# Textbee (MCP server)

> Textbee is an MCP server that adds messaging tools to AI assistants such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code and Cursor. Open-source SMS gateway. Turn your Android phone into an SMS API: send and receive SMS from your apps over REST… It has 3,205 GitHub stars, is released under the MIT license and runs locally with npx -y @textbee/mcp.

textbee: open-source Android SMS gateway Turn an Android phone into an SMS API. Send and receive text messages from your apps, scripts, and AI agents over REST, webhooks, and MCP. No Twilio account, no rented number, no per-message fees. Self-host it or use the free hosted plan.

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Repository | https://github.com/textbee/textbee |
| GitHub stars | 3,205 |
| License | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript |
| Transport | stdio |
| Packages | npm: @textbee/mcp |
| Remote URL | none |
| Needs API key | yes |
| Official | no |
| Works with | Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code |
| Category | Communication |
| Latest release | v2.9.0 (Sep 21, 2026) |
| Last commit | Oct 24, 2026 |

## Install

### Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json)

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "textbee": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@textbee/mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "TEXTBEE_API_KEY": "your-value"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

Settings > Developer > Edit Config. macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/, Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\. Restart Claude Desktop afterwards.

### Claude Code

```sh
claude mcp add --env TEXTBEE_API_KEY=your-value --transport stdio textbee -- npx -y @textbee/mcp
```

### Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json)

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "textbee": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@textbee/mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "TEXTBEE_API_KEY": "your-value"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

Project file; use ~/.cursor/mcp.json to enable it in every project.

### VS Code (.vscode/mcp.json)

```json
{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "textbee_api_key",
      "description": "TEXTBEE_API_KEY",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "textbee": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@textbee/mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "TEXTBEE_API_KEY": "${input:textbee_api_key}"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

Config formats checked against the official docs on 2026-10-07.

## Environment variables

- `TEXTBEE_API_KEY` (secret): Shown in the README's example configuration.

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