Outbound Calls
When you ask your agent to make a call, it follows a structured five-step process:Resolve the phone number
The agent normalizes any number you provide to E.164 format (e.g.
+19172577580). If you give a business name without a number, it looks it up and confirms before proceeding. It will never guess a personal contact’s number.Gather details and confirm intent
The agent identifies what’s needed for the call type, infers reasonable defaults, and presents a clear plan before doing anything:
“I’m going to call [place] at [number] to [goal]. I’ll mention I’m calling on behalf of you. If no one answers, I’ll leave a voicemail: [one sentence]. Ok to proceed?”It waits for your confirmation before moving forward.
Draft the call prompt
The agent writes a structured prompt that drives the voice AI on the call — including identity, goal with branching logic for likely responses, and a voicemail script.
Place the call
The agent fires the API call and stays connected while the call runs — up to 5 minutes. It never retries a pending call.
Example use cases
Restaurant reservation
“Call A Mano tonight to make a dinner reservation for two between 7–8 PM.”
Appointment scheduling
“Call Manhattan Dental to schedule a cleaning next week.”
Get a quote
“Call John’s Locksmith to get a quote for upgrading to a smart lock.”
API reference
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
message | string | Yes | Structured prompt that drives the voice AI agent on the call. |
to | string | Yes | Destination phone number in E.164 format (e.g. +15551234567). |
| Error | Meaning | Action |
|---|---|---|
"human did not respond" | Call connected but no one answered or engaged | Agent reports back and stops |
"invalid to number" | to field is malformed or unroutable | Agent reports back; re-check E.164 formatting |
"timeout" | Call exceeded 5-minute limit | Agent reports back; do not retry |
Calls can stay open up to 5 minutes. The agent will never retry a pending call request.
Inbound Calls
When someone calls your reserved number, Poku’s voice agent answers and acts as a voicemail service. It greets the caller, takes down their message, and cannot share any information on your behalf. Once the call ends, Poku sends a summary of the call to your agent via webhook. You’ll receive a notification in real-time through whichever channel you’ve configured (e.g. Telegram, Slack).Inbound calls require a webhook to be set up. See the Webhook page to get started.