Vercel AI SDK + iMessage — AI Messaging in Next.js Apps (2026)

How to Connect Vercel AI SDK to iMessage

Code Example: Next.js API Route with AI + iMessage

This Next.js API route receives an incoming iMessage via webhook, generates an AI response using Vercel AI SDK, and sends it back through Sendblue:

// app/api/webhooks/sendblue/route.ts
import { generateText } from "ai";
import { openai } from "@ai-sdk/openai";

export async function POST(req: Request) {
  const { content, number } = await req.json();

  // Generate AI response using Vercel AI SDK
  const { text } = await generateText({
    model: openai("gpt-4o"),
    prompt: `Reply to this customer message: "${content}"`,
  });

  // Send the AI response via iMessage through Sendblue
  await fetch("https://api.sendblue.co/api/send-message", {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      "sb-api-key-id": process.env.SENDBLUE_API_KEY!,
      "sb-api-secret-key": process.env.SENDBLUE_API_SECRET!,
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({ number, content: text }),
  });

  return Response.json({ success: true });
}

Use Cases

Why Vercel AI SDK + iMessage?

Vercel AI SDK is the standard toolkit for building AI features in Next.js applications. Combined with Sendblue, you can add AI-powered iMessage capabilities to any Next.js app — from customer support bots to automated sales outreach.

Why iMessage matters for your app: Email open rates average 20-30%. SMS response rates sit around 5-10%. iMessage consistently delivers 30-45% response rates. When your AI sends via blue bubbles, users actually read and reply.

The architecture is clean: Sendblue webhooks POST incoming messages to your Next.js API routes. Your route processes the message with Vercel AI SDK (using any supported model — OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, etc.), then calls the Sendblue API to send the response. Deploy to Vercel and it scales automatically.

For tool-use AI patterns, you can also integrate the Sendblue MCP server (sendblue-mcp) to give your AI agents direct access to messaging capabilities. Sendblue handles smart routing automatically — iPhone users get blue bubbles, Android users get SMS fallback.

Add media support (images, vCards), FaceTime Audio calling, and typing indicators to create rich, multi-modal AI messaging experiences in your Next.js app.