Initial setup and authentication
Register a Chat API account, create an API key in the control panel and save the key as an environment variable. Never embed the key directly in source code.
For Node.js, install axios or use native fetch. For Python, install requests. Both libraries allow making HTTP requests to Chat API's endpoint.
Node.js example: message and template sending
The Node.js code for sending a simple text message is a POST call to Chat API's /messages endpoint with the recipient's number, message type ('text') and text. The response includes the message ID for tracking.
For template sending with variables, add the 'template' field to the request body with the template name and variable values.
Proper error handling involves verifying the HTTP response code and logging the response body on errors for debugging.
Python example: sending with retry logic
In Python, the tenacity library or a simple for loop allows implementing retry logic with exponential backoff. This is essential for handling rate limits and transient timeouts without losing messages.
Handling events via webhook
To receive message status updates, configure a webhook endpoint in the Chat API panel. In Node.js, Express.js allows creating a POST endpoint in a few lines that receives and processes events.
Chat API's technical documentation includes complete examples for Node.js, Python, PHP and Go. The Chat API sandbox allows testing sending and receiving without real messages to end customers during development.
