Voice call plugin

Voice calls for OpenClaw via a plugin. Supports outbound notifications, multi-turn conversations, full-duplex realtime voice, streaming transcription, and inbound calls with allowlist policies. Current providers: twilio (Programmable Voice + Media Streams), telnyx (Call Control v2), plivo (Voice API + XML transfer + GetInput speech), mock (dev/no network).

The Voice Call plugin runs inside the Gateway process. If you use a remote Gateway, install and configure the plugin on the machine running the Gateway, then restart the Gateway to load it.

Quick start

Install the plugin

From npm
From a local folder (dev)

openclaw plugins install @openclaw/voice-call

PLUGIN_SRC=./path/to/local/voice-call-plugin
openclaw plugins install "$PLUGIN_SRC"
cd "$PLUGIN_SRC" && pnpm install

If npm reports the OpenClaw-owned package as deprecated, that package version is from an older external package train; use a current packaged OpenClaw build or the local folder path until a newer npm package is published.Restart the Gateway afterwards so the plugin loads.

Configure provider and webhook

Set config under plugins.entries.voice-call.config (see Configuration below for the full shape). At minimum: provider, provider credentials, fromNumber, and a publicly reachable webhook URL.

Verify setup

openclaw voicecall setup

The default output is readable in chat logs and terminals. It checks plugin enablement, provider credentials, webhook exposure, and that only one audio mode (streaming or realtime) is active. Use --json for scripts.

Smoke test

openclaw voicecall smoke
openclaw voicecall smoke --to "+15555550123"

Both are dry runs by default. Add --yes to actually place a short outbound notify call:

openclaw voicecall smoke --to "+15555550123" --yes

For Twilio, Telnyx, and Plivo, setup must resolve to a public webhook URL. If publicUrl, the tunnel URL, the Tailscale URL, or the serve fallback resolves to loopback or private network space, setup fails instead of starting a provider that cannot receive carrier webhooks.

Configuration

If enabled: true but the selected provider is missing credentials, Gateway startup logs a setup-incomplete warning with the missing keys and skips starting the runtime. Commands, RPC calls, and agent tools still return the exact missing provider configuration when used.

Voice-call credentials accept SecretRefs. plugins.entries.voice-call.config.twilio.authToken, plugins.entries.voice-call.config.realtime.providers.*.apiKey, plugins.entries.voice-call.config.streaming.providers.*.apiKey, and plugins.entries.voice-call.config.tts.providers.*.apiKey resolve through the standard SecretRef surface; see SecretRef credential surface.

{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      "voice-call": {
        enabled: true,
        config: {
          provider: "twilio", // or "telnyx" | "plivo" | "mock"
          fromNumber: "+15550001234", // or TWILIO_FROM_NUMBER for Twilio
          toNumber: "+15550005678",

          twilio: {
            accountSid: "ACxxxxxxxx",
            authToken: "...",
          },
          telnyx: {
            apiKey: "...",
            connectionId: "...",
            // Telnyx webhook public key from the Mission Control Portal
            // (Base64; can also be set via TELNYX_PUBLIC_KEY).
            publicKey: "...",
          },
          plivo: {
            authId: "MAxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
            authToken: "...",
          },

          // Webhook server
          serve: {
            port: 3334,
            path: "/voice/webhook",
          },

          // Webhook security (recommended for tunnels/proxies)
          webhookSecurity: {
            allowedHosts: ["voice.example.com"],
            trustedProxyIPs: ["100.64.0.1"],
          },

          // Public exposure (pick one)
          // publicUrl: "https://example.ngrok.app/voice/webhook",
          // tunnel: { provider: "ngrok" },
          // tailscale: { mode: "funnel", path: "/voice/webhook" },

          outbound: {
            defaultMode: "notify", // notify | conversation
          },

          streaming: { enabled: true /* see Streaming transcription */ },
          realtime: { enabled: false /* see Realtime voice */ },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Provider exposure and security notes

Twilio, Telnyx, and Plivo all require a publicly reachable webhook URL.
mock is a local dev provider (no network calls).
Telnyx requires telnyx.publicKey (or TELNYX_PUBLIC_KEY) unless skipSignatureVerification is true.
skipSignatureVerification is for local testing only.
On ngrok free tier, set publicUrl to the exact ngrok URL; signature verification is always enforced.
tunnel.allowNgrokFreeTierLoopbackBypass: true allows Twilio webhooks with invalid signatures only when tunnel.provider="ngrok" and serve.bind is loopback (ngrok local agent). Local dev only.
Ngrok free-tier URLs can change or add interstitial behaviour; if publicUrl drifts, Twilio signatures fail. Production: prefer a stable domain or a Tailscale funnel.

Streaming connection caps

streaming.preStartTimeoutMs closes sockets that never send a valid start frame.
streaming.maxPendingConnections caps total unauthenticated pre-start sockets.
streaming.maxPendingConnectionsPerIp caps unauthenticated pre-start sockets per source IP.
streaming.maxConnections caps total open media stream sockets (pending + active).

Legacy config migrations

Older configs using provider: "log", twilio.from, or legacy streaming.* OpenAI keys are rewritten by openclaw doctor --fix. Runtime fallback still accepts the old voice-call keys for now, but the rewrite path is openclaw doctor --fix and the compat shim is temporary.Auto-migrated streaming keys:

streaming.sttProvider → streaming.provider
streaming.openaiApiKey → streaming.providers.openai.apiKey
streaming.sttModel → streaming.providers.openai.model
streaming.silenceDurationMs → streaming.providers.openai.silenceDurationMs
streaming.vadThreshold → streaming.providers.openai.vadThreshold

Realtime voice conversations

realtime selects a full-duplex realtime voice provider for live call audio. It is separate from streaming, which only forwards audio to realtime transcription providers.

realtime.enabled cannot be combined with streaming.enabled. Pick one audio mode per call.

Current runtime behaviour:

realtime.enabled is supported for Twilio Media Streams.
realtime.provider is optional. If unset, Voice Call uses the first registered realtime voice provider.
Bundled realtime voice providers: Google Gemini Live (google) and OpenAI (openai), registered by their provider plugins.
Provider-owned raw config lives under realtime.providers.<providerId>.
Voice Call exposes the shared openclaw_agent_consult realtime tool by default. The realtime model can call it when the caller asks for deeper reasoning, current information, or normal OpenClaw tools.
realtime.fastContext.enabled is default-off. When enabled, Voice Call first searches indexed memory/session context for the consult question and returns those snippets to the realtime model within realtime.fastContext.timeoutMs before falling back to the full consult agent only if realtime.fastContext.fallbackToConsult is true.
If realtime.provider points at an unregistered provider, or no realtime voice provider is registered at all, Voice Call logs a warning and skips realtime media instead of failing the whole plugin.
Consult session keys reuse the existing voice session when available, then fall back to the caller/callee phone number so follow-up consult calls keep context during the call.

Tool policy

realtime.toolPolicy controls the consult run:

Policy	Behavior
`safe-read-only`	Expose the consult tool and limit the regular agent to `read`, `web_search`, `web_fetch`, `x_search`, `memory_search`, and `memory_get`.
`owner`	Expose the consult tool and let the regular agent use the normal agent tool policy.
`none`	Do not expose the consult tool. Custom `realtime.tools` are still passed through to the realtime provider.

Realtime provider examples

Google Gemini Live
OpenAI

Defaults: API key from realtime.providers.google.apiKey, GEMINI_API_KEY, or GOOGLE_GENERATIVE_AI_API_KEY; model gemini-2.5-flash-native-audio-preview-12-2025; voice Kore.

{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      "voice-call": {
        config: {
          provider: "twilio",
          inboundPolicy: "allowlist",
          allowFrom: ["+15550005678"],
          realtime: {
            enabled: true,
            provider: "google",
            instructions: "Speak briefly. Call openclaw_agent_consult before using deeper tools.",
            toolPolicy: "safe-read-only",
            providers: {
              google: {
                apiKey: "${GEMINI_API_KEY}",
                model: "gemini-2.5-flash-native-audio-preview-12-2025",
                voice: "Kore",
              },
            },
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      "voice-call": {
        config: {
          realtime: {
            enabled: true,
            provider: "openai",
            providers: {
              openai: { apiKey: "${OPENAI_API_KEY}" },
            },
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

See Google provider and OpenAI provider for provider-specific realtime voice options.

Streaming transcription

streaming selects a realtime transcription provider for live call audio. Current runtime behavior:

streaming.provider is optional. If unset, Voice Call uses the first registered realtime transcription provider.
Bundled realtime transcription providers: Deepgram (deepgram), ElevenLabs (elevenlabs), Mistral (mistral), OpenAI (openai), and xAI (xai), registered by their provider plugins.
Provider-owned raw config lives under streaming.providers.<providerId>.
After Twilio sends an accepted stream start message, Voice Call registers the stream immediately, queues inbound media through the transcription provider while the provider connects, and starts the initial greeting only after realtime transcription is ready.
If streaming.provider points at an unregistered provider, or none is registered, Voice Call logs a warning and skips media streaming instead of failing the whole plugin.

Streaming provider examples

OpenAI
xAI

Defaults: API key streaming.providers.openai.apiKey or OPENAI_API_KEY; model gpt-4o-transcribe; silenceDurationMs: 800; vadThreshold: 0.5.

{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      "voice-call": {
        config: {
          streaming: {
            enabled: true,
            provider: "openai",
            streamPath: "/voice/stream",
            providers: {
              openai: {
                apiKey: "sk-...", // optional if OPENAI_API_KEY is set
                model: "gpt-4o-transcribe",
                silenceDurationMs: 800,
                vadThreshold: 0.5,
              },
            },
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Defaults: API key streaming.providers.xai.apiKey or XAI_API_KEY; endpoint wss://api.x.ai/v1/stt; encoding mulaw; sample rate 8000; endpointingMs: 800; interimResults: true.

{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      "voice-call": {
        config: {
          streaming: {
            enabled: true,
            provider: "xai",
            streamPath: "/voice/stream",
            providers: {
              xai: {
                apiKey: "${XAI_API_KEY}", // optional if XAI_API_KEY is set
                endpointingMs: 800,
                language: "en",
              },
            },
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

TTS for calls

Voice Call uses the core messages.tts configuration for streaming speech on calls. You can override it under the plugin config with the same shape — it deep-merges with messages.tts.

{
  tts: {
    provider: "elevenlabs",
    providers: {
      elevenlabs: {
        voiceId: "pMsXgVXv3BLzUgSXRplE",
        modelId: "eleven_multilingual_v2",
      },
    },
  },
}

Microsoft speech is ignored for voice calls. Telephony audio needs PCM; the current Microsoft transport does not expose telephony PCM output.

Behavior notes:

Legacy tts.<provider> keys inside plugin config (openai, elevenlabs, microsoft, edge) are repaired by openclaw doctor --fix; committed config should use tts.providers.<provider>.
Core TTS is used when Twilio media streaming is enabled; otherwise calls fall back to provider-native voices.
If a Twilio media stream is already active, Voice Call does not fall back to TwiML <Say>. If telephony TTS is unavailable in that state, the playback request fails instead of mixing two playback paths.
When telephony TTS falls back to a secondary provider, Voice Call logs a warning with the provider chain (from, to, attempts) for debugging.
When Twilio barge-in or stream teardown clears the pending TTS queue, queued playback requests settle instead of hanging callers awaiting playback completion.

TTS examples

Core TTS only
Override to ElevenLabs (calls only)
OpenAI model override (deep-merge)

{
  messages: {
    tts: {
      provider: "openai",
      providers: {
        openai: { voice: "alloy" },
      },
    },
  },
}

{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      "voice-call": {
        config: {
          tts: {
            provider: "elevenlabs",
            providers: {
              elevenlabs: {
                apiKey: "elevenlabs_key",
                voiceId: "pMsXgVXv3BLzUgSXRplE",
                modelId: "eleven_multilingual_v2",
              },
            },
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      "voice-call": {
        config: {
          tts: {
            providers: {
              openai: {
                model: "gpt-4o-mini-tts",
                voice: "marin",
              },
            },
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Inbound calls

Inbound policy defaults to disabled. To enable inbound calls, set:

{
  inboundPolicy: "allowlist",
  allowFrom: ["+15550001234"],
  inboundGreeting: "Hello! How can I help?",
}

inboundPolicy: "allowlist" is a low-assurance caller-ID screen. The plugin normalizes the provider-supplied From value and compares it to allowFrom. Webhook verification authenticates provider delivery and payload integrity, but it does not prove PSTN/VoIP caller-number ownership. Treat allowFrom as caller-ID filtering, not strong caller identity.

Auto-responses use the agent system. Tune with responseModel, responseSystemPrompt, and responseTimeoutMs.

Spoken output contract

For auto-responses, Voice Call appends a strict spoken-output contract to the system prompt:

{"spoken":"..."}

Voice Call extracts speech text defensively:

Ignores payloads marked as reasoning/error content.
Parses direct JSON, fenced JSON, or inline "spoken" keys.
Falls back to plain text and removes likely planning/meta lead-in paragraphs.

This keeps spoken playback focused on caller-facing text and avoids leaking planning text into audio.

Conversation startup behavior

For outbound conversation calls, first-message handling is tied to live playback state:

Barge-in queue clear and auto-response are suppressed only while the initial greeting is actively speaking.
If initial playback fails, the call returns to listening and the initial message remains queued for retry.
Initial playback for Twilio streaming starts on stream connect without extra delay.
Barge-in aborts active playback and clears queued-but-not-yet-playing Twilio TTS entries. Cleared entries resolve as skipped, so follow-up response logic can continue without waiting on audio that will never play.
Realtime voice conversations use the realtime stream’s own opening turn. Voice Call does not post a legacy <Say> TwiML update for that initial message, so outbound <Connect><Stream> sessions stay attached.

Twilio stream disconnect grace

When a Twilio media stream disconnects, Voice Call waits 2000 ms before auto-ending the call:

If the stream reconnects during that window, auto-end is canceled.
If no stream re-registers after the grace period, the call is ended to prevent stuck active calls.

Stale call reaper

Use staleCallReaperSeconds to end calls that never receive a terminal webhook (for example, notify-mode calls that never complete). The default is 0 (disabled). Recommended ranges:

Production: 120–300 seconds for notify-style flows.
Keep this value higher than maxDurationSeconds so normal calls can finish. A good starting point is maxDurationSeconds + 30–60 seconds.

{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      "voice-call": {
        config: {
          maxDurationSeconds: 300,
          staleCallReaperSeconds: 360,
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Webhook security

When a proxy or tunnel sits in front of the Gateway, the plugin reconstructs the public URL for signature verification. These options control which forwarded headers are trusted:

webhookSecurity.allowedHosts

string[]

Allowlist hosts from forwarding headers.

webhookSecurity.trustForwardingHeaders

boolean

Trust forwarded headers without an allowlist.

webhookSecurity.trustedProxyIPs

string[]

Only trust forwarded headers when the request remote IP matches the list.

Additional protections:

Webhook replay protection is enabled for Twilio and Plivo. Replayed valid webhook requests are acknowledged but skipped for side effects.
Twilio conversation turns include a per-turn token in <Gather> callbacks, so stale/replayed speech callbacks cannot satisfy a newer pending transcript turn.
Unauthenticated webhook requests are rejected before body reads when the provider’s required signature headers are missing.
The voice-call webhook uses the shared pre-auth body profile (64 KB / 5 seconds) plus a per-IP in-flight cap before signature verification.

Example with a stable public host:

{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      "voice-call": {
        config: {
          publicUrl: "https://voice.example.com/voice/webhook",
          webhookSecurity: {
            allowedHosts: ["voice.example.com"],
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

CLI

openclaw voicecall call --to "+15555550123" --message "Hello from OpenClaw"
openclaw voicecall start --to "+15555550123"   # alias for call
openclaw voicecall continue --call-id <id> --message "Any questions?"
openclaw voicecall speak --call-id <id> --message "One moment"
openclaw voicecall dtmf --call-id <id> --digits "ww123456#"
openclaw voicecall end --call-id <id>
openclaw voicecall status --call-id <id>
openclaw voicecall tail
openclaw voicecall latency                      # summarize turn latency from logs
openclaw voicecall expose --mode funnel

When the Gateway is already running, operational voicecall commands delegate to the Gateway-owned voice-call runtime so the CLI does not bind a second webhook server. If no Gateway is reachable, the commands fall back to a standalone CLI runtime. latency reads calls.jsonl from the default voice-call storage path. Use --file <path> to point at a different log and --last <n> to limit analysis to the last N records (default 200). Output includes p50/p90/p99 for turn latency and listen-wait times.

Agent tool

Tool name: voice_call.

Action	Args
`initiate_call`	`message`, `to?`, `mode?`, `dtmfSequence?`
`continue_call`	`callId`, `message`
`speak_to_user`	`callId`, `message`
`send_dtmf`	`callId`, `digits`
`end_call`	`callId`
`get_status`	`callId`

This repo ships a matching skill doc at skills/voice-call/SKILL.md.

Gateway RPC

Method	Args
`voicecall.initiate`	`to?`, `message`, `mode?`, `dtmfSequence?`
`voicecall.continue`	`callId`, `message`
`voicecall.speak`	`callId`, `message`
`voicecall.dtmf`	`callId`, `digits`
`voicecall.end`	`callId`
`voicecall.status`	`callId`

dtmfSequence is only valid with mode: "conversation". Notify-mode calls should use voicecall.dtmf after the call exists if they need post-connect digits.

Troubleshooting

Setup fails webhook exposure

Run setup from the same environment that runs the Gateway:

openclaw voicecall setup
openclaw voicecall setup --json

For twilio, telnyx, and plivo, webhook-exposure must be green. A configured publicUrl still fails when it points at local or private network space, because the carrier cannot call back into those addresses. Do not use localhost, 127.0.0.1, 0.0.0.0, 10.x, 172.16.x-172.31.x, 192.168.x, 169.254.x, fc00::/7, or fd00::/8 as publicUrl. Twilio notify-mode outbound calls send their initial <Say> TwiML directly in the create-call request, so the first spoken message does not depend on Twilio fetching webhook TwiML. A public webhook is still required for status callbacks, conversation calls, pre-connect DTMF, realtime streams, and post-connect call control. Use one public exposure path:

{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      "voice-call": {
        config: {
          publicUrl: "https://voice.example.com/voice/webhook",
          // or
          tunnel: { provider: "ngrok" },
          // or
          tailscale: { mode: "funnel", path: "/voice/webhook" },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

After changing config, restart or reload the Gateway, then run:

openclaw voicecall setup
openclaw voicecall smoke

voicecall smoke is a dry run unless you pass --yes.

Provider credentials fail

Check the selected provider and the required credential fields:

Twilio: twilio.accountSid, twilio.authToken, and fromNumber, or TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID, TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN, and TWILIO_FROM_NUMBER.
Telnyx: telnyx.apiKey, telnyx.connectionId, telnyx.publicKey, and fromNumber.
Plivo: plivo.authId, plivo.authToken, and fromNumber.

Credentials must exist on the Gateway host. Editing a local shell profile does not affect an already running Gateway until it restarts or reloads its environment.

Calls start but provider webhooks do not arrive

Confirm the provider console points at the exact public webhook URL:

https://voice.example.com/voice/webhook

Then inspect runtime state:

openclaw voicecall status --call-id <id>
openclaw voicecall tail
openclaw logs --follow

Common causes:

publicUrl points at a different path than serve.path.
The tunnel URL changed after the Gateway started.
A proxy forwards the request but strips or rewrites host/proto headers.
Firewall or DNS routes the public hostname somewhere other than the Gateway.
The Gateway was restarted without the Voice Call plugin enabled.

When a reverse proxy or tunnel is in front of the Gateway, set webhookSecurity.allowedHosts to the public hostname, or use webhookSecurity.trustedProxyIPs for a known proxy address. Use webhookSecurity.trustForwardingHeaders only when the proxy boundary is under your control.

Signature verification fails

Provider signatures are checked against the public URL OpenClaw reconstructs from the incoming request. If signatures fail:

Confirm the provider webhook URL exactly matches publicUrl, including scheme, host, and path.
For ngrok free-tier URLs, update publicUrl when the tunnel hostname changes.
Ensure the proxy preserves the original host and proto headers, or configure webhookSecurity.allowedHosts.
Do not enable skipSignatureVerification outside local testing.

Google Meet Twilio joins fail

Google Meet uses this plugin for Twilio dial-in joins. First verify Voice Call:

openclaw voicecall setup
openclaw voicecall smoke --to "+15555550123"

Then verify the Google Meet transport explicitly:

openclaw googlemeet setup --transport twilio

If Voice Call is green but the Meet participant never joins, check the Meet dial-in number, PIN, and --dtmf-sequence. The phone call can be healthy while the meeting rejects or ignores an incorrect DTMF sequence. Google Meet passes the Meet DTMF sequence and intro text to voicecall.start. For Twilio calls, Voice Call serves the DTMF TwiML first, redirects back to the webhook, then opens the realtime media stream so the saved intro is generated after the phone participant has joined the meeting. Use openclaw logs --follow for the live phase trace. A healthy Twilio Meet join logs this order:

Google Meet delegates the Twilio join to Voice Call.
Voice Call stores pre-connect DTMF TwiML.
Twilio initial TwiML is consumed and served before realtime handling.
Voice Call serves realtime TwiML for the Twilio call.
The realtime bridge starts with the initial greeting queued.

openclaw voicecall tail still shows persisted call records; it is useful for call state and transcripts, but not every webhook/realtime transition appears there.

Realtime call has no speech

Confirm only one audio mode is enabled. realtime.enabled and streaming.enabled cannot both be true. For realtime Twilio calls, also verify:

A realtime provider plugin is loaded and registered.
realtime.provider is unset or names a registered provider.
The provider API key is available to the Gateway process.
openclaw logs --follow shows realtime TwiML served, the realtime bridge started, and the initial greeting queued.

Overview

Plugins

Skills

Automation and tasks

Tools

Agent coordination

Voice call plugin

Quick start

Configuration

Realtime voice conversations

Tool policy

Realtime provider examples

Streaming transcription

Streaming provider examples

TTS for calls

TTS examples

Inbound calls

Spoken output contract

Conversation startup behavior

Twilio stream disconnect grace

Stale call reaper

Webhook security

CLI

Agent tool

Gateway RPC

Troubleshooting

Setup fails webhook exposure

Provider credentials fail

Calls start but provider webhooks do not arrive

Signature verification fails

Google Meet Twilio joins fail

Realtime call has no speech

Overview

Plugins

Skills

Automation and tasks

Tools

Agent coordination

Documentation Index

​Quick start

​Configuration

​Realtime voice conversations

​Tool policy

​Realtime provider examples

​Streaming transcription

​Streaming provider examples

​TTS for calls

​TTS examples

​Inbound calls

​Spoken output contract

​Conversation startup behavior

​Twilio stream disconnect grace

​Stale call reaper

​Webhook security

​CLI

​Agent tool

​Gateway RPC

​Troubleshooting

​Setup fails webhook exposure

​Provider credentials fail

​Calls start but provider webhooks do not arrive

​Signature verification fails

​Google Meet Twilio joins fail

​Realtime call has no speech

​Related

Quick start

Configuration

Realtime voice conversations

Tool policy

Realtime provider examples

Streaming transcription

Streaming provider examples

TTS for calls

TTS examples

Inbound calls

Spoken output contract

Conversation startup behavior

Twilio stream disconnect grace

Stale call reaper

Webhook security

CLI

Agent tool

Gateway RPC

Troubleshooting

Setup fails webhook exposure

Provider credentials fail

Calls start but provider webhooks do not arrive

Signature verification fails

Google Meet Twilio joins fail

Realtime call has no speech

Related