Tel-Agent

A self-hosted AI receptionist that handles SIP calls and customer messages, stores conversations locally, and uses cloud services for voice processing.

Tel-Agent is an AI receptionist for businesses that want phone calls and customer messages handled by one agent on their own server. Recordings and transcripts stay on your machine, but its voice setup uses Deepgram, a cloud LLM and ElevenLabs, requiring internet access and your own API keys.

Call routing: Caller rules send calls to the agent or a person, or block them; the agent can transfer calls, take messages and respond when callers interrupt.
Shared messaging: The same agent answers through web chat, SMS, email, WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger, Instagram, Discord and Slack using your own channel credentials.
Searchable conversations: Calls and messages share an archive you can search, with notifications that alert a person to incoming messages.
Business tools: The agent can check calendars and act on connected systems through HTTP tools, webhooks and MCP, including connections to n8n and Home Assistant.

Tel-Agent is free and open source under AGPL-3.0. It runs on Windows, Linux and macOS, including Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, or in Docker. External AI services are separate from the self-hosted application.

It connects to existing phone systems such as 3CX, Asterisk and FreePBX over SIP. Analog lines require an ATA adapter. Stored API keys are encrypted, and call-recording announcements are enabled by default.