Connect Exotel SIP trunking to Rapida AI

12 min

This guide aligns Exotel with Rapida AI for voice assistants. Rapida documents two relevant patterns:

GitHub repo (reference): https://github.com/exotel/AgentStream-VoiceAIEcosystem

Applicability: Hybrid — UI-driven native Exotel integration (webhook/streaming) OR SIP-driven SIP trunk path.

Native Exotel integration — Exotel app / Flow calls Rapida’s webhook + bidirectional media stream (no Exotel SIP trunk API required for this path).

SIP trunk — Exotel as SIP carrier (SIP trunking) ↔ Rapida’s SIP server at sip-01.in.rapida.ai:5060 — same trunk / credentials / destination-uris patterns as other articles in this repo.

Primary Rapida reference: Exotel integration · SIP trunk integration · Phone deployment

Engineering detail: rapida/integrations/exotel-vsip/rapida-exotel-voice-ai-connector.md

Quickstart: rapida/integrations/exotel-vsip/QUICKSTART.md

Choose a path

Path	Best when	Exotel work	Rapida work
A — Native Exotel	You want Rapida’s documented streaming integration	Configure App / Flow webhook to Rapida; assign DID	Integration → Tools → Exotel credentials; Phone deployment with App ID + number
B — SIP trunk (SIP trunking)	You need SIP toward Rapida from Exotel (or digest toward Exotel for outbound)	Create trunk → map DID → credentials; destination-uris toward Rapida SIP host; Connect sip:<trunk_sid>	SIP Trunk credential + Phone deployment with SIP as provider

If you use Path A, you may not need POST …/trunks at all — follow Rapida’s Exotel guide first.

Path A — Native Exotel (webhook + media stream)

From Rapida — Exotel:

Rapida — credentials

Integration → Tools → Exotel → Setup Credential.

Fields (per Rapida): Account SID, Client ID, Client Secret — sourced from the Exotel dashboard (API / app settings).

Exotel India often labels credentials API Key and API Token; map them to whatever Rapida’s form expects (Exotel API credentials for India).

Rapida — phone deployment

Assistant → Deploy → Phone.

Telephony: provider Exotel, select credential, Phone number (Exotel virtual number), App ID (Exotel applet / flow id that will hit Rapida).

Exotel — applet / Flow

Set the inbound URL Rapida documents (replace placeholders):

https://websocket-01.in.rapida.ai/v1/talk/exotel/call/{your-assistant-id}?x-api-key={your-api-key}

Assign your Exotel number to this app. Confirm the exact hostname and path in Rapida’s Exotel guide if it changes.

Outbound

Use Rapida SDK or REST (POST https://api.rapida.ai/v1/talk/call) — examples in Rapida — Exotel.

Path B — Exotel SIP trunking + Rapida SIP trunk

From Rapida — SIP trunk:

Rapida SIP endpoint (for routing to Rapida)

sip:sip-01.in.rapida.ai:5060

Transport UDP or TCP; codecs G.711 PCMU (preferred) / PCMA. Allow RTP per Rapida + your firewall docs.

Exotel — inbound PSTN → Rapida

Create trunk → map DID → (optional) POST …/credentials if your design requires digest on the Exotel side.

POST …/destination-uris toward Rapida, e.g.:

curl -s -X POST "https://${API_KEY}:${API_TOKEN}@${SUBDOMAIN}/v2/accounts/${ACCOUNT_SID}/trunks/${TRUNK_SID}/destination-uris" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "destinations": [ { "destination": "sip-01.in.rapida.ai:5060;transport=udp" } ] }'

Flow → Connect: Dial whom = sip:<trunk_sid> (Voice AI / SIP trunking).

Rapida — SIP trunk credential

Integration → Tools → SIP Trunk: set SIP URI to your Exotel edge IP:port (and digest if used) for outbound from Rapida toward Exotel — mirror ElevenLabs-style termination. Use Exotel network and firewall for edge values.

Optional Exotel ACL: POST …/whitelisted-ips only if Rapida publishes fixed static SIP egress IPs to allow — one IP per POST, mask: 32 (Exotel trunk does not support arbitrary CIDR ranges).

Exotel SIP trunk API Reference for Voice AIShared Exotel curls

Troubleshooting

Symptom	What to check
Inbound never hits Rapida (Path A)	Webhook URL, assistant id, x-api-key, number linked to correct app
SIP failures (Path B)	sip-01.in.rapida.ai reachability, UDP/TCP, codec; destination-uris format
Outbound fails	Rapida credential + deployment; from number is your Exotel DID
Connect misrouted	sip:<trunk_sid> only in Dial whom (Path B)

References

Resource	URL
Rapida — Exotel	https://doc.rapida.ai/integrations/telephony/exotel
Rapida — SIP trunk	https://doc.rapida.ai/integrations/telephony/sip
Rapida — Phone deployment	https://doc.rapida.ai/voice-deployment-options/phone
Rapida — Credentials	https://doc.rapida.ai/credential/rapida-credentials
Rapida — Overview	https://doc.rapida.ai/introduction/overview
Exotel SIP API	https://docs.exotel.com/dynamic-sip-trunking/detailed-sip-trunking-api-reference