Programmable Voice quickstart for Ruby

Log in to your Twilio account or sign up for a new one.

If you need a Twilio phone number, buy one in the Twilio Console:

1. Go to Phone Numbers > Manage > Buy a Number.
2. Under Capabilities, select Voice.
3. Click Search. The page displays a list of available voice-capable phone numbers.
4. Click Buy next to a phone number to add it to your account.

Check if you already have Ruby installed on your computer by opening a terminal and running the following command:

ruby --version

If your computer has Ruby, then you see something like this:

ruby 2.7.2

You'll need Ruby 2.6 or later to run this quickstart. If you don't have a matching version of Ruby on your computer, then follow the Ruby installation instructions for your operating system.

Create a new directory for this project and navigate to it using the command line. Run the following commands to create a Gemfile and add the dependencies that this quickstart relies on.

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bundle init
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bundle add puma twilio-ruby sinatra

1. Create a new file named make_call.rb with the following code:

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   require 'twilio-ruby'
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   # To set up environment variables, see https://twil.io/secure
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   account_sid = ENV['TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID']
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   auth_token = ENV['TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN']
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   # Set up a client to talk to the Twilio REST API
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   @client = Twilio::REST::Client.new(account_sid, auth_token)
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   call = @client.calls.create(
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       to: "+15558675310",
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       from: "+15017122661",
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       url: "http://demo.twilio.com/docs/voice.xml")
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   puts call.to

   This code starts a phone call between the two phone numbers that you pass as arguments. The from number is your Twilio number, and the to number is the call recipient.

   The url argument points to a TwiML file that tells Twilio what to do when the call recipient answers their phone. This TwiML instructs Twilio to read a message using text-to-speech and then play an MP3.

2. Log in to the Twilio Console.

3. Copy the Account SID and replace ENV['TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID'] with it in the make_call.rb file.

4. Copy the Auth Token and replace ENV['TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN'] with it.

5. Copy your Twilio phone number and replace the from value in make_call.rb with it.

6. Replace the to value with your own phone number (the number you want to call).

7. Save the file.

8. Run the script using this command:

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   ruby make_call.rb

   Your phone should ring with a call from your Twilio number. Answer it, and you'll hear a short message.

1. Create a file in your project directory named answer_call.rb.
2. Add the following code to create a server that responds to incoming calls:
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   require 'sinatra'
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   require 'twilio-ruby'
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   configure :development do
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     set :host_authorization, { permitted_hosts: [] }
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   end
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   def self.get_or_post(url,&block)
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     get(url,&block)
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     post(url,&block)
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   end
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   get_or_post '/' do
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     content_type 'text/xml'
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     Twilio::TwiML::VoiceResponse.new do | response |
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       response.say(message: "Ahoy world!")
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     end.to_s
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   end

3. Save the file.
4. Start your Sinatra server with the following command:
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   ruby answer_call.rb

1. If you don't already use ngrok, then download and install it.

2. Ensure your Sinatra server is still running, then open a new command line window and start ngrok with this command:

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   ngrok http 4567

   You should see output that resembles this:

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   Session Status                online
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   Version                       3.23.2
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   Web Interface                 http://127.0.0.1:4040
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   Forwarding                    https://ff4660c91380.ngrok.app -> http://localhost:4567
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   Connections                   ttl     opn     rt1     rt5     p50     p90
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                                 0       0       0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00

3. Copy the URL ending in ngrok.app and paste it into your browser. You should see a TwiML document that contains the string 'Ahoy world!'

4. In the Twilio Console, go to Phone Numbers > Manage > Active numbers.

5. Click your Twilio phone number.

6. On the Configure tab, under the Voice Configuration section, set A call comes in to Webhook.

7. Enter your ngrok public URL in the URL field (for example, https://ff4660c91380.ngrok.app).

8. Click Save configuration.

9. Head back to your terminal. Make sure that ngrok is still running in one tab and your Sinatra server is running in another tab.

Make a phone call to your Twilio phone number. You'll hear a short message once the call connects.

Your new application uses the <Say> TwiML verb to read a message to the caller using text-to-speech. You can create more powerful constructs and call flows using other TwiML verbs. Try a few, such as <Record>, <Gather>, and <Conference>.

Check out these pages to learn more:

• Gather user input via keypad (DTMF tones) in Ruby
• Learn how to record incoming and outgoing Twilio Voice phone calls using Ruby
• Create conference calls in Ruby
• Dive into the API Reference documentation for Twilio Programmable Voice
• Learn how to modify calls in progress with Ruby
• Looking to make a call from your browser or mobile application? Use a Twilio Voice SDK to integrate high-quality VoIP calling.
• Retrieve information about in-progress and completed calls from your Twilio account using Ruby.
• Check out our full sample application tutorial on how to transfer calls from one support agent to another with Ruby and Sinatra

Let's build something amazing.