Back to Blog

The RCS Developer Starter Kit: Everything You Need to Build, Validate, and Ship RCS Campaigns

The RCS Developer Starter Kit

Building for RCS Business Messaging? You've probably noticed the problem: the documentation is scattered, the GSMA specs are 200+ pages, and carrier requirements vary by region.

We've been building RCS X for months. Along the way, we compiled everything we learned about the GSMA Universal Profile, carrier requirements, and AI agent integration into a single developer kit.

What's Inside

15+ Production-Ready JSON Templates

Every RCS message type, ready to copy-paste and customize:

  • Simple text messages with suggested actions
  • Rich cards (vertical/horizontal, with media)
  • Carousels (2-card to 7-card product catalogs)
  • Calendar action integration
  • Location sharing
  • Video rich cards
  • Multi-message sequences
  • AI agent formats (MCP-compatible)

Each template includes the complete JSON payload, field-by-field annotations, carrier-specific notes, and common mistakes to avoid.

GSMA Universal Profile Validation Checklist

A line-by-line checklist to validate your payloads before carrier submission. Covers message structure, text content limits, rich card validation, carousel constraints, media specs, ID field requirements, and carrier-specific rules for US, EU, and APAC.

SMS-to-RCS Migration Playbook

A 6-phase migration guide covering assessment, design, build, test, launch, and optimization. Includes real migration patterns, fallback strategies, and success metrics.

MCP Server Integration Patterns

6 patterns for connecting AI agents to RCS channels: basic bridge, multi-turn conversation, event-driven callbacks, rich media responses, rate limiting with error recovery, and bot-to-human handoff.

Carrier Approval Guide

Region-specific requirements for US, EU, and APAC carriers, including pre-submission checklists, brand registration requirements, common rejection reasons, and timeline expectations.

Testing Matrix

A comprehensive testing framework with rendering matrices, interaction test cases, carrier validation checklists, A/B testing framework, performance targets, and accessibility tests.

Why We Built This

  1. Specs are dense — Most developers need 5% of the GSMA spec, not 200+ pages.
  2. Carrier requirements are fragmented — What works on T-Mobile might fail on Vodafone.
  3. Testing is painful — Without an emulator, you burn carrier API quotas just to see how messages render.
  4. Agent integration is undocumented — MCP + RCS is the future, but there are no public patterns.

Get the Kit

The RCS Developer Starter Kit is available for $39 — less than the cost of one carrier resubmission.

Read the free templates on DEV →


Built by the team behind RCS X — the professional RCS emulator for developers. Test your messages free, no carrier agreements needed.