GatewayAPI is an SMS and RCS messaging platform for sending mobile messages through an API. The GatewayAPI connector lets your RShift Sites app send SMS and RCS messages, batch-send notifications, and connect delivery events back to app workflows.
GatewayAPI is available as an app + chat connector: one shared connection that works in the project chat while you build and in your published apps.
With GatewayAPI, your app can:
- Send SMS and RCS messages to phone numbers
- Batch-send mobile messages for notifications and campaigns
- Add labels and references so messages can be matched to orders, bookings, or other app records
- Receive delivery status callbacks through a public webhook endpoint you configure in GatewayAPI
- Receive inbound SMS and RCS replies when your GatewayAPI account supports them
GatewayAPI is a good fit for apps that need transactional alerts, operational notifications, customer messaging, or campaign workflows backed by your GatewayAPI account.
Common use cases and example apps
These examples show what you can build with GatewayAPI, each with a prompt to start from.
| Example app | Example prompt | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Appointment reminders | Use GatewayAPI and build an appointment reminder app that sends SMS reminders before each booking. | Reduce missed appointments with scheduled SMS reminders. The app stores bookings, sends GatewayAPI messages before each appointment, and records delivery status for each reminder. |
| Order status notifications | Use GatewayAPI and build an order tracking app that texts customers when their order is packed, shipped, and delivered. | Keep customers updated from order events. The app sends SMS or RCS updates when order status changes and uses message references to connect callbacks to the right order. |
| Incident alerting | Use GatewayAPI and build an incident alert tool that texts on-call staff when a critical event is created. | Send high-priority alerts outside email and chat. The app detects critical incidents, sends mobile alerts through GatewayAPI, and stores delivery results for audit trails. |
| Two-way support inbox | Use GatewayAPI and build a support inbox that receives inbound SMS replies from customers. | Turn inbound customer replies into support records. The app exposes a public webhook endpoint, stores each reply, and shows it to the support team. |
| Campaign sender | Use GatewayAPI and build a campaign tool that sends approved SMS updates to a customer list. | Send segmented mobile campaigns from app data. The app batches recipients, sends messages through GatewayAPI, and tracks callback events for each campaign. |
| Delivery status dashboard | Use GatewayAPI and build a dashboard showing sent, delivered, and failed SMS messages from GatewayAPI webhooks. | Monitor message delivery inside your app. The app saves webhook events, groups them by message reference, and shows delivery trends over time. |
How to connect GatewayAPI
Who can create GatewayAPI connections depends on your plan and workspace settings. App + chat connectors are available by default on Free, Pro, and Business plans. On Enterprise plans, they are effectively disabled at first: Who can create connections and clients defaults to No one until an admin changes it in Connectors → Admin settings → App + chat connectors.
You can create multiple GatewayAPI connections using different API tokens, which is useful for separating environments (for example, development and production), targeting different GatewayAPI accounts, or using separate GatewayAPI domains.
When the connection is created, you can link it to the projects where you want to use it. Anyone building in a project can ask RShift Sites in the project chat to link their project to it.
Prerequisites
Before connecting GatewayAPI, make sure you have:
- A GatewayAPI account
- A GatewayAPI API token
- The GatewayAPI domain where your API token is valid, either Global (gatewayapi.com) or EU (gatewayapi.eu)
- Permission to create connections in your RShift Sites workspace (see Who can create connections and clients)
Step 1: Get a GatewayAPI API token
A GatewayAPI API token lets your RShift Sites app authenticate with the GatewayAPI messaging APIs. You can create separate tokens for different environments or apps.
To create or copy a GatewayAPI API token:
Open your GatewayAPI account
Sign in to the GatewayAPI dashboard with the account you want RShift Sites to use.
Open API token settings
In GatewayAPI, open the section where API tokens are managed for your account.
Create or copy an API token
Create a new API token for RShift Sites or copy an existing token. Use a descriptive name, for example RShift Sites integration, if GatewayAPI asks for one.
Note your API domain
Note whether the token belongs to the global GatewayAPI domain (gatewayapi.com) or the EU domain (gatewayapi.eu). You need to select the matching domain in RShift Sites.
See GatewayAPI documentation for more information: GatewayAPI authentication.
Step 2: Connect GatewayAPI to RShift Sites
You can create multiple connections using different API tokens.
Open GatewayAPI in Connectors
Open Connectors and select GatewayAPI. For the other places to open the catalog from, see Where to find connectors.
Add a connection
Click Add connection.
Configure the connection
- Display name: name the connection, for example
GatewayAPI Prod. This name is only used inside RShift Sites to identify the connection. 2. API domain: select the GatewayAPI domain where your token is valid. The default is Global (gatewayapi.com). Select EU (gatewayapi.eu) for tokens issued for the EU domain. 3. API token: paste your GatewayAPI API token.
Choose who can use this connection
Under Sharing, the connection is private to you by default and shows a Private label. To share it, click Share with others. Then add workspace members by email, or click Invite entire workspace to make the connection available to everyone in your RShift Sites workspace.
See Who can use connections and clients for more information.
Connect
Click Connect. RShift Sites verifies the token against the GatewayAPI account API for the selected domain before saving the connection.
When connected, anyone building in a project can ask RShift Sites in the project chat to link their project to GatewayAPI (based on configured connection-level access). Your RShift Sites apps can then send SMS and RCS messages through GatewayAPI.
Receiving delivery status and inbound replies
GatewayAPI sends delivery status updates and inbound SMS or RCS messages to webhook endpoints that you configure in the GatewayAPI dashboard. These webhook events do not go through the RShift Sites connector gateway.
When prompting RShift Sites to build webhook handling, ask it to:
- Create a public endpoint for GatewayAPI webhook events
- Save each event before responding with a 2xx status
- Respond within 5 seconds so GatewayAPI does not treat the event as failed
- Use GatewayAPI message references to match status callbacks to app records
- Accept only events whose reference matches a record your app created
When you register the webhook in GatewayAPI, add an authentication token. GatewayAPI uses it to sign each callback with a JWT in the X-Gwapi-Signature header, and your app verifies that token before trusting the event. Callbacks come from changing IP addresses, so the signature and the message reference are your safeguards against forged events. After RShift Sites creates the webhook endpoint, register it in the GatewayAPI dashboard for the matching domain.
Limitations
The GatewayAPI connector cannot:
- Create, update, or delete GatewayAPI webhooks for you. Configure webhooks in the GatewayAPI dashboard.
- Route delivery status or inbound message webhook events through the connector gateway.
- Lease short codes, keywords, or other inbound messaging resources for you.
- Call GatewayAPI’s legacy REST API. Only the messaging API host is reachable through the connector gateway.
- Use more than one GatewayAPI domain per connection. A single connection authenticates against either the global domain or the EU domain.
- Support per-end-user GatewayAPI login. Each connection represents one GatewayAPI API token shared across all projects linked to it.
Manage your {connector_0} connection
Connections are managed from Connectors: select {connector_0}, then open the connection.
- Unlink projects to remove {connector_0} access from specific projects while keeping the connection available for others. See Unlink projects from a connection for the steps.
- Delete the connection to remove it from the workspace entirely. Deleting is permanent. It removes the credentials from all linked projects, and app features that use {connector_0} stop working until a new connection is added. See Delete a connection for the steps and who can delete.