---
name: ai-assistant-phone-setup
title: "AI Assistant Phone Setup"
description: "AI Assistant Phone Setup — create and configure a managed Telnyx AI Assistant and wire it to a phone number."
language: python
framework: flask
telnyx_products: [AI Inference]
---

# AI Assistant Phone Setup

AI Assistant Phone Setup — create and configure a managed Telnyx AI Assistant and wire it to a phone number.

## Telnyx API Endpoints Used

- **AI Inference**: `POST /v2/ai/chat/completions` — [API reference](https://developers.telnyx.com/api/inference/chat-completions)

## Architecture

```
  API Request
        │
        ▼
  ┌──────────────────┐
  │ Your App          │
  └────────┬─────────┘
           │
           ├──► Telnyx AI Inference
           │
           ▼
     JSON response
```

## Environment Variables

Copy `.env.example` to `.env` and fill in:

| Variable | Type | Example | Required | Description | Where to get it |
|----------|------|---------|----------|-------------|-----------------|
| `TELNYX_API_KEY` | `string` | `KEY0123456789ABCDEF` | **yes** | Telnyx API v2 key | [Portal](https://portal.telnyx.com/api-keys) |
| `PORT` | `integer` | `5000` | no | HTTP server port | — |

## Setup

```bash
git clone https://github.com/team-telnyx/telnyx-code-examples.git
cd telnyx-code-examples/ai-assistant-phone-setup-python
cp .env.example .env    # ← fill in your credentials
pip install -r requirements.txt
python app.py           # starts on http://localhost:5000
```

## API Reference

### `POST /assistants`

Triggers assistants

```bash
curl -X POST http://localhost:5000/assistants \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{}'
```

**Response:**

```json
{
  "id": "item-1750280400",
  "status": "created",
  "created_at": "2026-07-15T14:30:00Z"
}
```

### `GET /assistants`

Returns assistants

```bash
curl http://localhost:5000/assistants
```

**Response:**

```json
{
  "items": [
    {
      "id": "item-001",
      "status": "active",
      "created_at": "2026-07-15T14:30:00Z"
    }
  ]
}
```

### `GET /assistants/<assistant_id>`

Returns assistant id

```bash
curl http://localhost:5000/assistants/example-id
```

**Response:**

```json
{
  "items": [
    {
      "id": "item-001",
      "status": "active",
      "created_at": "2026-07-15T14:30:00Z"
    }
  ]
}
```

### `PATCH /assistants/<assistant_id>`

Triggers assistant id

```bash
curl -X PATCH http://localhost:5000/assistants/example-id
```

**Response:**

```json
{
  "status": "ok"
}
```

### `POST /assistants/<assistant_id>/wire`

Triggers wire

```bash
curl -X POST http://localhost:5000/assistants/example-id/wire \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{}'
```

**Response:**

```json
{
  "id": "item-1750280400",
  "status": "created",
  "created_at": "2026-07-15T14:30:00Z"
}
```

### `POST /assistants/<assistant_id>/test`

Triggers test

```bash
curl -X POST http://localhost:5000/assistants/example-id/test \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{}'
```

**Response:**

```json
{
  "id": "item-1750280400",
  "status": "created",
  "created_at": "2026-07-15T14:30:00Z"
}
```

### `GET /models`

Returns models

```bash
curl http://localhost:5000/models
```

**Response:**

```json
{
  "items": [
    {
      "id": "item-001",
      "status": "active",
      "created_at": "2026-07-15T14:30:00Z"
    }
  ]
}
```

### `GET /health`

Returns health

```bash
curl http://localhost:5000/health
```

**Response:**

```json
{
  "status": "ok",
  "uptime_seconds": 3842,
  "active_sessions": 2,
  "version": "1.0.0"
}
```

## Troubleshooting

| Issue | Cause | Fix |
|-------|-------|-----|
| `401 Unauthorized` | Invalid or missing API key | Verify `TELNYX_API_KEY` in `.env` matches your key in the [Portal](https://portal.telnyx.com/api-keys) |
| Webhook not received | Local server not publicly reachable | Expose it with a tunnel (e.g. ngrok) and set the webhook URL in the [Telnyx Portal](https://portal.telnyx.com) |
| `422 Unprocessable Entity` | Missing or malformed request fields | Check the request body against the API Reference above |

## Related Examples

- [AI After Hours Emergency Triage (Python)](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/team-telnyx/telnyx-code-examples/main/ai-after-hours-emergency-triage-python/README.md)
- [AI Assistant Knowledge Base (Python)](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/team-telnyx/telnyx-code-examples/main/ai-assistant-knowledge-base-python/README.md)
- [AI Assistant Multi Tool (Python)](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/team-telnyx/telnyx-code-examples/main/ai-assistant-multi-tool-python/README.md)
- [AI Audiobook Narrator (Python)](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/team-telnyx/telnyx-code-examples/main/ai-audiobook-narrator-python/README.md)
- [AI Billing Dispute Resolution Agent (Python)](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/team-telnyx/telnyx-code-examples/main/ai-billing-dispute-resolution-agent-python/README.md)

## Resources

- [AI Inference Guide](https://developers.telnyx.com/docs/inference)
- [Telnyx Developer Docs](https://developers.telnyx.com)
- [Telnyx Portal](https://portal.telnyx.com)

## Why Telnyx

Telnyx is an **AI Communications Infrastructure** platform — voice, messaging, SIP, AI, and IoT on one private, global network.