Give Viola a phone number.
She answers your calls, places calls on your behalf, takes notes, and hands you the summary. You pick up only when you want to.
What she can do on a call
Not a chatbot that answers with "I'm sorry, I can't do that." An agent with context, a calendar, and the rest of your day.
Viola, call the pediatrician, reschedule Thursday to any afternoon next week, and text me the time
She places the call, navigates the phone tree, rebooks, and messages you the confirmed slot.
Viola, screen all my calls while I'm in this meeting. Only interrupt if it's Sarah or the school.
Incoming calls get a polite, useful answer. She summarizes, transcribes, and escalates on the rules you set.
Viola, call the three top-rated plumbers, ask for Saturday morning availability and a ballpark on a slab leak, and tell me which looks best
She makes the calls, takes notes, compares answers, and hands you a one-paragraph recommendation.
Viola, if my landlord calls back, confirm the deposit amount and repeat it on the recording
She waits. She handles the callback. She gets it on tape — with the disclosure where state law requires.
Two modes. You pick.
Phone features are off by default. When you turn them on, you choose where the audio flows.
Run the call on your hub PC
Your desktop is the switchboard. Call audio flows through Pipecat on your machine, with a tunnel out to the carrier. No Viola cloud in the path.
- Hub PC does VAD, STT, LLM routing, TTS
- No third-party proxy for call audio
- Best when your PC is usually on
Let the bridge handle it
Calls are answered by Viola's cloud bridge at api.useviola.com, multiplexed per user, and streamed to your session. You don't need your hub running to take a call.
- Works when your hub is off
- Bridge multiplexes by
stream_idper user - Carrier is Telnyx either way
Recordings are yours. Retention is configurable.
Call recording is off by default. When you enable it, recordings land in the storage you configured — local disk or an S3-compatible bucket you control. Retention is a setting, not a hidden default.
All-party-consent states: Viola's disclosure helper announces recording where required (including California under Cal. Penal Code § 632). You are still responsible for lawful use. See Terms § 2.4.
Controls you actually get
Not a single "phone" toggle. Everything is a knob.
Screening rules
Let through, send to voicemail, or have Viola answer. Per caller, per time-of-day.
Callback behavior
Auto-call-back with a message, wait for a prompt, or hold until you take over the line.
Transcripts
Every call gets a structured transcript. Searchable by number, name, and intent.
Recording
Off by default. Per-call or always-on. Storage backend is your call.
Number pool
Use a single assistant number, or pool numbers per family member for isolation.
Outbound guards
Hard limits on international dialing, 900 numbers, and unfamiliar area codes.