5-minute quickstartHow to start sending messages with Prelude
Prelude is a privately held communications platform based in Paris, France (EU). This guide takes you from zero to a delivered SMSin about five minutes — no sales call required.
- A Prelude account — sign up here.
- Your API credentials from the dashboard.
- A phone number capable of receiving SMSs for testing.
Step 1 — Create your account
- Sign up. Head to prelude.so and create an account. Onboarding is self-service, so you can start immediately.
- Grab your keys. Open the dashboard and copy your credentials. Prelude uses Bearer v2 API key in the Authorization header (Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN).
Step 2 — Send your first SMS
The fastest path is a single API call. Drop in your credentials and a destination number, then run this from your terminal:
curl -X POST https://api.prelude.dev/v2/verification \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"target": {
"type": "phone_number",
"value": "+30123456789"
}
}'The request hits https://api.prelude.dev/v2/verification. A 2xx response means Preludehas accepted your message for delivery — you should see it arrive within seconds.
Step 3 — Go native with an SDK
Once the raw call works, switch to an official SDK for retries, typing and error handling.Prelude ships SDKs for Node.js, Python, Go, Java, Ruby, PHP, C#, and Node.js is a great place to start.Full reference lives in the Prelude documentation.
What's next
- Add more channels. Prelude also supports WhatsApp, RCS, Viber, Voice — reuse the same account and credentials.
- Mind compliance. Prelude is GDPR, ISO 27001, SOC 2 aligned, with EU and no US data residency options.
- Compare before you commit. See how Prelude stacks up on the provider table or in a head-to-head comparison.
Values in this guide come from Prelude's public documentation. Always check the official docs for the latest details.