The problem
Missed calls cost service businesses bookings: without round-the-clock coverage, calls outside business hours go to voicemail or the next business that answers.
The approach
The agent runs on OpenAI's Realtime API for conversation, routed through Twilio for telephony and LiveKit for low-latency audio streaming, backed by a Node.js service that handles appointment booking, spam screening, and call logging.
Implementation
The agent answers every inbound call, determines caller intent, books appointments directly into the calendar, and filters spam and robocalls before they reach staff.
What we learned
- A phone agent has to handle interruptions and natural speech, not just clean turn-taking, to be usable as a real receptionist.
- Spam and robocall filtering needs to run before the conversation flow starts, so it doesn't waste the agent's time or clutter the call log.