Channel Selection per Job
OTP, where-is-my-order, promotion, and receipt each get the channel and registration that fits them. Receipts and long answers go to SES, not into an SMS.
AWS Communication Developer Services
AWS Communication Developer Services Consulting
Email, SMS, RCS, and WhatsApp on AWS, chosen per job and wired to one event path. We build on AWS Communication Developer Services and keep the AI agent on the reply path, not on the refund button.
- A customer event arrives from the app, the store, or an agent.
- AWS Communication Developer Services is the send path.
- The channel is SES email, SMS or RCS, or WhatsApp.
- Delivery and reply events flow back through EventBridge or SNS.
- Opt-in and opt-out are checked per channel before every send.
- What lands is a conversation you can trace end to end.
Last updated:
What AWS Communication Developer Services covers
AWS Communication Developer Services (CDS) is AWS’s name for the channels a business uses to reach customers:
| Channel | AWS service | Typical job |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon SES | Receipts, policies, long answers, newsletters | |
| SMS | AWS End User Messaging SMS | One-time passcodes, RCS fallback |
| RCS | AWS End User Messaging (RCS for Business, launched 31 March 2026) | Branded order updates with suggested replies |
| AWS End User Messaging Social | Replies inside an open customer thread |
Push is an End User Messaging channel too, but it sits outside the CDS list. FactualMinds builds on these services. We do not hold a CDS designation, and this page does not claim one.
The deep dives are in our four-part series: the channel decision hub, RCS, SMS and 10DLC, and WhatsApp. The dedicated engagement pages are WhatsApp Business API on AWS and RCS Business Messaging on AWS.
Architecture we build
- Send path per job. Each job gets its own origination identity and registration. OTP uses Notify or a dedicated OTP registration. Order status uses an RCS agent and a same-use-case SMS number in one phone pool. Promotions get their own registration. Email goes through SES configuration sets.
- Event path. Every channel writes delivery and inbound events to Amazon SNS, EventBridge, or Firehose. Configuration sets are attached before the first send, because event destinations do not backfill.
- Filter before the model. A Lambda function drops delivery, read, and status events. Only customer messages reach the model.
- Agent. Amazon Bedrock answers with tools scoped to reads: order lookup, delivery window, policy text. For production runtime, identity, and memory we use Amazon Bedrock AgentCore.
- Approval gate. Refunds, address changes, and price changes become a proposal a named person approves. The same rule is in human-in-the-loop approvals.
- Consent. STOP and HELP keywords, opt-out lists, WhatsApp template categories, and the SES suppression list are configured and tested before go-live.
Engagement phases
| Phase | Output |
|---|---|
| Channel plan (week 1) | One row per job in the channel planner CSV, with the registration blocker named |
| Registration | 10DLC or toll-free, RCS testing and country launch forms, WhatsApp Business account link, SES identity and DKIM |
| Event path | SNS or EventBridge destinations, Lambda filter, CloudWatch alarms on failed deliveries |
| Agent | Bedrock agent on the reply path with read-only tools and an approval queue |
| Launch | Production sends per channel, opt-out tests, cost check against the list-price model |
What the bill looks like before anyone replies
US list prices from the End User Messaging pricing page, read 29 September 2026. These are AWS list prices, not a client bill:
- US Rich RCS text: $0.01194 per delivered 160-byte segment. A rich card: $0.02949 per delivered message.
- WhatsApp: $0.005 AWS fee per outbound message and $0.001 inbound. Meta’s fee is charged on top and depends on country and message type.
- US SMS: registration fees plus a per-carrier rate published as a CSV on the same page.
What could go wrong
- One registration for everything. Carriers review use cases. A password reset and a discount on the same RCS agent invites a denial.
- A testing agent treated as a launch. An RCS test agent delivers only to enrolled phones. Customers get nothing.
- Paying the model for receipts. WhatsApp delivery and read events share the topic with user messages. Filter first.
- WhatsApp budget from the AWS fee only. The invoice includes Meta’s fee.
- The agent decides refunds. Keep money movement out of the tool list.
Next step
Bring your OTP, order-status, promotion, and receipt flows. We will return the channel plan, the registration schedule, and the list-price cost model. Contact us.
Key Features
Registration Program
US 10DLC and toll-free, RCS testing and country launch, WhatsApp Business account linking, and SES identity verification run as one schedule with named blockers.
One Inbound Event Path
Inbound messages and delivery events land on Amazon SNS or EventBridge. Lambda drops receipts before any model call, so you do not pay to analyze a read receipt.
Bedrock Agent Replies
Amazon Bedrock (AgentCore for production runtime) answers order-status and policy questions in the same thread. Refunds, address changes, and price changes go to a person.
Consent and Opt-Out
STOP and HELP handling, opt-out lists, WhatsApp template categories, and SES suppression lists set before the first production send.
Cost Model Before Launch
List-price worksheet per channel: RCS segments vs rich media, WhatsApp AWS fee plus the separate Meta fee, SMS registration fees, SES plan breakpoints.
Why Choose FactualMinds?
Published Channel Research
Our four-part Communication Developer Services series documents prices, registration steps, and failure modes from AWS sources, with a reproducible channel planner CSV.
SES at Production Scale
Our published TargetBay case study covers 200M+ emails per month on Amazon SES. Email is the part of this stack we have run at volume.
Agents With an Approval Gate
The customer-facing agent may look up an order. It may not refund. That rule is written into the tool list, not left to the prompt.
AWS Select Tier Services Partner
50+ AWS certifications on staff. We do not hold a Communication Developer Services designation, and we will not claim one.
Step-by-Step Guides
Implementation guides for this service from our team of AWS experts.
AWS Communication Developer Services: Which Channel Should the Agent Use (2026)
On 25 September 2026 AWS published agent skills for End User Messaging and SES. A delivered US Rich RCS text segment lists at $0.01194. A rich card lists at $0.02949. Pick the channel before you pick the model.
Read guide
AWS End User Messaging WhatsApp: Templates, the 24-Hour Window, and a Reply Path (2026)
Since 1 July 2025 WhatsApp on AWS is billed per message. The AWS fee is $0.005 outbound and $0.001 inbound. India Authentication and Utility are $0.002. Meta's fee is extra.
Read guide
AWS End User Messaging RCS: Registration, Rich Messages, and the Reply Path (2026)
RCS for Business shipped 31 March 2026. A US Rich text segment lists at $0.01194 on delivery. A rich card lists at $0.02949. CLI 2.35.12 is the first release with send-rcs-message.
Read guide
AWS End User Messaging SMS: 10DLC, Fallback, and When Not to Build the Agent on SMS (2026)
A US 10DLC number lists at $1 a month, a regular campaign at $10, and company vetting at $41.50. SMS is the OTP and the RCS fallback. It is the wrong place to build the rich agent.
Read guide
From Our Blog
In-depth guides and best practices from our certified AWS architects.
94,000 Trials Later, the Same Models Cost About 2× Under a Different Harness
On October 13, 2026 the Strands Agents team published about 94,000 Harbor trials. On matched Anthropic runs, estimated cost ran from about $0.74 to $1.57 per trial.
Read articleAmazon Bedrock WooCommerce Integration: Product and Order Reads on AgentCore and Canonical Abilities
Checked 15 October 2026. The shared MCP adapter exposes 3 tools. execute-ability can run all 7 canonical abilities, including product-delete. Week one allows two reads.
Read articleHarness Engineering for Production AI Agents (October 2026)
OpenAI's 11 February 2026 Codex experiment merged about 1,500 pull requests. AgentCore Harness, GA 17 June 2026, still defaults to 75 iterations and a 3,600-second timeout — the harness sets those bounds, not the model.
Read articleFrequently Asked Questions
What is AWS Communication Developer Services?
It is the name AWS uses for the customer send path: AWS End User Messaging for SMS and RCS, AWS End User Messaging Social for WhatsApp, and Amazon SES for email. Push notifications are an End User Messaging channel, but the September 2026 CDS partner hackathon rules list push as outside CDS usage.
Is FactualMinds an AWS Communication Developer Services partner?
No. FactualMinds is an AWS Select Tier Services Partner and AWS Marketplace seller with 50+ AWS certifications. We build on Communication Developer Services, but we hold no designation for it, and we have no published SMS, RCS, or WhatsApp engagement yet. Our production messaging proof is on Amazon SES.
Which channel should a customer-facing agent use first?
If the customer already has an open WhatsApp thread, answer there. If not, and a verified brand on the phone matters, send through a phone pool that tries RCS and falls back to a dedicated SMS number registered for the same use case. Use SES for receipts and long answers.
How do inbound messages reach a Bedrock agent?
Inbound SMS, RCS, and WhatsApp messages are published to an event destination such as an Amazon SNS topic. A Lambda function filters out delivery and read events, calls the model for real customer messages only, and sends the reply back on the same channel. AWS publishes a sample of this pattern for SMS and WhatsApp.
How long does registration take?
An RCS test agent can reach your own enrolled phone the same day. RCS country launch is a separate carrier review per country, and the AWS launch guide says to plan for several months. US 10DLC needs a company, a campaign, and a number. WhatsApp needs a WhatsApp Business account linked through Meta. Plan the launch date around registration, not around code.
What could go wrong?
The common failures are mixing OTP and promotions on one registration, connecting a model to a testing RCS agent and calling it a launch, budgeting WhatsApp from the AWS fee alone, and letting a prompt decide whether a refund is allowed. Each one is avoidable with a channel plan, separate registrations, and a tool list that excludes money movement.
Map Your Messaging Channels on AWS
Bring your four jobs (OTP, order status, promotion, receipt) and the countries you send to. We will return a channel plan, a registration schedule, and a list-price cost model.