# Source: https://docs.avaamo.com/user-guide/how-to/build-agents/configure-agents/deploy/sms.md

# SMS

SMS (short message service) is a text messaging service component of most telephone, internet, and mobile-device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols to enable mobile devices to exchange short text messages. SMS is also employed in mobile marketing.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note**: You can connect to a channel only if it is enabled for your account or company. If you wish to enable a channel, then contact Avaamo Support for further assistance.
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The agents developed on the Avaamo platform can be deployed on the SMS Channel. In this article, the following steps are detailed:

1. [Before you begin](https://docs.avaamo.com/user-guide/how-to/build-agents/configure-agents/custom-channel#overview)
2. [Deploy your agent to SMS channel](#deploy-your-agent-to-sms-channel)
3. [Deploy in multiple SMS channel instances](#deploy-in-multiple-sms-channel-instances)
4. [Manage channel settings](#manage-channel-settings)

## **Before you begin**

* Customers must have the SMS channel functionality enabled for their dashboard.&#x20;
* In the **Agent** page, navigate to the **Configure -> Channels** option in the left navigation menu. On the Channels page, click **Connect** in SMS Channel. If the SMS channel is not enabled, the following message is displayed:

![](https://2934665269-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-LpXFTiTgns4Ml77XGi3%2F-M21jcjf9yrBKiXwioSb%2F-M22-PpsXrY6ghCcDGBn%2Fhowto-agent-deploy-sms-channel.png?alt=media\&token=e2cd5b23-29c5-412c-8989-1fc1dcf32455)

* Contact <support@avaamo.com> to enable the SMS channel.

## **Deploy your agent to SMS channel**

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**Notes**:

* Ensure you have met all the [pre-requisites](https://docs.avaamo.com/user-guide/quick-start-tutorials/pre-requisites).

* You can deploy the agent to a channel after creating and building an agent. See [Create agent](https://docs.avaamo.com/user-guide/how-to/build-agents/add-skills), for more information.

* If you wish to edit an agent, then:
  * In the **Avaamo Platform UI**, navigate to the **Agents** tab in the top menu. Search and open the required agent. See [Search agents](applewebdata://9AE47367-043D-436A-BAB1-053A8B89E2A1/@avaamo/s/avaamo/~/edit/drafts/-Lsoojy2kKRX1KXPWAZ2/how-to/build-agents/manage-agents#search-agents), for more information.&#x20;
  * Click **Edit** to unlock the agent before editing.
    {% endhint %}

* In the **Agent** page, navigate to the **Configure -> Channels** option in the left navigation menu.

* In the Channels page, specify the following parameters and click **Connect**.

<table><thead><tr><th width="171">Parameters</th><th width="368">Description</th><th width="157" align="center">Maximum length</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Channel name</td><td><p>Specify a name to identify the web channel. Channel name allows you to identify the SMS channel and is useful when you wish to deploy your agent in multiple web channels.</p><p></p><p>Note that the channel name must be unique and is mandatory.</p></td><td align="center"><p>50 </p><p>characters</p></td></tr><tr><td>Custom user authentication </td><td><p>Use this if you wish to enable custom authentication to authenticate users before posting a message via the SMS Send API. Note that this option works only with the <a href="../../../../ref/avaamo-platform-api-documentation/sms-send-api">SMS Send API</a>.</p><p></p><p>Toggle the slider to enable and disable it as required. </p><p></p><p>See <a href="../../define-settings#sms-channel">User authentication handler</a>, for more information. </p></td><td align="center">NA</td></tr></tbody></table>

* A phone number is **auto-generated** by the Avaamo platform. This is the number from which the SMS message is sent to the users. If you wish to have a different number other than the one generated by the platform, then contact Avaamo Support for further assistance.
* Additionally, some sample scripts with POST requests are also generated by the Platform that can be used as a reference to POST SMS messages from the channel. See [SMS Send API](https://docs.avaamo.com/user-guide/ref/avaamo-platform-api-documentation/sms-send-api), for more information.
* To **test** the channel, send an SMS with an end-user query to the phone number displayed in the SMS channel.

## Deploy in multiple SMS channel instances

Avaamo Platform allows you to deploy "one" agent across multiple instances of the SMS channel. This allows you to maintain different user sessions, and manage security for each SMS channel instance separately.&#x20;

**To deploy your agent in multiple instances of SMS channel**:

* In the **Agent** page, navigate to the **Configure -> Channels** option in the left navigation menu.
* On the Channels page, click **Connect** in SMS Channel and follow the steps in [Deploy your agent to SMS channel](#deploy-your-agent-to-sms-channel) to deploy your agent into another instance of the SMS channel.&#x20;

The following illustration depicts two SMS channels configured for the same agent. One SMS channel has Custom user authentication enabled and the other channel is without custom user authentication:

<figure><img src="https://2934665269-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-LpXFTiTgns4Ml77XGi3%2Fuploads%2F7WyCzGziaUTGaofxSKcM%2F6.3-multiple-SMS-channel.png?alt=media&#x26;token=0f767c2f-d0a8-470d-89b1-8c4e9e8af930" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

## Manage channel settings

After you configure the channel settings, you can view, edit, disconnect and delete the channel settings as per your requirements. See [Manage channel settings](https://docs.avaamo.com/user-guide/how-to/build-agents/configure-agents/deploy/manage-channel-settings), for more information