Send OTP

POST {api-url}/sendOTP?ns={community}

Generates a secure One-Time PIN (OTP) and dispatches it to the user. This OTP can then be used to validate actions such as /resetPassword or /changeMSISDN.

If ResendIfActive is false, the API will simply return the existing OTP without firing a new SMS, provided the current OTP hasn’t expired.

Request

Parameters

Field	Type	Requirement	Description
Username	String	Required	The username of the user.
IDNumber	String	Optional	The ID number of the user.
Expiry	String	Optional	Time in seconds until the OTP expires (defaults to 300 seconds).
Reference	String	Optional	A unique state reference bound to this OTP request.
ResendIfActive	String	Optional	Force dispatch a new SMS even if the current OTP is active (true or false).
Metadata	String	Optional	Any other detail to store with this transaction.

Example Body

{
  "Username": "27820000000",
  "IDNumber": "",
  "Expiry": "300",
  "Reference": "REF123",
  "ResendIfActive": "true",
  "Metadata": ""
}

Response

Parameters

Field	Type	Description
TID	String	TID of the executed operation.
Reference	String	The reference string bound to the OTP state.
State	String	Transaction state (Success or Failed).
Status	String	Transaction status code (1 or negative error code).
Error	String	Failure reason, if applicable.

Example Body

{
    "TID": "15000000000",
    "Reference": "REF123",
    "State": "Success",
    "Status": "1",
    "Error": ""
}

cURL

curl -X POST '{api-url}/sendOTP?ns={community}' \
-H 'Authorization: bearer YOUR_TOKEN' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{"Username":"27820000000","IDNumber":"","Expiry":"300","Reference":"REF123","ResendIfActive":"true","Metadata":""}'

C#

using System;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

class Program
{
    static async Task Main(string[] args)
    {
        var client = new HttpClient();
        var request = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Post, "{api-url}/sendOTP?ns={community}");
        request.Headers.Add("Authorization", "bearer YOUR_TOKEN");

        var jsonPayload = @"{
  ""Username"": ""27820000000"",
  ""IDNumber"": """",
  ""Expiry"": ""300"",
  ""Reference"": ""REF123"",
  ""ResendIfActive"": ""true"",
  ""Metadata"": """"
}";
        request.Content = new StringContent(jsonPayload, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");

        var response = await client.SendAsync(request);
        response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();

        var responseBody = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
        Console.WriteLine(responseBody);
    }
}

Go

package main

import (
  "fmt"
  "io/ioutil"
  "net/http"
  "strings"
)

func main() {
  url := "{api-url}/sendOTP?ns={community}"
  payload := strings.NewReader(`{"Username":"27820000000","IDNumber":"","Expiry":"300","Reference":"REF123","ResendIfActive":"true","Metadata":""}`)

  req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, payload)
  req.Header.Add("Authorization", "bearer YOUR_TOKEN")
  req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")

  res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
  defer res.Body.Close()

  body, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(res.Body)
  fmt.Println(string(body))
}

Java

import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.HttpClient;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest;
import java.net.http.HttpResponse;

public class ApiRequest {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        var payload = """
                {
  "Username": "27820000000",
  "IDNumber": "",
  "Expiry": "300",
  "Reference": "REF123",
  "ResendIfActive": "true",
  "Metadata": ""
}
                """;

        var request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
                .uri(URI.create("{api-url}/sendOTP?ns={community}"))
                .header("Authorization", "bearer YOUR_TOKEN")
                .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
                .POST(HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString(payload))
                .build();

        var response = HttpClient.newHttpClient().send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
        System.out.println(response.body());
    }
}

Node.js

// Requires Node.js v18+
(async () => {
    const url = '{api-url}/sendOTP?ns={community}';
    const payload = {
    "Username": "27820000000",
    "IDNumber": "",
    "Expiry": "300",
    "Reference": "REF123",
    "ResendIfActive": "true",
    "Metadata": ""
};

    try {
        const response = await fetch(url, {
            method: 'POST',
            headers: {
                'Authorization': 'bearer YOUR_TOKEN',
                'Content-Type': 'application/json'
            },
            body: JSON.stringify(payload)
        });
        const data = await response.json();
        console.log(data);
    } catch (error) {
        console.error('Error:', error);
    }
})();

PHP

<?php
$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, array(
  CURLOPT_URL => '{api-url}/sendOTP?ns={community}',
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => '',
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 0,
  CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION => true,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => 'POST',
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => '{
  "Username": "27820000000",
  "IDNumber": "",
  "Expiry": "300",
  "Reference": "REF123",
  "ResendIfActive": "true",
  "Metadata": ""
}',
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => array(
    'Authorization: bearer YOUR_TOKEN',
    'Content-Type: application/json'
  ),
));

$response = curl_exec($curl);
curl_close($curl);
echo $response;

Python

import requests
import json

url = "{api-url}/sendOTP?ns={community}"
payload = {
  "Username": "27820000000",
  "IDNumber": "",
  "Expiry": "300",
  "Reference": "REF123",
  "ResendIfActive": "true",
  "Metadata": ""
}

headers = {
    "Authorization": "bearer YOUR_TOKEN",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

response = requests.post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)
print(response.json())

Ruby

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'
require 'json'

url = URI("{api-url}/sendOTP?ns={community}")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request["Authorization"] = 'bearer YOUR_TOKEN'
request["Content-Type"] = 'application/json'

request.body = JSON.dump({
  "Username": "27820000000",
  "IDNumber": "",
  "Expiry": "300",
  "Reference": "REF123",
  "ResendIfActive": "true",
  "Metadata": ""
})

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body