Exotel Setup

Connect your Exotel account to make outbound calls through the Vocobase platform. Exotel is popular in India and supports local and toll-free numbers.

Exotel telephony must be enabled for your partner account by the Vocobase team before you can configure it. Check your allowed_telephony_providers in the config endpoint to verify.

Prerequisites

A Vocobase account with approved partner status
Exotel enabled in your allowed_telephony_providers
An Exotel account with:
- Account SID
- API Key and API Token
- A configured Voicebot applet
- At least one caller ID (phone number)

Get your Exotel credentials

Log in to the Exotel Dashboard
Navigate to Settings > API Settings
Note your Account SID, API Key, and API Token
Note your Subdomain (e.g., api.exotel.com or your custom subdomain)
Navigate to Phone Numbers and note your Caller ID (the number calls will originate from)
Navigate to App Bazaar > Voicebot and note your Applet ID

Configure via API

This endpoint updates your default Exotel connection. To create multiple named Exotel connections, use POST /api/v2/telephony/connections and store the returned connection_id.

curl -X PUT https://api.vocobase.com/api/v2/config/telephony/exotel \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer rg_live_abc123def456ghi789jkl012" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "account_sid": "your_exotel_sid",
    "api_key": "your_api_key",
    "api_token": "your_api_token",
    "subdomain": "api.exotel.com",
    "caller_id": "+919876543210",
    "applet_id": "your_applet_id"
  }'

const response = await fetch("https://api.vocobase.com/api/v2/config/telephony/exotel", {
  method: "PUT",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": "Bearer rg_live_abc123def456ghi789jkl012",
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    account_sid: "your_exotel_sid",
    api_key: "your_api_key",
    api_token: "your_api_token",
    subdomain: "api.exotel.com",
    caller_id: "+919876543210",
    applet_id: "your_applet_id",
  }),
});

import requests

response = requests.put(
    "https://api.vocobase.com/api/v2/config/telephony/exotel",
    headers={
        "Authorization": "Bearer rg_live_abc123def456ghi789jkl012",
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    json={
        "account_sid": "your_exotel_sid",
        "api_key": "your_api_key",
        "api_token": "your_api_token",
        "subdomain": "api.exotel.com",
        "caller_id": "+919876543210",
        "applet_id": "your_applet_id",
    },
)

Field	Required	Description
`account_sid`	Yes	Your Exotel Account SID
`api_key`	Yes	API Key from Exotel dashboard
`api_token`	Yes	API Token from Exotel dashboard
`subdomain`	Yes	API subdomain (e.g., `api.exotel.com` or your cluster subdomain)
`caller_id`	Yes	Phone number to display on outbound calls
`applet_id`	Yes	Voicebot applet ID from Exotel App Bazaar

Credentials are encrypted at rest and never returned in API responses. Store them securely — you’ll need them again if you update the configuration.

Verify configuration

After saving, confirm Exotel is configured by checking your partner config:

curl -X GET https://api.vocobase.com/api/v2/config \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer rg_live_abc123def456ghi789jkl012"

The response will include:

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "allowed_telephony_providers": ["exotel"],
    "telephony": {
      "exotel": {
        "configured": true,
        "allowed": true,
        "account_sid": "your_exotel_sid",
        "subdomain": "api.exotel.com",
        "caller_id": "+919876543210",
        "applet_id": "your_applet_id"
      }
    }
  }
}

Make a test call

Once configured, initiate an outbound call with provider: "exotel". If your partner account has multiple active Exotel connections, include connection_id.

curl -X POST https://api.vocobase.com/api/v2/calls/start \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer rg_live_abc123def456ghi789jkl012" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "agent_id": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890",
    "to_number": "+919876543210",
    "provider": "exotel",
    "connection_id": "9b7f1c44-c87f-4f0c-9124-3c802a9c1a20"
  }'

const response = await fetch("https://api.vocobase.com/api/v2/calls/start", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": "Bearer rg_live_abc123def456ghi789jkl012",
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    agent_id: "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890",
    to_number: "+919876543210",
    provider: "exotel",
    connection_id: "9b7f1c44-c87f-4f0c-9124-3c802a9c1a20",
  }),
});

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "call_id": "c1234567-abcd-1234-abcd-123456789012",
    "session_id": "s1234567-abcd-1234-abcd-123456789012",
    "status": "pending",
    "provider": "exotel",
    "connection_id": "9b7f1c44-c87f-4f0c-9124-3c802a9c1a20",
    "from_number": "+919876543210",
    "to_number": "+919876543210",
    "agent_id": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890"
  }
}

Passing only "provider": "exotel" remains valid while there is exactly one active Exotel connection.

How Exotel calls work

Vocobase calls the Exotel Connect API to initiate the call
Exotel dials the customer using your caller ID
When the customer answers, Exotel triggers your configured Voicebot applet
The applet connects to the Vocobase voice agent via WebSocket
The agent handles the conversation in real time
When the call ends, a webhook fires with the transcript and duration

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
”Exotel not configured” error	Ensure all 6 fields are set: account_sid, api_key, api_token, subdomain, caller_id, applet_id
`CONNECTION_AMBIGUOUS` error	Call `GET /api/v2/telephony/connections?provider=exotel` and pass the desired `connection_id` in `POST /api/v2/calls/start`.
”Provider not allowed” (403)	Contact Vocobase to enable Exotel for your partner account
Calls fail to connect	Verify credentials in the Exotel dashboard. Check that the applet is active.
Wrong caller ID displayed	Update the `caller_id` field with the correct E.164 number
API token expired	Exotel API tokens may expire. Generate a new one and update via the API.

Next steps

Telephony Connections

Create and manage multiple named connections.

Twilio Setup

Configure Twilio as an alternative provider.

Credits & Billing

Understand how calls consume credits.

Getting Started

Guides

Partner Onboarding

API Reference

Webhooks

Telephony

Exotel Setup

Exotel Setup

Prerequisites

Get your Exotel credentials

Configure via API

Verify configuration

Make a test call

How Exotel calls work

Troubleshooting

Next steps

Telephony Connections

Twilio Setup

Credits & Billing

​Exotel Setup

​Prerequisites

​Get your Exotel credentials

​Configure via API

​Verify configuration

​Make a test call

​How Exotel calls work

​Troubleshooting

​Next steps

Telephony Connections

Twilio Setup

Credits & Billing

Exotel Setup

Prerequisites

Get your Exotel credentials

Configure via API

Verify configuration

Make a test call

How Exotel calls work

Troubleshooting

Next steps