A phone that rings and nobody picks up is a lost booking. Tel-Agent is an open-source project that sits between a real phone line and an AI agent: the call gets answered, a message gets taken, and a human still gets the ones that need one. This is the guide promised in the reel: comment AGENT and you land here.
01. What Tel-Agent Is
Tel-Agent
by Dpro, AGPL-3.0, alpha
The short answer. Tel-Agent is a free, open-source gateway connecting a real phone line to an AI agent. It decides if the AI or a human takes the call, and can take a message, check a calendar, or call another tool through an API. It is self-hosted: recordings, transcripts and API keys stay on your own server.
The project is built by Dpro, AGPL-3.0 licensed, alpha-stage, with 957 stars and 188 forks on GitHub as of September 20, 2026. It connects over MCP, so it works with MCP clients like Claude, ChatGPT or Perplexity, your choice.
02. What It Can and Cannot Do Today
Here is what the four sources actually support, not what a reel implies.
What it does, per its own repo and site
- Decides, by rule, whether the AI or a human takes the call
- Takes a message and hands it off
- Transfers a call and can flag it as urgent
- Checks a calendar and books or confirms a slot
- Calls another tool or system through an API or MCP
- Runs the same agent on WhatsApp, SMS, email, web chat, Instagram, Discord and Slack
Where the same agent can answer, per Tel-Agent's own site:
- Discord
- Slack
- SMS
- Web chat
- and about 24 channels in total
What to watch for before you sell it
- It's alpha software. Test every call path before a client's number touches it.
- No page I checked lists a price. You are setting your own.
- The licence is AGPL-3.0. If you change the code and run it for clients, plan to share those changes back.
- An old analog line needs extra hardware, an ATA box and a PBX, so price that in before you promise a date.
Sources: Tel-Agent on GitHub · tel-agent.com
Fig 1. One phone line, one AI agent, the same conversation continues on seven more channels.
03. Set It Up
Before you start
- A phone number: an existing SIP trunk, a PBX, or an analog line plus an ATA box
- A machine to run Tel-Agent on: Windows, macOS, Linux or Docker
- Your own API keys for speech-to-text, a language model, and text-to-speech
- Network access from that machine to the PBX, port 5060/UDP, on the same LAN
Install from the official downloads, or run it in Docker. On Windows, the installer is currently unsigned, so you approve the prompt yourself. Once it is running, the local service listens on http://localhost:38471. Then point it at your PBX, add your API keys, and set your first routing rule: which calls the AI takes.
The software itself is free, under AGPL-3.0, not MIT. What you pay for is what you plug in: the phone line or PBX, the server it runs on, and the AI provider's usage, speech-to-text, the model, text-to-speech, billed by whoever you choose. None of the four pages I checked list a Tel-Agent subscription fee.
04. Who To Sell It To: Real Estate and Healthcare
Phones leak money in businesses that live on the phone and lose the call anyway.
Tel-Agent's use-cases page lists property viewings, slot availability, and buyer or tenant identification for real estate. An agent showing a house can't also answer the phone.
The same page lists clinics, pharmacies and vets: identifying why someone is calling, flagging emergencies for a fast transfer, and checking prescriptions or stock. A small front desk means calls queue or go to voicemail.
Signals of a good target
- The business runs on inbound calls, not walk-ins
- One or two people answer the phone and juggle everything else too
- Missed calls happen after hours, and each one is worth real money
Source: tel-agent.com/use-cases
05. What To Offer and What To Charge
One setup fee, one monthly fee. Keep it that simple. I've used this structure to close automation clients before, real estate and clinics included, but I'm not handing you a number I didn't earn. Your market sets your price, not mine.
| What's included | Setup fee | Monthly fee |
|---|---|---|
| Call answering + routing rules | ||
| Message taking + calendar booking | ||
| Call transfer + after-hours coverage | ||
| Multi-channel (WhatsApp, SMS, web chat) |
Don't copy a number from a US blog and call it your price. Run it for one client, see what the server and API usage actually cost, then price above that.
Fig 2. The offer in four steps: find, offer, price, result.
06. How To Pitch and Close
Call opener · about fifteen seconds
Hi, is that [Name]? I'm [Your Name]. I noticed [Business] answers calls during the day, but what happens after hours or when the line's busy? I set up an AI receptionist that answers, takes the message, and hands off anything urgent to a real person. Want me to show you on your own number?
Three objections
"We already have someone answering the phone." This catches what that person can't: after hours, lunch, or three lines at once. It backs them up, not replaces them.
"It'll sound robotic." Fair concern. Don't take my word, let me show you a real call on your line first.
"We don't have budget for this." Let's shrink it: one line, one use case, a small setup fee, a short first month with a clear stop.
Five discovery questions
- What happens today after hours?
- How many calls do you miss weekly?
- What would make trying this an easy yes for you?
- What have you already tried, and what happened?
- Can I show you this on your own number this week?
07. Related Guides
- Landing voice agent clients in festive season. The "send it, don't pitch it" method.
- Sell one automation to one niche. The playbook behind section 04.
- Google Maps Scraper Kit. Build the target list before you pitch.
- What is an AI agent. The basics behind what Tel-Agent's AI agent is doing.
- Tel-Agent on GitHub. The repo, README and license.
- tel-agent.com. The official site, use cases and download page.
08. FAQ
What is Tel-Agent?
Tel-Agent is a free, self-hosted gateway connecting a phone line to an AI agent. It answers calls, takes messages, transfers calls, and also runs on WhatsApp, SMS, email, web chat, Instagram, Discord and Slack.
Is Tel-Agent free to use?
The code is free under the AGPL-3.0 license. You still pay for the phone line, the server, and the AI provider through your own API keys.
Can Tel-Agent transfer calls to a real person?
Yes. Its GitHub page lists routing calls to AI or a human and call transfers, and the use-cases page names emergency and after-hours transfers.
Does Tel-Agent work on WhatsApp and other channels?
Yes. GitHub and the official site both list WhatsApp, SMS, email, web chat, Instagram, Discord and Slack among roughly 24 channels.
Is Tel-Agent ready for paying clients?
It is alpha-stage software, 957 stars and 188 forks as of September 20, 2026. Test every call path yourself before a client depends on it.
More guides like this live on the free resources hub. Want help choosing your niche and first offer? Book a call with me.
09. Sources
- Tel-Agent on GitHub (Dpro-at/Tel-Agent). License, features, star and fork counts, read September 20, 2026.
- tel-agent.com. Product homepage: channel list, self-hosting and data claims.
- tel-agent.com/use-cases. Real estate, healthcare and other named use cases.
- tel-agent.com/download. Install steps, local service address, MCP compatibility.
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