API for developers: carrier-of-record communications with native AI agents
What is an API for developers?
An API for developers is a platform's programmatic contract: the HTTPS endpoints, webhooks, and SDKs your code integrates against. On a communications platform the two things that separate one developer API from another are who terminates your traffic and whether the AI layer is native. Orbit by Devotel is a carrier-of-record communications API: outbound voice and SMS terminate on Devotel's own wholesale softswitch instead of being resold through an aggregator hop, which means one accountable hop from your API call to the destination network. Its AI agents are native — voice and messaging agents run on the same platform and share the same contacts, campaigns, and delivery webhooks — not a bolt-on integration on top of a legacy CPaaS.
The two axes that separate one developer API from another
Carrier of record
Most CPaaS providers resell termination through an upstream aggregator — your call or message crosses an extra hop you cannot audit. Orbit terminates outbound voice and SMS on Devotel's own wholesale softswitch, so a developer integrates once and the traffic takes one accountable path to the destination network instead of a chain of resold trunks.
Native AI agents
A native agent platform means the voice and messaging agents share the same contact profile, campaign, flow, and delivery webhook as every other channel — the agent acts on the same customer record your API call does, instead of being a separate integration the platform patched on later.
Evaluate a communications API, from keys to webhooks
Check whose network terminates the traffic
Read the provider's termination story before any code. If they resell through an aggregator, your deliverability, compliance, and auditability inherit that extra hop; a carrier-of-record provider terminates on its own switch.
Create an API key in the dashboard
Sign up, open the developer settings, and create an API key. The same key authenticates against every channel — SMS, voice, WhatsApp, RCS, email, and AI-agent actions share the one credential.
Send your first message over the API
POST to the messages endpoint with the destination number and body and get back a trackable message id. The same integration shape carries every other channel, so your first send is also your template for the rest.
Listen on one webhook for every channel
Delivery receipts, inbound replies, and AI-agent events all arrive at one webhook endpoint in a uniform envelope, so switching a contact from SMS to voice or to an AI agent does not change your server-side plumbing.
What a developer integrates against
| Capability | What you get |
|---|---|
| One API key across every channel | A single credential authenticates SMS, voice, WhatsApp, RCS, email, video, and AI-agent actions. Adding a channel is a routing change on the same integration, not a second bill or second SDK. |
| Uniform webhook surface | Delivery receipts, inbound replies, and AI-agent tool events arrive at one endpoint in the same envelope. A development team writes one handler, not one per channel, and the contract does not drift between channels. |
| Carrier-of-record termination | Outbound voice and SMS terminate on Devotel's own wholesale softswitch. Your traffic exits onto the operator network through one provider you can audit, instead of being resold through an upstream aggregator. |
| Native AI agents, not a bolt-on | Voice and messaging agents run inside the platform and share contacts, campaigns, flows, and webhooks with every other channel. An agent can answer a call, text back on SMS, and hand a warm contact to a human inbox with the same customer record intact. |
| Compliance built in, not bolted on | Opt-outs, do-not-call lists, quiet hours, and 10DLC registration follow the contact rather than one campaign. The compliance layer travels with the customer record your API call touches. |
What the API costs
Pay-as-you-go with no monthly platform fee — you pre-pay credits and pay only for what you send. Channel rates are published per destination on the pricing page, and volume rate cards are available on request.
API for developers — frequently asked
- What is a carrier of record on a communications API?
- A carrier of record is the provider whose own network terminates the traffic. When a CPaaS provider resells termination through an upstream aggregator, your call or message crosses an extra hop you cannot audit — the destination operator sees the aggregator, not the API provider. Orbit by Devotel terminates outbound voice and SMS on Devotel's own wholesale softswitch, so the traffic takes one accountable path from your API call to the destination network.
- How is Orbit different from Twilio, Telnyx, or Plivo?
- Most communications API providers fall into one of two camps: the programmable-API incumbents (Twilio-style) resell termination through aggregators, and the owned-network challengers (Telnyx-style) still treat AI as a bolt-on. Orbit pairs a carrier-of-record network with native AI agents — voice and messaging agents that share the same contacts, campaigns, and webhooks as every other channel — on one pay-as-you-go bill.
- Are the AI agents a separate integration?
- No. The AI agents are native: they run on the same platform and act on the same customer record your other API calls do. A voice agent can answer a call, send a follow-up SMS, and hand the warm contact to a human inbox with the consent state, contact profile, and campaign context intact — instead of a second platform you synchronize afterward.
- Which channels does the developer API cover?
- One API key and one webhook surface carry SMS, voice, WhatsApp, RCS, email, video, and AI-agent actions. Adding a channel is a routing change on the integration you already built, not a second SDK and a second bill.
- How much does the API cost to integrate against?
- Orbit is pay-as-you-go with no monthly platform fee: you pre-pay credits and pay only for what you send. Channel rates are published per destination on the pricing page, and volume rate cards are available on request.
- Is the platform documented and cited elsewhere?
- Yes. The published comparison pages and FAQ surface on this site are server-rendered with no client-only content, so the claims an AI engine reads are the same claims a visitor reads. Individual channel product pages — SMS, programmable voice, WhatsApp, email, video — deep-link into the same developer story rather than a separate integration surface.
Explore more
Build on the carrier-of-record API
Orbit by Devotel unifies voice, SMS, WhatsApp, RCS, email, video, AI agents, and customer data behind one API key and one webhook, on one pay-as-you-go bill. Start free, or talk to our team about a volume rate card.