AI receptionist
A platform to build an AI receptionist on your own phone line
To build an AI receptionist, you need a platform that answers on the number your business already uses, looks things up and takes action in your own systems while the caller is on the line, and hands the call to a person when it should. VoiceDock is that platform. It answers on your own number over your SIP trunk, reaches your systems through webhook tools, your own MCP server or webhooks, and transfers warm or cold to your team. Agencies, software companies, telecom providers and businesses with their own developers build the receptionist on it, and we build it with them.
€ 0,07/min orchestration · model usage at cost · orchestration, dashboard, API and storage on EU infrastructure
Who builds on it
Four kinds of teams build receptionists on VoiceDock
Each of them owns the receptionist and the relationship with the caller. We supply the platform underneath and build with them where it helps.
Agencies building receptionists for clients
You design the receptionist per client and keep the client relationship. We run the telephony and orchestration layer and help when a call goes wrong. How that works for agencies.
Software companies adding a phone line to their product
Your customers get a receptionist inside your product, under your brand and at your price. The white-label setup and the API and SDK are where to start.
Telecom and VoIP providers
Offer an AI receptionist on the lines you already provide, over your own SIP trunk and without porting numbers. The page for telecom providers covers an organisation per customer and your own price.
Businesses with their own developers
Your team builds and owns the receptionist, connected to your own systems. Assistants, numbers and calls can also be managed from Claude or another AI assistant through our MCP server.
How a call runs
What happens between the first ring and the last word
The same steps apply whether the receptionist answers one number or a hundred.
- 01
The call arrives on your number
Your number stays with your carrier and reaches VoiceDock over a SIP trunk. For testing, we assign a managed number on request. Phone numbers in the docs. - 02
Your system can shape the call before it is answered
Before pickup, the assistant-request webhook sends the caller's number to your server, which can return the right assistant or extra context, such as the caller's name from your CRM. How caller recognition works in practice. - 03
The receptionist greets and listens
It says who it is, which also takes care of the AI disclosure that Article 50 of the EU AI Act asks for, and works out what the caller needs. - 04
It looks things up and takes action
Opening hours, an order status, a callback request, a booking: each is a tool that calls your endpoint or your own MCP server during the call. Designing tool calls for a live phone line is written up separately. - 05
It hands over when it should
When the caller needs a person, the assistant transfers the call. In monitored mode it waits until someone actually answers, and if nobody does, it stays with the caller and takes a message. Warm transfer, step by step. - 06
Your systems get the outcome
After the call, the end-of-call report sends a summary and, if you define them, structured fields such as the reason for calling and a callback number.
What you set up
Five things to have in place
None of this is exotic. It is the list we go through with every team before a receptionist takes real calls. Want the whole build, step by step? Read how to build an AI receptionist platform with Claude Code.
| Part | How it works on VoiceDock |
|---|---|
| Phone number | Your own number over your own SIP trunk for live calls. A managed number is available on request for testing and takes inbound calls only. SIP trunks. |
| Knowledge and instructions | A system prompt per assistant with what the receptionist knows and how it speaks. For answers that change, such as stock or opening hours, a tool that reads your own source is more reliable than text in the prompt. |
| Connections to your systems | Webhook tools to your own API, your own MCP server with allowed_tools listing exactly which of its tools the assistant may use, and webhooks for call events. How a connection to a CRM or ERP is built. |
| Transfer destinations | One or more numbers with a description of when to use each, optional backup numbers, and a SIP trunk if transfers go through your own phone system. Call transfers. |
| After the call | An end-of-call report to your endpoint and, optionally, call analysis that fills in the fields your team works from. |
Before you go live
Decisions that shape the receptionist
These are choices, not defaults. Make them on purpose.
What it must never answer itself
Write down which questions always go to a person: complaints, medical or legal questions, anything that commits your company. A receptionist that knows where its job ends earns trust faster than one that answers everything.
What happens when nobody picks up
Decide whether the receptionist takes a message, offers a callback or tries a backup number. A transfer that ends in a ringing phone or a voicemail box is the most common way a good call goes bad. Where transfers go wrong.
Where the call data is processed
Orchestration, dashboard, API and storage run on EU infrastructure. Where the audio is processed depends on the model you choose; for calls that must stay inside the EU there is an EU-resident configuration. Hosting and sub-processors are listed in the Trust Center.
What a minute costs
Orchestration is € 0,07 per minute. Model usage is passed through at cost on our keys, or billed by your provider if you bring your own keys, and telephony is billed per leg. What a voice agent costs per minute breaks down the meters, and our pricing page lists ours.
Related
Other jobs a receptionist is given
FAQ
Questions about building an AI receptionist
What is the best platform to build an AI receptionist for a business?
One that works on a real phone line rather than only in a demo: it answers on your existing number, reads from and writes to your own systems during the call, transfers to a person reliably, and tells you afterwards what happened. VoiceDock covers those four, runs its platform layer on EU infrastructure and publishes its pricing. If you are comparing platforms, our pages on Vapi, Retell AI, Bland AI and Synthflow set them next to VoiceDock, with sources.
Can it use the phone number we already have?
Yes. Live calls run on your own number over your own SIP trunk, so the number stays with your carrier. A managed number from us is available on request for testing and setup. Managed numbers and your own numbers explains the difference.
Does VoiceDock connect to our CRM or booking system?
Through your own API, webhooks or an MCP server, rather than through a fixed list of built-in connectors. The assistant calls a tool, your endpoint does the work in your system and returns an answer. How such a connection is built.
Can the receptionist transfer to our existing phone system?
Yes. Transfers go to a phone number, or through a SIP trunk to your own phone system, and you describe per destination when the assistant should use it. Warm transfer covers waiting for an answer and backup numbers.
Is it a ready-made receptionist?
No. VoiceDock is a platform, and we build the receptionist on it together with you: the phone setup, the transfers, the connections to your systems, and debugging down to the SIP logs when a call fails. Dutch businesses that want a receptionist built and managed for them can go to Flireo, the company behind VoiceDock.
Can we offer it to our own customers?
Yes. White-label lets you offer it under your own brand at your own price per customer. White-label and reseller setups are arranged with us rather than switched on at sign-up. Partner options.
Where is the data processed, and is there a DPA?
Orchestration, dashboard, API and storage run on EU infrastructure. A standard data processing agreement under GDPR Article 28 is available at no additional cost; the docs explain how to obtain it. Hosting and sub-processors are public in the Trust Center.
Build your receptionist with us
Plan a call to go through your number, your systems and your transfer rules, or create an account and start on prepaid credit. The developer page shows the API and SDK.