Add Exotel support to the development runner

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ### Added
 
+- Added Exotel support to Pipecat's development runner. You can now connect
+  using the runner with `uv run bot.py -t exotel` and an ngrok connection to
+  HTTP port 7860.
+
 - Added `enable_direct_mode` argument to `FrameProcessor`. The direct mode is
   for processors which require very little I/O or compute resources, that is
   processors that can perform their task almost immediately. These type of

src/pipecat/runner/run.py

@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ Supported transports:
 
 - Daily - Creates rooms and tokens, runs bot as participant
 - WebRTC - Provides local WebRTC interface with prebuilt UI
-- Telephony - Handles webhook and WebSocket connections for Twilio, Telnyx, Plivo
+- Telephony - Handles webhook and WebSocket connections for Twilio, Telnyx, Plivo, Exotel
 
 To run locally:
 
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ To run locally:
 - Daily (server): `python bot.py -t daily`
 - Daily (direct, testing only): `python bot.py -d`
 - Telephony: `python bot.py -t twilio -x your_username.ngrok.io`
+- Exotel: `python bot.py -t exotel` (no proxy needed, but ngrok connection to HTTP 7860 is required)
 """
 
 import argparse
@@ -168,7 +169,7 @@ def _create_server_app(
         _setup_webrtc_routes(app, esp32_mode=esp32_mode, host=host)
     elif transport_type == "daily":
         _setup_daily_routes(app)
-    elif transport_type in ["twilio", "telnyx", "plivo"]:
+    elif transport_type in ["twilio", "telnyx", "plivo", "exotel"]:
         _setup_telephony_routes(app, transport_type, proxy)
     else:
         logger.warning(f"Unknown transport type: {transport_type}")
@@ -333,7 +334,7 @@ def _setup_daily_routes(app: FastAPI):
 
 def _setup_telephony_routes(app: FastAPI, transport_type: str, proxy: str):
     """Set up telephony-specific routes."""
-    # XML response templates
+    # XML response templates (Exotel doesn't use XML webhooks)
     XML_TEMPLATES = {
         "twilio": f"""<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <Response>
@@ -358,9 +359,18 @@ def _setup_telephony_routes(app: FastAPI, transport_type: str, proxy: str):
     @app.post("/")
     async def start_call():
         """Handle telephony webhook and return XML response."""
-        logger.debug(f"POST {transport_type.upper()} XML")
+        if transport_type == "exotel":
-        xml_content = XML_TEMPLATES.get(transport_type, "<Response></Response>")
+            # Exotel doesn't use POST webhooks - redirect to proper documentation
-        return HTMLResponse(content=xml_content, media_type="application/xml")
+            logger.debug("POST Exotel endpoint - not used")
+            return {
+                "error": "Exotel doesn't use POST webhooks",
+                "websocket_url": f"wss://{proxy}/ws",
+                "note": "Configure the WebSocket URL above in your Exotel App Bazaar Voicebot Applet",
+            }
+        else:
+            logger.debug(f"POST {transport_type.upper()} XML")
+            xml_content = XML_TEMPLATES.get(transport_type, "<Response></Response>")
+            return HTMLResponse(content=xml_content, media_type="application/xml")
 
     @app.websocket("/ws")
     async def websocket_endpoint(websocket: WebSocket):
@@ -436,7 +446,7 @@ def main():
     Args:
         --host: Server host address (default: localhost)
         --port: Server port (default: 7860)
-        -t/--transport: Transport type (daily, webrtc, twilio, telnyx, plivo)
+        -t/--transport: Transport type (daily, webrtc, twilio, telnyx, plivo, exotel)
         -x/--proxy: Public proxy hostname for telephony webhooks
         --esp32: Enable SDP munging for ESP32 compatibility (requires --host with IP address)
         -d/--direct: Connect directly to Daily room (automatically sets transport to daily)
@@ -451,7 +461,7 @@ def main():
         "-t",
         "--transport",
         type=str,
-        choices=["daily", "webrtc", "twilio", "telnyx", "plivo"],
+        choices=["daily", "webrtc", "twilio", "telnyx", "plivo", "exotel"],
         default="webrtc",
         help="Transport type",
     )

src/pipecat/runner/utils.py

@@ -77,6 +77,17 @@ def _detect_transport_type_from_message(message_data: dict) -> str:
         logger.trace("Auto-detected: PLIVO")
         return "plivo"
 
+    # Exotel detection
+    if (
+        message_data.get("event") == "start"
+        and "start" in message_data
+        and "stream_sid" in message_data.get("start", {})
+        and "call_sid" in message_data.get("start", {})
+        and "account_sid" in message_data.get("start", {})
+    ):
+        logger.trace("Auto-detected: EXOTEL")
+        return "exotel"
+
     logger.trace("Auto-detection failed - unknown format")
     return "unknown"
 
@@ -91,6 +102,7 @@ async def parse_telephony_websocket(websocket: WebSocket):
         - Twilio: {"stream_id": str, "call_id": str}
         - Telnyx: {"stream_id": str, "call_control_id": str, "outbound_encoding": str}
         - Plivo: {"stream_id": str, "call_id": str}
+        - Exotel: {"stream_id": str, "call_id": str, "account_sid": str}
 
     Example usage::
 
@@ -160,6 +172,14 @@ async def parse_telephony_websocket(websocket: WebSocket):
                 "call_id": start_data.get("callId"),
             }
 
+        elif transport_type == "exotel":
+            start_data = call_data_raw.get("start", {})
+            call_data = {
+                "stream_id": start_data.get("stream_sid"),
+                "call_id": start_data.get("call_sid"),
+                "account_sid": start_data.get("account_sid"),
+            }
+
         else:
             call_data = {}
 
@@ -379,10 +399,17 @@ async def _create_telephony_transport(
             auth_id=os.getenv("PLIVO_AUTH_ID", ""),
             auth_token=os.getenv("PLIVO_AUTH_TOKEN", ""),
         )
+    elif transport_type == "exotel":
+        from pipecat.serializers.exotel import ExotelFrameSerializer
+
+        params.serializer = ExotelFrameSerializer(
+            stream_sid=call_data["stream_id"],
+            call_sid=call_data["call_id"],
+        )
     else:
         raise ValueError(
             f"Unsupported telephony provider: {transport_type}. "
-            f"Supported providers: twilio, telnyx, plivo"
+            f"Supported providers: twilio, telnyx, plivo, exotel"
         )
 
     return FastAPIWebsocketTransport(websocket=websocket, params=params)
@@ -399,7 +426,7 @@ async def create_transport(
     Args:
         runner_args: Arguments from the runner.
         transport_params: Dict mapping transport names to parameter factory functions.
-            Keys should be: "daily", "webrtc", "twilio", "telnyx", "plivo"
+            Keys should be: "daily", "webrtc", "twilio", "telnyx", "plivo", "exotel"
             Values should be functions that return transport parameters when called.
 
     Returns:
@@ -440,6 +467,12 @@ async def create_transport(
                 vad_analyzer=SileroVADAnalyzer(),
                 # add_wav_header and serializer will be set automatically
             ),
+            "exotel": lambda: FastAPIWebsocketParams(
+                audio_in_enabled=True,
+                audio_out_enabled=True,
+                vad_analyzer=SileroVADAnalyzer(),
+                # add_wav_header and serializer will be set automatically
+            ),
         }
 
         transport = await create_transport(runner_args, transport_params)