twilio-voice-conversation-relay

Overview

ConversationRelay connects Twilio's telephony layer to your app via a persistent WebSocket. Twilio handles ASR (speech-to-text) and TTS (text-to-speech); your app receives transcripts, calls an LLM, and sends text back for playback.

Caller ←→ Twilio (ASR/TTS) ←→ WebSocket ←→ Your App ←→ LLM

Prerequisites

• Upgraded Twilio account with ConversationRelay access (requires onboarding) — New to Twilio? See twilio-account-setup — Start onboarding at: Console > Voice > ConversationRelay — access is not instant
• A voice-capable Twilio phone number
• TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID and TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN — see twilio-iam-auth-setup
• WebSocket server reachable via wss:// (TLS required)
• An LLM integration (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.)
• For placing calls: see twilio-voice-outbound-calls

Onboarding: Complete via Console > Voice > ConversationRelay > Onboarding. Select TTS/ASR providers:

• TTS: Deepgram, Amazon Polly, Google Cloud TTS, ElevenLabs
• ASR: Deepgram, Google Cloud STT

Quickstart

Step 1 — Return TwiML pointing to your WebSocket server

Python (Flask)

from flask import Flask
from twilio.twiml.voice_response import VoiceResponse, Connect, ConversationRelay

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route("/voice", methods=["POST"])
def voice():
    response = VoiceResponse()
    connect = Connect()
    connect.conversation_relay(
        url="wss://yourapp.com/ws/voice",
        welcome_greeting="Hello! How can I help you today?"
    )
    response.append(connect)
    return str(response)

Node.js (Express)

const { VoiceResponse } = require("twilio").twiml;

app.post("/voice", (req, res) => {
    const response = new VoiceResponse();
    const connect = response.connect();
    connect.conversationRelay({
        url: "wss://yourapp.com/ws/voice",
        welcomeGreeting: "Hello! How can I help you today?",
    });
    res.type("text/xml").send(response.toString());
});

Step 2 — Handle WebSocket events and respond with text

Python (websockets)

import asyncio, json, websockets

async def handle_call(websocket):
    async for message in websocket:
        event = json.loads(message)
        if event["type"] == "prompt":
            ai_response = await call_llm(event["voicePrompt"])
            await websocket.send(json.dumps({"type": "text", "token": ai_response, "last": True}))

async def main():
    async with websockets.serve(handle_call, "0.0.0.0", 8080):
        await asyncio.Future()

asyncio.run(main())

Node.js (ws)

const WebSocket = require("ws");
const wss = new WebSocket.Server({ port: 8080 });

wss.on("connection", (ws) => {
    ws.on("message", async (data) => {
        const event = JSON.parse(data);
        if (event.type === "prompt") {
            const aiResponse = await callLLM(event.voicePrompt);
            ws.send(JSON.stringify({ type: "text", token: aiResponse, last: true }));
        }
    });
});

Security: The voicePrompt field contains ASR-transcribed caller speech — it is untrusted external input. When passing to an LLM, isolate it as user input within a structured system prompt. Implement topic boundaries and output filtering to prevent the LLM from disclosing system instructions or speaking inappropriate content. ConversationRelay is a pure transport layer with no built-in content safety — any LLM output is spoken to the caller verbatim.

Key Patterns

WebSocket Message Types

Received from Twilio:

Sent to Twilio:

Stream LLM Responses Token-by-Token

Lower latency by streaming as the LLM generates output — Twilio starts speaking before the full response is ready.

Python

async for chunk in llm_stream:
    await websocket.send(json.dumps({"type": "text", "token": chunk, "last": False}))
await websocket.send(json.dumps({"type": "text", "token": "", "last": True}))

Node.js

for await (const chunk of llmStream) {
    ws.send(JSON.stringify({ type: "text", token: chunk, last: false }));
}
ws.send(JSON.stringify({ type: "text", token: "", last: true }));

Voice Configuration

Python

connect.conversation_relay(
    url="wss://yourapp.com/ws/voice",
    voice="en-US-Neural2-F",
    language="en-US",
    transcription_provider="deepgram",
    speech_model="nova-2-phonecall",
    interrupt_by_dtmf=True,
)

Node.js

connect.conversationRelay({
    url: "wss://yourapp.com/ws/voice",
    voice: "en-US-Neural2-F",
    language: "en-US",
    transcriptionProvider: "deepgram",
    speechModel: "nova-2-phonecall",
    interruptByDtmf: true,
});

CANNOT

• No raw audio access — Text in, text out only. For raw audio, use <Connect><Stream> (Media Streams).
• Cannot mix with Media Streams — <Connect><Stream> and <Connect><ConversationRelay> are mutually exclusive on the same call. No error — one is silently ignored.
• No custom STT/TTS engines — Limited to Deepgram + Google (STT) and Deepgram + Amazon Polly + Google + ElevenLabs (TTS).
• No mid-session voice/provider changes — Voice and provider are set at TwiML time. Only language can be switched mid-session via WebSocket message.
• No WebSocket auto-reconnection — If the WebSocket drops, the call disconnects. Implement recovery via <Connect action> URL.
• Voice only — No SMS/messaging support. For omnichannel, use Conversation Orchestrator.
• No built-in memory or context — BYO conversation history and context management.
• No LLM integration — Pure transport layer. You bring your own LLM via the WebSocket server.
• No server-side recording via REST API — record:true on the Calls API is silently ignored. Must use <Start><Recording> before <Connect> in TwiML.
• Not PCI compliant with Voice Intelligence v2 — Do not enable intelligenceService in PCI workflows.
• ElevenLabs requires account enablement — Accounts without ElevenLabs access get error 64101. Voice IDs (not human-readable names) are required.
• Cannot use ConversationRelay without onboarding — Not available immediately on a new account
• Cannot use non-TLS WebSocket — Server must be reachable via wss:// (TLS required)
• Cannot stream audio without last: true — Twilio won't play audio until it sees a last: true token in the stream

Next Steps

• Place outbound calls: twilio-voice-outbound-calls
• Standard IVR without AI: twilio-voice-twiml