I need to dial an extension- is that available in the UI or do I need to use the API?

@James You can dial an extension using the VAPI interface. When setting up your outbound call, you can include the extension number after the main phone number, usually separated by a comma or a semicolon, which represents a pause before dialing the extension. If you're having trouble finding where to input the extension in the UI, please let me know, and I can guide you through the process. If the UI does not support this feature, you may need to use the API to programmatically include the extension in your call setup.

Ok, it looks like the UI does not support this feature

@James can you pleae eloborate your use case to help you better.

Sure. There is a local number set up to call to get information. It is essentially an answering machine with different mailboxes, and the message is updated daily. I would like to call the number and get a transcript. So I need to select mailbox 1 initially, but pressing other numbers causes issues.

you can use dtmf tool for this to send key presses.

Ok, is there any trick to getting

dtmf

to work consistently? I see this in my logs but it only sometimes actually selects option 1-

{
        "role": "tool_calls",
        "time": 1726686132994,
        "message": "",
        "toolCalls": [
          {
            "id": "call_s6tPG3t7BD3Pn77Op5BRKlQs",
            "type": "function",
            "function": { "name": "dtmf", "arguments": "{\"keys\": \"1\"}" }
          }
        ],
        "secondsFromStart": 8.119
      },
      {
        "name": "dtmf",
        "role": "tool_call_result",
        "time": 1726686132997,
        "result": "Success.",
        "toolCallId": "call_s6tPG3t7BD3Pn77Op5BRKlQs",
        "secondsFromStart": 8.122
      },

what does dtmf do?

try this

trigger the dtmf tool with 1

It hasn't worked the last 5 times I attempted it with that string, but it has worked occasionally other times.

can you share the call id pls?

9fb3bf3e-0e60-4935-8498-af74ab8d2fdd

hey @James tool call was susucesful but looks like it didn't reached the other end. can you try using external tool call?

What do you mean by external tool call?

use tools for sending DTMF tones directly to twilio.

Before I get to that, can you confirm on that call that it is dialing the extension that I specify in

customer.extension

? Ideally I don't even have to have the model send the DTMF tone, I would think that it should be able to dial the extension directly

no the transfer tool call wan't triggered.

{
        "role": "tool_calls",
        "time": 1727106889712,
        "message": "",
        "toolCalls": [
          {
            "id": "call_0oL1PUA1ljwUrxnypOHv8eXC",
            "type": "function",
            "function": {"name": "dtmf", "arguments": "{\"keys\": \"1\"}"}
          }
        ],
        "secondsFromStart": 5.453
      },