dc-texter 0.1.1

A simple SMS text alert utility for Python projects

text-alert

Send an SMS text alert using Python and Gmail

Requirements

• Python 3.11+ (required for reading toml files)
• A configured Gmail Account (see below)

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Step 1. Install this Module

Add this to your requirements.txt and install.

git+https://github.com/denisecase/text-alert.git

Step 2. Add .env.toml To your Python Project

Create a new .env.toml file in your Python project (or add these entries).

• Update the outgoing email address to your gmail address.
• Update the sms address for texts to your number, using your carrier's gateway (see .env.example.toml or do a search).
• We'll create an app password later.

# SMTP Email Configuration
outgoing_email_host = "smtp.gmail.com"
outgoing_email_port = 587
outgoing_email_address = "[e-mail]"
outgoing_email_password = "aaaabbbbccccdddd"

# SMS Configuration
sms_address_for_texts = "[e-mail]"

Step 3. Add .env.toml To .gitignore

Ensure your secrets are not published by adding an entry in .gitignore:

.env.toml

Step 4. Gmail - Enable IMAP

• Open Gmail.
• Click Settings or ⚙️ in the top-right.
• Then click "See all settings".
• Navigate to "Forwarding and POP/IMAP".
• Under "IMAP access", select "Enable IMAP".
• Click "Save Changes".

Step 5. Gmail - Generate an App Password

If your account has 2FA enabled, you must generate an App Password:

• Go to https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/185833?hl=en
• Click on "Create and manage your app passwords".
• Sign in and navigate to Account "Security" / "App Passwords"
• Create an app password - name it (e.g., "PythonTextAlerts").
• Generate and copy the 16-character password.
• Paste the 16-char as your password in .env.toml file.
  • Remove any spaces
  • Keep it private - ensure your .env.toml file is listed in .gitignore

Step 6. Import and Use in a Python Script

Once installed and your .env.toml file is ready, you can use it in your code.

from dc_texter import send_text

message = "Testing text alerts from Python."

try:
    send_text(body=message)
    print(f"SUCCESS. Text sent: {message}")
except RuntimeError as e:
    print(f"ERROR:  Sending failed: {e}")

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Testing

To run this file locally for testing, fork & clone the repo, add .env.toml. Open the project repository in VS Code, open a PowerShell terminal and run

pytest
py dc_texter\texter.py

A Note on Organization

pip requires a folder/package to install.

Repository Name: text-alert

• Uses dashes (-) as allowed in GitHub repository names.
• Cannot be used as a Python package name due to dashes.
• Has no effect on Python package imports.

Package (Folder) Name: dc_texter

• Uses underscores (_) to ensure compatibility with Python imports.
• Becomes an installable package when init.py file is added.

File Name: texter.py

• The file name with a .py extension.
• Can be executed as a script.
• We avoid using the file name in imports if we set up init.py correctly.

pyproject.toml

• [project] name = "dc_texter"`
• Used for installation (pip install dc_texter).
• The package folder should match.

[project]
name = "dc_texter" # install name

version = "0.1.0"

[tool.setuptools]
packages = ["dc_texter"] # list of package folders