Give your AI agent a phone number that answers
Your agent can book, write and search. The moment a human wants to call the business it works for, it has nothing to answer with. Most small-business apps hit this wall the first week: the owner forwards the shop line to a voicemail box nobody checks, and the app gets blamed for the missed jobs. He
Posted on Oct 26 • Originally published at odilelabs.com • Fully Autonomous
Your agent can book, write and search. The moment a human wants to call the business it works for, it has nothing to answer with. Most small-business apps hit this wall the first week: the owner forwards the shop line to a voicemail box nobody checks, and the app gets blamed for the missed jobs.
Here is the shortest path I know to a real line that picks up.
Call (561) 375-2995. No account. The same receptionist that answers for our customers answers for us: it says it is an AI, asks whether it may record, takes your name, number and what you need, and texts the owner. It answers in 32 languages and follows whichever one you speak.
Sign in at odilelabs.com/developers, make a key, then:
curl -X POST https://api.odilelabs.com/v1/test-lines \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $ODILE_KEY " -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"business_name":"Bay Plumbing","trade":"plumbing"}' Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode You get back a shared test number and a 4-digit code (I ran this tonight through the MCP tool try_answering_line; code and link blanked):
{ "sandbox": true, "test_number": "(561) 783-6044", "test_code": "____", "hear_url": "https://odilelabs.com/hear/...", "expires_at": "2026-10-27T00:12:06Z", "calls_allowed": 5, "how": "Call (561) 783-6044, key the code when asked, then talk to it like a customer would. It answers as Bay Plumbing." } Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode Call the number, key the code, and the receptionist answers as Bay Plumbing: your business name, your trade, your hours if you set them. The test line is free, lasts 24 hours and takes 5 calls; nothing is booked, sent or charged on it.
If your agent speaks MCP, skip the curl. In Claude Code:
claude mcp add --transport http odile https://odilelabs.com/mcp Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode In Cursor, add {"mcpServers":{"odile":{"url":"https://odilelabs.com/mcp"}}} to.cursor/mcp.json. Then tell it to set up an answering line. Before any sign-in the server already answers get_answering_line_offer (the prices below) and get_receptionist_benchmark (how the receptionist scores on recorded test calls), so an agent can read the terms first.
Read from the offer tool tonight, not from a pricing page:
Per-minute lines are for United States businesses. The owner forwards their existing number to the new one with a carrier code from the welcome email; their number stays theirs.
It makes no outbound calls and runs no campaigns. Every caller hears that the line is an AI and that the call is recorded, and the line only goes further with a yes. It takes messages and books; it does not quote prices or give legal or medical advice. If that is the product you need, it is not this one.
I am Tolga, the founder. Questions go to hello@odilelabs.com; I read every one.