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Messagebird Laravel Package
laravel-notification-channels/messagebird
MessageBird notification channel for Laravel. Send SMS notifications through MessageBird’s API using Laravel’s native notification system. Configure your access key and originator, then deliver messages with a dedicated notification class.
MessageBird notification channel for Laravel 5.x
Frequently asked questions about Messagebird
- How do I install and configure the MessageBird notification channel in Laravel?
- Install it with composer require laravel-notification-channels/messagebird, then publish the package config and add your MessageBird access key and originator (sender ID). After that, add 'messagebird' to the via() array of any notification class and implement the matching toMessagebird() method. It is a thin adapter over Laravel's native notification system, so no extra abstraction layer or transport concept is introduced.
- Which Laravel versions does laravel-notification-channels/messagebird support?
- The package is published as a Laravel 5.x notification channel, and the latest release (v4.4.0) declares compatibility with Laravel 13.x. That constraint bump comes from the laravel-notification-channels umbrella org's automated compatibility pipeline rather than manual transport work. Because the repo has very few dependents, verify it against your own Laravel and PHP versions in CI before adopting, especially if you are on an older LTS target.
- How do I send an SMS notification with MessageBird in Laravel?
- Create a notification class, add 'messagebird' to its via() method, and define toMessagebird($notifiable) returning a MessagebirdMessage built through the package's fluent API. Then call $user->notify(new YourNotification()) and the channel hands the message to the MessageBird SDK. The MessagebirdMessage object mirrors Laravel's familiar fluent message builders, so there is very little new syntax to learn.
- How do I send a MessageBird SMS to a phone number that is not a user model?
- Use on-demand notifications: Notification::route('messagebird', $phoneNumber)->notify(new YourNotification()). The channel reads the routed phone value the same way it reads a phone attribute from a notifiable model. This is the usual approach for invites, one-off alerts, and OTP flows where no user record exists yet.
- Where do I set the MessageBird access key and originator?
- Both live in the package's published config file: the access key authenticates against MessageBird's API and the originator is the sender ID recipients see. Keep the key in your environment file rather than committing it, since config caching will otherwise bake it into the repo. Originator rules are vendor and country specific, and alphanumeric sender IDs are restricted in some markets, so confirm compliance with MessageBird before going live.
- Can this package send WhatsApp or voice messages through MessageBird?
- No. The channel is SMS-only and exposes a single MessagebirdMessage object with a single send path. Bird's platform covers SMS, WhatsApp, voice, and email, but none of those additional channels are implemented here. If your roadmap includes WhatsApp or verified voice OTP, treat this package as a starting point and plan a separate integration.
- Is laravel-notification-channels/messagebird still maintained?
- v4.4.0 was authored by @laravel-shift, the umbrella org's automated compatibility pipeline, which is a recurring heartbeat that keeps framework constraints current. It does not demonstrate a human maintainer handling transport-level issues, vendor SDK upgrades, security triage, or bug reports. The package also wraps the official MessageBird PHP SDK, which is itself low-activity, and the legacy rest.messagebird.com API has been on a long deprecation arc since the Bird rebrand, so check which API surface the SDK targets before committing.
- How do I test MessageBird SMS notifications without hitting the API?
- Wrap the code under test in Notification::fake() and assert with Notification::assertSentTo(), which verifies the notification was dispatched on the messagebird channel without any real API traffic. For deeper integration coverage you would need to mock the underlying MessageBird SDK client, since the package is a thin pass-through. Keeping the notify call behind a small service of your own makes that mocking considerably easier.
- What are the production risks of using this MessageBird channel?
- The code footprint is tiny, a service provider, a config entry, and one or two classes, so the blast radius of a failure is small and the package is trivially replaceable. The real risks are adoption and supply chain: very low star counts, zero dependents (meaning no community-vetted edge cases or downstream pressure to fix breakage), and a dependency on a low-activity vendor SDK. There is also no delivery-receipt reconciliation, no message ID persistence, and no cost attribution, so add your own logging if you need any of those.
- What are the alternatives to this package for sending SMS in Laravel?
- Compare it with the other laravel-notification-channels SMS drivers such as Twilio or Vonage, or with Bird's own platform SDKs if you want multi-channel support. Because this package is a thin adapter with near-zero coupling, switching to another channel is inexpensive and mostly means changing the via() entry plus the message class. The deciding factor is usually vendor-side: which provider handles your sender ID registration and country-specific compliance.
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