canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/nexmo.com/nexmo-dispatch-api

# Nexmo Dispatch API

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for Nexmo Dispatch API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. This dispatch-api slug is the alternate-named copy of Nexmo's Dispatch service, which orchestrates multi-channel failover workflows on top of Messages. A workflow follows a template; the failover template specifies an ordered list of channel attempts where each step has a success condition and a per-step expiry. The single POST endpoint accepts the full workflow body and returns a dispatch_uuid for status tracking.

## For AI agents

Send a message that automatically retries on the next channel (WhatsApp, SMS, Viber, Messenger) when the previous attempt fails or is not read in time. One POST endpoint.

## Scope

Does not send single-channel messages directly, manage WhatsApp templates, or expose per-channel analytics dashboards - use only to define multi-channel failover workflows that delegate sending to the Messages API.

## Capabilities

- Define a failover workflow with multiple ordered channel attempts via POST /
- Configure a per-step condition_status (delivered or read) that counts as success
- Set a failover_expiry per step after which Dispatch advances to the next channel
- Authenticate using either basic auth or a JWT bearer token tied to a Nexmo application
- Receive Messages API webhooks for each leg of the workflow tied to the parent dispatch_uuid

## Use cases

### Failover messaging for high-priority alerts

Operations and security teams configure WhatsApp-then-SMS workflows so that critical alerts always reach an on-call engineer. The failover template handles the retry timer and channel switch in Nexmo's infrastructure, removing the need for application-side scheduling. POST / accepts the full ordered workflow in a single request.

Example prompt: POST to / with a workflow targeting the on-call engineer's WhatsApp first (condition delivered, expiry 180) and SMS second.

### Read-confirmed customer notifications

For appointment confirmations or order updates, businesses can require a read condition on the first step so the workflow only stops once the customer has actually seen the message. If no read event lands within the failover_expiry, Dispatch falls over to SMS where read tracking is unavailable but delivery is reliable.

Example prompt: POST to / with a WhatsApp step having condition=read and failover_expiry=600, followed by an SMS fallback step using basic auth.

### Single-call cross-channel send for AI agents

An agent that needs to reach a user reliably without owning retry logic can issue one Dispatch call through Jentic. Search by intent, load the workflow schema, submit the body - Nexmo handles the rest including webhook fan-in tied to a single dispatch_uuid.

Example prompt: Search Jentic for 'send a failover multichannel message', load POST /, and execute with a two-step workflow.

## Key endpoints

| Method | Path | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| POST | / | Create a multi-channel failover workflow |

## Key resources

- **Workflow** — The single Dispatch resource - submit a failover template via POST /

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring the Nexmo Dispatch API by hand means supporting both HTTP basic and JWT bearer auth, minting per-call JWTs from your Application signing key, and posting failover workflows to the api.nexmo.com/v0.1/dispatch host. Through Jentic you install once, import the Dispatch API from the API Directory, store the credentials once, and your agent calls it.
- **Permission scoping:** The Dispatch API exposes a single failover-workflow endpoint and takes the message template in the request body, so scoping is by operation rather than by resource: limit the agent to the operation it needs, which is posting a multi-channel failover workflow. That single dispatch call is the only thing it can run.
- **Credential handling:** Your Nexmo basic credentials and Application signing key are stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and used to mint per-call JWTs at execution time. They never enter the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'send a failover multichannel message', and Jentic returns the POST / operation with its full workflow body schema, including the nested failover template fields, so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs.

## Related APIs

- **Nexmo Messages API** — The single-channel send API that Dispatch orchestrates across multiple channels
- **Twilio API** — Twilio Notify and Conversations cover similar multi-channel orchestration
- **Sinch** — Sinch Conversation API offers comparable cross-channel routing for SMS, WhatsApp, RCS and Messenger

## FAQ

### Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for Nexmo Dispatch API?

Vonage (formerly Nexmo) does not publish an OpenAPI specification. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call Nexmo Dispatch API via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started with Jentic One, the self-hosted execution layer.

### What authentication does the Nexmo Dispatch API use?

Either HTTP basic auth using api_key and api_secret or HTTP bearer with an application-scoped JWT. Jentic stores the credential pair and the signing key encrypted, signs JWTs server-side per call, and never exposes either to the agent.

### Can I configure how long Dispatch waits before falling over?

Yes. Each step in the workflow has a failover_expiry in seconds. If the configured condition (delivered or read) is not reached within that window, Dispatch advances to the next step automatically.

### What are the rate limits for the Nexmo Dispatch API?

The OpenAPI spec does not declare rate limits. Limits are imposed at the account level and at the underlying Messages API channels (WhatsApp, SMS, Viber, Messenger), which apply to each dispatched leg.

### How do I send a WhatsApp-to-SMS failover message through Jentic?

Search Jentic for 'send a failover multichannel message', load POST / on the Dispatch API, and execute it with template=failover and a workflow array containing the WhatsApp and SMS steps.

### How does this dispatch-api slug differ from the dispatch slug?

They expose the same underlying API at the same base URL with the same single POST / endpoint. The two slugs exist because of how the spec was originally indexed; either path can be used to reach the same Dispatch service.

### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the Nexmo Dispatch API?

Yes. Because you run Jentic One yourself, your own rules decide which operations and credentials the agent may use. The Dispatch API exposes just one operation, POST / to create a multi-channel failover workflow, so you scope by operation: allow the agent that single dispatch call and nothing else. The Nexmo basic credentials and Application signing key stay in your instance and are used to mint per-call JWTs at execution time, so the agent can post a failover workflow without ever handling the raw secrets.