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How to use Twilio with VS Code

You want Twilio inside VS Code so it can monitor inbound customer texts, find unanswered customer conversations, send targeted SMS updates, and follow up on an SMS conversation — without you copy-pasting between tabs. Here is the whole setup, once.

Create your Twilio gateway

The gateway is the thing VS Code connects to, and it is where you decide which Twilio tools an agent may use. You create it once and every client reuses it.

  1. Create an Arcade account

    Sign up and open the dashboard. The free tier is enough to follow this through.

  2. Create an MCP Gateway and select your Twilio tools

    In the dashboard, create a gateway and pick the Twilio tools you want to expose. The gateway is what your client connects to, and it is where tool access is decided.

  3. Copy your gateway URL

    Every client below needs it.

    https://api.arcade.dev/mcp/<YOUR-GATEWAY-SLUG>

Create a Twilio gateway Opens the gateway builder in your Arcade dashboard.

Connect the gateway to VS Code

  1. Add the server

    VS Code 1.107.0 or higher. Command Palette → MCP: Add Server… → choose HTTP, paste your gateway URL, and name it something like mcp-arcade.

  2. Start it and authenticate

    Click Start next to the server in mcp.json or under Extensions → MCP Servers - Installed, then approve the Arcade sign-in and consent screens.

  3. Try it out

    Open the chat pane, switch to Agent mode, and ask it to use one of your Twilio tools.

Full VS Code guide in the docs steps verified 2026-08-13

Try these SMS prompts

VS Code can now act on your Twilio account. Click a prompt to copy it.

Use tool permissions to control whether an agent can read messages, list phone numbers, or send SMS. Pair it with Contextual Access policies so it can triage incoming texts without being allowed to send one.

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