Phone setup
Current as of November 2026. Calls and texts run on the shop's own Twilio account. An AI that answers calls is the shop's own ElevenLabs or Grok voice agent. Each bills the shop directly. Doing Work adds no charge for calls or texts.
Steps
- Create a Twilio account at twilio.com and buy a local number, or port the shop's current number (phone.portStatus tracks a port).
- Register for 10DLC texting in Twilio. Carriers block business texts from unregistered numbers. phone.registrationStatus shows where it stands.
- Connect Twilio to Doing Work with phone.connectTwilio. The owner does this. Then choose the number with phone.twilioNumbers and phone.useNumber.
- Choose where calls ring with phone.setRoute.
- For an AI that answers calls, create an agent in ElevenLabs or Grok and connect it with phone.setVoiceAi. For calls placed by the AI, see phone.setOutboundAi.
- Send a test text with phone.sendText and call the number to check it rings.
Typical cost
Rates read on November 1, 2026. Check the links.
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Twilio local number | $1.15 a month (Twilio) |
| Twilio calls | $0.0085 a minute inbound, $0.0140 outbound, local |
| Twilio texts | $0.0083 per segment plus carrier fees of about $0.0035 to $0.005, plus 10DLC fees (Twilio) |
| ElevenLabs agent | Plans from $6 a month with included minutes, then $0.08 a minute. Model use billed separately (ElevenLabs) |
| Grok voice | $0.08 a minute (xAI) |
Example: 600 inbound minutes and 1,000 texts a month cost about $18 to $20 in Twilio charges ($1.15 for the number, $5.10 for minutes and $11.80 to $13.30 for texts, plus 10DLC fees), plus $48 for Grok to answer all 600 minutes. See Total cost.