Introduction to Zavu

What Zavu is

Zavu is the communication layer for humans and agents. You get two things, and they are the same platform:

An API for messages. Send and receive on WhatsApp, SMS, voice, email, Telegram, Instagram and Messenger through one integration.
A runtime for agents. Declare an agent in TypeScript, deploy it with one command, and it answers on those same channels. Including phone calls.

Most teams start with one and end up using both. The agent that answers a WhatsApp thread is the same object that answers the phone, and the message you send by hand goes out the same pipe.

Two ways to build

There is no wrong entry point. Pick the one that matches where your code lives.

Deploy on our infra

Write defineAgent and defineTool in a file, run npx zavudev deploy. Zavu runs the code, holds the conversation, and calls your tools.

Call our API from yours

Keep your stack. Use the REST API or an SDK to send, receive, and drive conversations from your own backend.

Ship an agent

import { defineAgent, defineTool } from "@zavudev/functions"

defineAgent({
  senderId: process.env.SENDER_ID!,
  name: "Bella",
  provider: "zavu",
  model: "openai/gpt-4o-mini",
  prompt: "You are Bella, host at the pizzeria. Keep it short.",
  channels: ["whatsapp"],
})

defineTool({
  name: "check_availability",
  description: "Get free reservation slots for a date and party size.",
  parameters: {
    type: "object",
    properties: {
      date: { type: "string" },
      partySize: { type: "number" },
    },
    required: ["date", "partySize"],
  },
  handler: async ({ date, partySize }) => {
    // your real booking logic: DB, POS, external API, whatever
    return { available: true, slots: ["19:00", "21:00"] }
  },
})

npx zavudev deploy

Your code is the source of truth. Every deploy reconciles the live agent to match what the file declares, so an agent you delete from the code is deleted for real. See How agents work. Not starting from scratch? npx zavudev agents pull fermi drops a ready-made agent into your project as editable code. Seven of them ship today, for sales, support, and front desk. See Factory agents.

Send a message

import Zavudev from '@zavudev/sdk';

const zavu = new Zavudev();

await zavu.messages.send({
  to: "+14155551234",
  text: "Your order #1234 has shipped!"
});

No channel specified means auto: Zavu scores the channels your sender can reach the recipient on and sends through the one that wins on cost and deliverability, with fallback if it fails. See Smart routing.

Channels

Channel	Best for	Agents
WhatsApp	Rich media, templates, high engagement	Yes
SMS	Universal reach, alerts, OTP, no internet required	Yes
Voice	Two-way phone calls, text-to-speech alerts	Yes
Email	Transactional and marketing mail, attachments, replies	Yes
Telegram	Bot messaging, large file sharing	Yes
Messenger	Facebook Page and Marketplace conversations	Yes
Instagram	Direct messages on a Business account	Yes

Every channel shares one send contract, one set of webhook events, and one bill.

Build with your coding agent

Zavu is designed to be operated by the agent you already code with. Give it the skills and it writes correct Zavu code on the first try, instead of guessing at endpoints.

npx skills add zavudev/zavu-skills

Twelve skills cover agents, functions, voice, channels, webhooks, templates, broadcasts, contacts and phone numbers. For direct API execution, add the MCP server. They compose: skills decide what to do, MCP does it.

Next steps

Agent quickstart

Deploy an agent that answers a real channel, in about ten minutes

Messaging quickstart

Send your first message from your own backend

How agents work

From TypeScript on your machine to an agent answering a phone call

CLI

Every resource in the API, from your shell and your CI

Authentication

API keys, environments, and the sender header

API reference

Every endpoint, with a live playground

Getting Started

Build agents

Send & receive

Operate

Developer tools

Introduction to Zavu

What Zavu is

Two ways to build

Deploy on our infra

Call our API from yours

Ship an agent

Send a message

Channels

Build with your coding agent

Next steps

Agent quickstart

Messaging quickstart

How agents work

CLI

Authentication

API reference

​What Zavu is

​Two ways to build

Deploy on our infra

Call our API from yours

​Ship an agent

​Send a message

​Channels

​Build with your coding agent

​Next steps

Agent quickstart

Messaging quickstart

How agents work

CLI

Authentication

API reference

What Zavu is

Two ways to build

Ship an agent

Send a message

Channels

Build with your coding agent

Next steps