Getting started
Overview
Sends your WHMCS clients an SMS or a WhatsApp message when something happens to them — a new invoice, a payment received, a ticket reply, a domain about to expire — and notifies your own staff numbers about admin-side events. Twenty-eight events in all, each with its own message you can edit or switch off.
There are two installs, not one, and they go in different places.
This plugin installs into your platform dashboard. Once it is there it hands you a download:
a WHMCS addon module, generated for you, and that is what goes into WHMCS.
Uploading the wrong file to the wrong system is the single most common way to get
stuck — How it works explains the flow in
full, and it is worth two minutes before you start.
What you need
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| WHMCS | 8.0 or newer. |
| PHP | 7.4 or newer, on the server WHMCS runs on. |
| libphonenumber | Required. WHMCS normally provides it. The plugin does not carry a copy and will not send a single message without it — see Requirements. |
| An API key | Created in your dashboard under Tools → API
Keys, carrying the sms_send and wa_send
permissions. |
| A way to send | Either an SMS device or gateway, or a linked WhatsApp account. The plugin sends through what your platform account already has. |
What it does
- Client notifications. Invoices, payments, payment reminders, orders, tickets, domain registrations and renewals, account and service changes.
- Admin notifications. Tickets opened by an admin, client replies, logins, and domain registration or renewal outcomes — sent to phone numbers you type in yourself, per event.
- A domain expiry reminder that runs from the WHMCS daily cron, a configurable number of days before each domain expires.
- One-off messages to any single client, from the addon's Send Message tab.
Every message is a template you own. You can rewrite the wording, insert the available variables, and turn any of the twenty-eight events off individually.
What it does not do
- It does not send bulk campaigns or message a whole client list at once. Sends are one client at a time, or one event at a time.
- It does not receive replies. Messages go out; anything a client sends back arrives in your platform dashboard, not in WHMCS.
- It does not guess at a phone number it cannot resolve. A number that cannot be turned into a valid international number is refused rather than sent to whoever happens to hold it — see Troubleshooting.
Where to start
- Read How it works — the two installs.
- Check Requirements, particularly libphonenumber.
- Follow Installation end to end.
- Fill in the Settings tab and send yourself a test from Send Message.
Already running 3.9? Read
Upgrading from 3.9 before you touch anything in WHMCS.
Doing the steps in the instinctive order deletes your API key and every template you have
customised.