How to send SMS through SMPP from Continue
This guide explains how to connect Continue to Ozeki SMS Gateway's built in SMS MCP server, enabling the AI assistant to send and receive SMS messages through your own on-premises SMS gateway. You will learn how to install Ozeki SMS Gateway, create an MCP user account, generate an API key, register the MCP endpoint in Continue, and verify the setup by sending a test message.
Solution: How to send SMS from Continue
Continue connects to the SMPP SMS MCP Server through the MCP protocol, where Continue acts as the MCP client and Ozeki SMS Gateway acts as the MCP server. Ozeki SMS Gateway is installed on your local machine or server and connects to the SMS service provider over the internet using an SMPP client connection. When an SMS is sent, it first travels from Continue to the Ozeki SMS Gateway as an MCP tool call, and the gateway forwards it to the SMS service provider over SMPP, which delivers it to the recipient's mobile phone.
What is Continue?
Continue is an open-source AI coding assistant that integrates directly into VS Code as an extension. It allows developers to chat with AI models, get inline code completions, and run agentic coding tasks — all without leaving the editor. Continue supports a wide range of local and cloud-based AI providers and can be extended with MCP tools for additional capabilities.
What is an SMPP SMS MCP Server?
An SMPP SMS MCP Server is a standardized software bridge that uses the Model Context Protocol to connect AI assistants (like Claude) to an SMS gateway system such as Ozeki SMS Gateway, which in turn delivers messages to the mobile network over an SMPP client connection. It exposes tools like "send_message" or "list_incomings" that an AI can autonomously call to perform real-world texting tasks without custom coding. This allows users to simply ask an AI to "send John a reminder text" and have the AI securely execute the action through the server. The SMS MCP Server built into Ozeki SMS Gateway also makes receiving SMS messages possible.
Download Ozeki SMS Gateway
To use this solution you need to install the SMS Gateway on your system.
Download the software: SMS Gateway
https://ozeki-sms-gateway.com/p_727-download-sms-gateway.html
Steps to follow
You will need Continue installed on your system. If you have not set it up yet, follow our Continue installation guide.
- Install Ozeki SMS Gateway
- Setup the SMPP SMS connection
- Create an MCP user account
- Continue SMS MCP Server Config
- Add the SMS MCP Server config to Continue
- Send a test SMS
- Check the SMS in the SMS Gateway logs
Install Ozeki SMS Gateway
For a full tutorial on installing Ozeki SMS Gateway, check out our How to install Ozeki SMS Gateway on Windows guide.
Before you can use the SMS MCP Server, you need to install Ozeki SMS Gateway on your Windows machine or server. Download the installer zip file from the website, extract it, and run the executable to complete the installation. Once installed, the gateway will start automatically and its web-based management interface will be accessible from your browser.
Setup the SMPP SMS connection
For a full tutorial on setting up an SMPP Client connection, check out our SMPP Client Connection guide.
Before creating the MCP user, you need to connect Ozeki SMS Gateway to the mobile network by setting up an SMPP client. In the Connections panel, select Add new connection, and install a new SMPP client connection. Enter the host, port, and credentials provided by your SMS service provider, then save and activate the connection to bring the gateway online.
Create an MCP user account
For a full tutorial on creating an MCP User, check out our Create an MCP User guide.
Click Add new user/application, and select the MCP user type from the list. Enter a username and password for the account, then open the Advanced tab to generate an API key. Copy this key and store it in a safe location, as you will need it in the next steps.
Continue MCP server configuration
# Continue configuration file location:
%USERPROFILE%\.continue\config.yaml
# Add the following block under the mcpServers section in config.yaml
# Replace {address} with your Ozeki SMS Gateway host IP
# Replace your-bearer-token with your token
mcpServers:
- name: Ozeki
type: streamable-http
url: http://{address}:9529/mcp
requestOptions:
headers:
Authorization: "Bearer your-bearer-token"
Example prompt
Send an SMS to +36301234567, the message should be "Hello from Continue".
Add the SMS MCP Server config to Continue
The following video shows how to add the Ozeki SMPP SMS MCP Server to Continue VS Code Agent step-by-step.
Navigate to the Continue configuration directory at
%USERPROFILE%\.continue\ using File Explorer. You can open this
folder quickly by typing %USERPROFILE%\.continue directly into the
File Explorer address bar and pressing Enter (Figure 1).
Open the config.yaml file in a text editor such as Notepad. This file
stores all Continue configuration, including any MCP servers that Continue should
connect to on startup (Figure 2).
In the file, find the mcpServers section, or create it if it does not exist yet,
and insert the Ozeki SMPP SMS MCP Server entry as shown below. Replace {address}
with the IP address of your Ozeki SMS Gateway, and replace
your-bearer-token with the API key you generated for your MCP user account (Figure 3).
mcpServers:
- name: Ozeki
type: streamable-http
url: http://{address}:9529/mcp
requestOptions:
headers:
Authorization: "Bearer your-bearer-token"
Save the configuration file. Continue will reload the configuration the next time it is opened in VS Code (Figure 4).
Open Visual Studio Code and click the Continue icon in the left sidebar to open the extension panel (Figure 5).
In the Continue panel, open Settings and navigate to the Tools section. This is where all MCP tools registered in the configuration file are listed (Figure 6).
In the Tools list, you should see the Ozeki SMS tools, confirming that Continue has successfully connected to the SMPP SMS MCP Server (Figure 7).
By default, Continue sets MCP tools to Ask first mode, which means it will prompt you for approval before each tool invocation. To allow the AI model to invoke the Ozeki SMS tools without manual confirmation each time, change the mode for the SMS tools from Ask first to Automatic (Figure 8).
Send a test SMS
The following video shows how to send an SMS message from Continue using the Ozeki SMPP SMS MCP server step-by-step.
In the Continue agent input, type your SMS request in plain language and press Enter. The AI agent will interpret the request and invoke the appropriate MCP tool to deliver the message (Figure 9).
Send an SMS to +36301234567, the message should be "Hello from Continue".
Once the tool has been executed, the result will appear in the chat. A successful response confirms that the message was submitted to the gateway and handed off for delivery (Figure 10).
Check the SMS in the SMS Gateway logs
The following video shows how to check the SMS in the logs in Ozeki SMS Gateway step-by-step.
Open Ozeki SMS Gateway in your browser and navigate to the MCP user details page by clicking on the MCP user entry in the Users and applications panel (Figure 11).
In the MCP user event log, you should see an entry for the outgoing message, including the recipient number and message text, confirming that it was successfully processed by the gateway (Figure 12).
Conclusion
In this guide, you have learned how to connect Continue to Ozeki SMS Gateway's built-in SMS MCP Server and use it to send SMS messages directly from the chat interface. By installing the gateway, setting up an SMPP connection to the mobile network, creating an MCP user account, and registering the MCP endpoint in Continue, you now have a fully functional on-premises SMS integration that your locally hosted AI model can use to communicate with any mobile phone.