Contact format

Every endpoint that addresses a contact uses the same contact object:

{
  "identifier": "237699999999",
  "profile": {
    "lastname": "Mbarga",
    "firstname": "Brice",
    "email": "brice@example.com",
    "address": "Douala",
    "preferred_language": "fr"
  }
}

Identifier

string

required

The identity of the contact on the channel, up to 200 characters.

Channel	Identifier	`identifier_type`
WhatsApp	The phone number in E.164 format without the `+`, for example `237699999999`	`phone`
Mailbox	The email address	`email`
Shortext endpoint	Your own user id, for example `user-42`	`external_id`

On a Shortext endpoint, the identifier is only unique within your company: the same user-42 in two companies is two different contacts. The API always gives you back your own id.

Profile

All the profile fields are optional when you start a conversation or send an inbound message (the v1.0 POST /messages/send requires lastname).

Field	Type	Notes
`lastname`	string	Up to 250 characters.
`firstname`	string	Up to 250 characters.
`email`	string	A valid email address.
`address`	string	Up to 250 characters.
`preferred_language`	string	`en`, `fr`, `es` or `de`.

The profile updates the contact Shortext keeps; the agent uses the name and the language to address the contact.

Contacts in responses and webhooks

Responses and webhooks describe a contact with its identifier, its type, its profile and, when known, its country:

{
  "identifier": "237699999999",
  "identifier_type": "phone",
  "profile": { "lastname": "Mbarga", "firstname": "Brice", "preferred_language": "fr" },
  "country": { "iso_code": "CM", "phone_code": "237", "name": "Cameroun" }
}

Empty profile fields are left out.

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Identifier

Profile

Contacts in responses and webhooks

​Identifier

​Profile

​Contacts in responses and webhooks

Identifier

Profile

Contacts in responses and webhooks