Text the caller from a Bland agent

Build a Bland webhook tool that texts the person on the call a link, an address or a confirmation through TextKit, without ending the call.

How it works

The tool is one HTTP request to POST https://api.jointextkit.com/v1/messages. Bland fills to with {{phone_number}}, the caller's number, when the tool runs. The agent writes only body, the text itself. So the agent can text the person on the call and nobody else, and you never have to read a phone number out loud or trust the agent to copy one correctly.

The request carries your key in an Authorization: Bearer header, stored on the Bland side. TextKit answers with the message (id, status), which the agent can use to say "Sent."

1. Store the key as a secret

Set the sidebar selector to All agents, open Tools, and on the Secrets tab click Add Secret. Name it textkit_api_key and paste your key (ssms_sk_test_...) as a Static secret.

2. Build the webhook tool

Inside your agent, open Tools, click Create tool and choose Webhook.

Name: text_caller, which is what you type after @ in a prompt.
Description: "Text the caller a link, an address or a confirmation. Use only after the caller agrees to get a text."
Agent speech: "Sending that now."
Method and URL: POST https://api.jointextkit.com/v1/messages
Authorization tab: choose Bearer Token and pick textkit_api_key.
Body:

json

{
  "to": "{{phone_number}}",
  "body": "{{message}}"
}

Under Detected variables, click Add input variable on message only, with the instructions "The full text to send, under 300 characters, with the link or details the caller asked for." Leave phone_number alone: a variable you do not add as an input resolves from the call, and {{phone_number}} is Bland's built-in variable for the other party's number. Keep the ok output field checked so the agent waits for TextKit's answer.

3. Tag it into the prompt

A tool does nothing until a prompt tags it. In the agent's Prompt, type @, pick text_caller, and add:

text

When the caller asks for a link, an address or a confirmation in writing,
offer to text it to the number they are calling from. If they say yes, call
text_caller with the full text, under 300 characters, and say "Sent." when it
returns. Never read the caller's number back to them.

Test it in the sandbox

Use a test key (ssms_sk_test_...) from the API keys page and verify your own cell under Settings in the console. Then call your agent from that phone and ask for the text. A test key delivers to your verified phone for real (up to 10 a day, ending "- via TextKit sandbox"); a call from any other phone is simulated, and the message shows in the console's log tagged Test · simulated. Browser and web test calls have no caller number, so test with a real phone call.

Before you go live

Swap in a live key (ssms_sk_live_) and buy a number; with one number on the account, from is optional. Register your use case so carriers accept the texts.
Have the agent offer the text and send it only after the caller says yes. STOP and HELP replies are handled for you (opt-out).
Quiet hours apply: a text sent during a call after 9pm in the caller's local time is held until 8am, unless it is a one-time code.
US and Canadian numbers only. A send to any other number is refused, and the agent gets the error back in the tool result.