How does a live data-dip work?

Your answer URL gets the caller's number and the call's details before you reply, so your server can look the caller up in your CRM and answer with XML that routes a gold-tier caller to a priority queue. Gather's action URL lets you decide again after every key press. In Dial's visual builder, the api_call and condition nodes do the same without code.

Can I build an IVR with the visual builder today?

Yes. Dial's visual IVR builder is shipped and runs the 12-node engine in production. The XML your server returns lets you drive flows like these from your own code; that API surface is the v0.x part.

How many participants can a conference hold?

Conferencing and bridging are real, but we don't publish a participant ceiling. That number isn't in our feature catalog, so we won't invent one. Talk to us about your specific topology and we'll tell you what the engine supports.

telvox

Quickstart API keysRequest API keys

Call Control

Write the markup.The call follows it.

Q: Are these primitives real?

Yes. Every primitive here maps to a node in Dial's shipped visual IVR builder: 12 node types including menu, collect, play, business-hours, api_call, queue, agent, voicemail, callback, transfer, condition and hangup, plus the real Redis-backed ACD queue and the ARI bridge and conference engine. The XML API over the top of them is versioned v0.x.

Script what happens on a call with the Twilio-style XML your server returns. Say a prompt, gather digits, look the caller up in your own systems and route to a queue, one verb at a time. Voice only, versioned v0.x.

Request API keys See every verb

call-control.jsonanswer-URL response

<!-- your answer URL returns -->
<Response>
  <Say>Welcome to Acme support.</Say>
  <Gather numDigits="1" timeout="6"
          action="https://your.app/menu" />
  <Dial><Queue>support</Queue></Dial>
</Response>

now executing · answer_url

When a call connects, TelVox fetches your answer URL. The <Response> it returns is the flow, and each verb runs on the same IVR and queue engine that TelVox Dial ships.

Try it

Call in. Press a key.

Hear the menu, press 1 or 2, and watch your instructions run one at a time, then hand the call to the right queue.

Try it · press a keyillustrative · nothing leaves your browser

The call+1 800 555 0100

Press Call in, then a key when the menu asks.

Your XML

<!-- your answer URL returns -->
<Response>
  <Gather numDigits="1" timeout="6" action="https://your.app/menu">
    <Say>Welcome to Acme. Press 1 for sales, 2 for support.</Say>
  </Gather>
  <Dial><Queue>support</Queue></Dial>
</Response>

When the caller presses a key, the digit is POSTed to your action URL and the XML you reply with decides what happens next.

The primitive catalog

The verbs, on a real engine.

Your XML is a list of verbs that runs top to bottom. Underneath is the engine behind Dial's visual IVR builder and its twelve node types, below.

menucollect / gatherplaybusiness-hoursapi_callqueueagentvoicemailcallbacktransferconditionhangup

Say, play and gather

Speak prompts, play audio and collect the keys a caller presses. A menu is a Gather with a Say inside it.

answer URL · action URL

Live data-dip

Your answer URL gets the caller's number before you reply, and Gather's action URL gets each key press. Look the caller up in your own systems and answer with different XML.

ACD queues

Enqueue callers and distribute to agents with FIFO or longest-idle selection, music on hold, max-wait and max-size limits, and overflow audio. It's the real Redis-backed queue engine.

Conference and bridge

Bridge legs together or drop callers into a conference. Built on the same ARI snoop-and-bridge that powers Dial's supervisor barge, transfer and conference.

Transfer and callback

Hand a call to another number or SIP endpoint with Dial. Callbacks, so a caller keeps their place without holding the line, are a shipped node in Dial's IVR builder.

<Record> · business hours

Voicemail and business hours

Take a voicemail with Record, and gate flows on business hours: your server checks the time and answers with the right XML, or use the business-hours node in Dial's builder.

Support agents in headsets working at their laptops — › One instruction at a time, live on the call.

Live data-dip

Look up, then route, mid-call.

Your answer URL gets the caller's number before you reply. Look them up in your own systems and answer with different XML, so the flow is personal before the first word is spoken.

your.app/voice/answerlook up, then answer

// your answer URL: look the caller up, then answer
app.post("/voice/answer", async (req, res) => {
  const account = await crm.lookup(req.body.from); // the caller's number
  const queue = account?.tier === "gold" ? "priority" : "support";
  res.type("text/xml").send(`<Response>
  <Say>Thanks for calling Acme.</Say>
  <Dial><Queue>${queue}</Queue></Dial>
</Response>`);
});

response.xmlrouted to priority

<!-- what a gold-tier caller gets -->
<Response>
  <Say>Thanks for calling Acme.</Say>
  <Dial>
    <Queue>priority</Queue>
  </Dial>
</Response>

Honest about what's shipped

Real engine today. The XML is live.

Connect runs your XML today, on the same engine as Dial's visual IVR builder, the Redis-backed ACD queue and the ARI bridge and conference engine. The public API is versioned v0.x, and the verb table shows exactly which verbs and attributes are live and which aren't built yet. The samples here are illustrative.

Queues and conferences have their own reference resources: see the Queue & Members reference and the Conference & Queue reference.

response.xmllive

<!-- your answer URL returns -->
<Response>
  <Gather numDigits="1" timeout="6"
          action="https://your.app/menu">
    <Say>Welcome to Acme support.</Say>
  </Gather>
  <Dial>
    <Queue>support</Queue>
  </Dial>
</Response>

Questions

Call control FAQ

Straight answers on the markup, the engine underneath it, and what's preview versus shipped.

Yes. Your answer URL returns a <Response> with verbs like Say, Play, Gather, Dial, Record and Enqueue, and Connect runs it on a live call. The API is versioned v0.x, and a few verbs and attributes behave differently or aren't built yet: the verb table on the Connect home page lists each one.

Where next? Press a key.

1Voice APIStart and receive the calls your markup runs on.

2WebhooksKnow the moment a call is answered, transferred or ends.

3Every verbEach verb and attribute that is live, and what behaves differently from Twilio.

Get started

Build the flow your product needs.

Request API keys Read the docs