``` Install the Plivo Python SDK. ```sh theme={null} $ pip install plivo ``` We recommend that you use [virtualenv](https://virtualenv.pypa.io/en/stable/) to manage and segregate your Python environments, instead of using sudo with your commands and overwriting dependencies. ## Send your first outbound SMS/MMS message You must have a Plivo phone number to send messages to the US or Canada; you can rent a Plivo number from Phone Numbers > [Buy Numbers](https://cx.plivo.com/phone-numbers) on the Plivo console or via the [Numbers API](/numbers/api/phone-number/#buy-a-phone-number). ### Set up a FastAPI server Create a file called `main.py` and paste into it this code. ```py theme={null} from typing import Optional from fastapi import FastAPI from plivo import plivo app = FastAPI() @app.get('/send_sms/') def outbound_sms(): client = plivo.RestClient('', '') response = client.messages.create( src='', dst='', text='Hello, from FastAPI!') return response ``` ```py theme={null} from typing import Optional from fastapi import FastAPI from plivo import plivo app = FastAPI() @app.get('/send_mms/') def outbound_mms(): client = plivo.RestClient('', '') response = client.messages.create( src='', dst='', media_ids=['801c2056-33ab-499c-80ef-58b574a462a2'], text='Hello, MMS from FastAPI!', media_urls=['https://media.giphy.com/media/26gscSULUcfKU7dHq/source.gif'], type_='mms') return response ``` Replace the auth placeholders with your authentication credentials from the [Plivo console](https://cx.plivo.com/home). Replace the phone number placeholders with actual phone numbers in [E.164 format](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.164) (for example, +12025551234). In countries other than the US and Canada you can use a [sender ID](/messaging/concepts/sender-id-usage/) for the message source. **Note:** We recommend that you store your credentials in the `auth_id` and `auth_token` environment variables to avoid the possibility of accidentally committing them to source control. If you do this, you can initialize the client with no arguments and Plivo will automatically fetch the values from the environment variables. You can use `os.environ` to store environment variables and fetch them when initializing the client. ### Test Save the file and run your code. ```shell theme={null} $ uvicorn main:app --reload ``` ## Receive your first inbound SMS/MMS message To receive incoming messages, you must have a Plivo phone number that supports SMS; you can rent numbers from the [Numbers](https://cx.plivo.com/phone-numbers) page of the Plivo console or by using the [Numbers API](/numbers/). ### Set up a FastAPI server Create a file called `main.py` and paste into it this code. ```py theme={null} import plivo from typing import Optional from fastapi import FastAPI, Response from plivo import plivoxml app = FastAPI() @app.get("/receive_sms/") def receive_sms(): from_number = request.values.get('From') to_number = request.values.get('To') text = request.values.get('Text') print('Message received - From: %s, To: %s, Text: %s' %(from_number, to_number, text)) ``` ```py theme={null} import plivo from typing import Optional from fastapi import FastAPI, Response from plivo import plivoxml app = FastAPI() @app.get("/receive_sms/") def receive_sms(): from_number = request.values.get('From') to_number = request.values.get('To') text = request.values.get('Text') media_url = request.values.get('Media0') print('Message received - From: %s, To: %s, Text: %s, Media: %s' %(from_number, to_number, text, media_url)) ``` Run the code. ```shell theme={null} $ uvicorn main:app --reload ``` You should see your basic server application for outbound calls in action at [http://localhost:8000/receive\_sms/](http://localhost:8000/receive_sms/). ### Expose your local server to the internet To receive incoming messages, your local server must connect with Plivo API services. For that, we recommend using [ngrok](https://ngrok.com/download), which exposes local servers running behind NATs and firewalls to the public internet over secure tunnels. Using ngrok, you can set webhooks that can talk to the Plivo server. ngrok block diagram

### Test Send a text message to the Plivo number you specified using any phone. ## Reply to an incoming SMS/MMS message To receive incoming messages, you must have a Plivo phone number that supports SMS; you can rent numbers from the [Numbers](https://cx.plivo.com/phone-numbers) page of the Plivo console or by using the [Numbers API](/numbers/). ### Set up a FastAPI server Create a file called `main.py` and paste into it this code. ```py theme={null} import plivo from typing import Optional from fastapi import FastAPI, Response from plivo import plivoxml app = FastAPI() @app.get("/reply_to_sms/") def reply_to_sms(): from_number = request.values.get("From") to_number = request.values.get("To") text = request.values.get("Text") print( "Message received - From: %s, To: %s, Text: %s" % (from_number, to_number, text) ) # send the details to generate an XML response = plivoxml.ResponseElement() response.add( plivoxml.MessageElement( "This is an automatic response", src=to_number, dst=from_number ) ) print(response.to_string()) # Prints the XML # Returns the XML return Response(response.to_string(), mimetype="application/xml") ``` If you haven’t done so already, [expose your local server to the internet](/sdk/server/set-up-python-dev-environment-api-messaging/#ngrok-setup). ### Create a Plivo application to reply to messages Associate the controller you created with Plivo by creating a Plivo application. Visiting Messaging > [Applications](https://cx.plivo.com/xml-applications) and click **Add New Application**. You can also use Plivo's [Application API](/account/api/application/#create-an-application). Give your application a name — we called ours `Reply Incoming SMS`. Enter the server URL you want to use (for example `http://.com/replysms/`) in the `Message URL` field and set the method to `POST`. Click **Create Application** to save your application.

### Assign a Plivo number to your application Navigate to the [Numbers](https://cx.plivo.com/phone-numbers) page and select the phone number you want to use for this application. From the Application Type drop-down, select `XML Application`. From the Plivo Application drop-down, select `Reply Incoming SMS` (the name we gave the application). Click **Update Number** to save. ### Test Send a text message to the Plivo number you specified using any phone. You should receive a reply. ## More use cases We illustrate [more than a dozen use cases](/messaging/use-cases/send-an-sms/python/) with code for both API/XML and PHLO on our documentation pages. # Get Started with Python Using the Sanic framework ## Sign up for a Plivo account When you [sign up with Plivo](https://cx.plivo.com/signup), we give you a free trial account and free credits to experiment with and learn about our services. You can [add a number](https://cx.plivo.com/phone-numbers) to your account to start testing the full range of our voice and SMS service features. Follow these steps to get a free trial account: 1. [Sign up](https://cx.plivo.com/signup) with your work email address. 2. Check your inbox for an activation email message from Plivo. Click on the link in the message to activate your account. 3. Enter your mobile number to complete the phone verification step. ### Sign up with your work email address

If you have any issues creating a Plivo account, please contact our [support team](https://support.plivo.com/hc/en-us/) for assistance. To get started, try sending an SMS message either by using our API and XML documents, or via {/* [PHLO](/phlo/) */}, our visual design tool, which allows you to create message flows using an intuitive canvas and deploy them with few clicks. ## Install Python, Sanic, and the Plivo Python SDK You must set up and install Python, Sanic, and Plivo’s Python SDK before you send your first SMS message. ### Install Python [Download and install Python](https://www.python.org/downloads/) from its official site. ### Install Sanic and the Plivo Python SDK Create a project directory and change into it. ```sh theme={null} $ mkdir mypythonapp $ cd mypythonapp ``` Install Sanic and the Plivo Python SDK using [pip](https://pip.pypa.io/en/latest/). ```shell theme={null} $ pip install sanic plivo ``` We recommend that you use [virtualenv](https://virtualenv.pypa.io/en/stable/) to manage and segregate your Python environments, instead of using `sudo` with your commands and overwriting dependencies. ## Send your first outbound SMS/MMS message You must have a Plivo phone number to send messages to the US or Canada; you can rent a Plivo number from Phone Numbers > [Buy Numbers](https://cx.plivo.com/phone-numbers) on the Plivo console or via the [Numbers API](/numbers/api/phone-number/#buy-a-phone-number). ### Set up a Sanic server Create a file called `SendSMS.py` and paste into it this code. ```py theme={null} import plivo client = plivo.RestClient('','') message_created = client.messages.create( src='', dst='', text='Hello, from Sanic!') print(message_created) ``` ```py theme={null} import plivo client = plivo.RestClient('','') message_created = client.messages.create( src='', dst='', media_ids=['801c2056-33ab-499c-80ef-58b574a462a2'], text='Hello, MMS from Sanic!', media_urls=['https://media.giphy.com/media/26gscSULUcfKU7dHq/source.gif'], type_='mms') print(message_created) ``` Replace the auth placeholders with your authentication credentials from the [Plivo console](https://cx.plivo.com/home). Replace the phone number placeholders with actual phone numbers in [E.164 format](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.164) (for example, +12025551234). In countries other than the US and Canada you can use a [sender ID](/messaging/concepts/sender-id-usage/) for the message source. **Note:** We recommend that you store your credentials in the `auth_id` and `auth_token` environment variables to avoid the possibility of accidentally committing them to source control. If you do this, you can initialize the client with no arguments and Plivo will automatically fetch the values from the environment variables. You can use `os.environ` to store environment variables and fetch them when initializing the client. ### Test Save the file and run it. ```shell theme={null} $ python SendSMS.py ``` ## Receive your first inbound SMS/MMS message To receive incoming messages, you must have a Plivo phone number that supports SMS; you can rent numbers from the [Numbers](https://cx.plivo.com/phone-numbers) page of the Plivo console or by using the [Numbers API](/numbers/). ### Set up a Sanic server Create a file called `receive_sms.py` and paste into it this code. ```py theme={null} import plivo from plivo import plivoxml from sanic import Sanic from sanic.response import text app = Sanic("Plivo SMS App") @app.route("/receive_sms/", methods=["POST", "GET"]) async def receive_sms(request): from_number = request.values.get("From") to_number = request.values.get("To") text = request.values.get("Text") print("Message received - From: %s, To: %s, Text: %s" % (from_number, to_number, text)) return "Message Received" if __name__ == "__main__": app.run(host="0.0.0.0", port=8000) ``` ```py theme={null} import plivo from plivo import plivoxml from sanic import Sanic from sanic.response import text app = Sanic("Plivo SMS App") @app.route("/receive_sms/", methods=["POST", "GET"]) async def receive_sms(request): from_number = request.values.get("From") to_number = request.values.get("To") text = request.values.get("Text") media_url = request.values.get("Media0") print("Message received - From: %s, To: %s, Text: %s, Media: %s" % (from_number, to_number, text, media_url)) return "Message Received" ``` Save the file and run it. ```shell theme={null} $ python receive_sms.py ``` You should see your basic server application in action at [http://localhost:8000/receive\_sms/](http://localhost:8000/receive_sms/). ### Expose your local server to the internet To receive incoming messages, your local server must connect with Plivo API services. For that, we recommend using [ngrok](https://ngrok.com/download), which exposes local servers running behind NATs and firewalls to the public internet over secure tunnels. Using ngrok, you can set webhooks that can talk to the Plivo server. ngrok block diagram

**Note:** Before starting the service, add ngrok in the allowed hosts list in the settings.py file in your project. ```python theme={null} ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['.ngrok.io'] ``` Run ngrok on the command line, specifying the port that hosts the application on which you want to receive messages (80 in this case): ```shell theme={null} $ ./ngrok http 80 ``` This starts the ngrok server on your local server. Ngrok will display a forwarding link that you can use as a webhook to access your local server over the public network. Sample ngrok CLI

### Test Send a text message to the Plivo number you specified using any phone. ## Reply to an incoming SMS/MMS message To receive incoming messages, you must have a Plivo phone number that supports SMS; you can rent numbers from the [Numbers](https://cx.plivo.com/phone-numbers) page of the Plivo console or by using the [Numbers API](/numbers/). ### Set up a Sanic server Create a file called `reply_to_sms.py` and paste into it this code. ```py theme={null} import plivo from plivo import plivoxml from sanic import Sanic from sanic.response import text app = Sanic("Plivo SMS App") @app.route("/reply_to_sms", methods=["POST", "GET"]) async def reply_to_sms(request): from_number = request.values.get("From") to_number = request.values.get("To") text = request.values.get("Text") print( "Message received - From: %s, To: %s, Text: %s" % (from_number, to_number, text) ) # send the details to generate an XML response = plivoxml.ResponseElement() response.add( plivoxml.MessageElement( "This is an automatic response", src=to_number, dst=from_number ) ) print(response.to_string()) # Prints the XML # Returns the XML return Response(response.to_string(), mimetype="application/xml") if __name__ == "__main__": app.run(host="0.0.0.0", port=8000) ``` If you haven’t done so already, [expose your local server to the internet](/sdk/server/set-up-python-dev-environment-api-messaging/#ngrok-setup). ### Create a Plivo application to reply to messages Associate the controller you created with Plivo by creating a Plivo application. Visiting Messaging > [Applications](https://cx.plivo.com/xml-applications) and click **Add New Application**. You can also use Plivo's [Application API](/account/api/application/#create-an-application). Give your application a name — we called ours `Reply Incoming SMS`. Enter the server URL you want to use (for example `http://.com/replysms/`) in the `Message URL` field and set the method to `POST`. Click **Create Application** to save your application.