Guides

Receiving calls

This guide walks you through answering an inbound call and building a simple menu for it. It assumes you have a phone number on your account. See the dashboard if you do not yet have one.

Configure a voice URL

Every number on your account has a voice URL: the address PressOne requests whenever a call arrives for that number. In your dashboard, open the number's configuration and set the voice URL to a route on your server, along with the HTTP method used to request it (POST by default).

Once configured, every inbound call to that number follows the same sequence:

A call arrives at the number.
PressOne requests the voice URL, sending call parameters such as CallSid, From, and To. See webhooks for the complete parameter set.
Your server returns a OneML document, and PressOne executes it on the call.

Answer with a greeting

The following server answers every inbound call with a spoken greeting. It is complete and runnable. Point your number's voice URL at it to try it.

Note: Responses must be served with a Content-Type of text/xml. res.type("text/xml") and Response(..., mimetype="text/xml") set it explicitly in the examples above.

Extend the same server into a menu that branches on caller input. The voice URL route returns a <Gather> that collects one digit and sends it to an action route, which returns a different document for each option.

A real menu would dial an agent instead of hanging up. See Forwarding calls for connecting the caller to another number.

Next steps

Webhooks: standard parameters, transport, and signature verification for every request PressOne sends your server.
Gather: the full set of attributes for collecting DTMF and speech input.
OneML overview: every verb available for scripting a call.

Last modified on July 2, 2026

Quickstart Webhooks

Configure a voice URL

Once configured, every inbound call to that number follows the same sequence:

A call arrives at the number.

PressOne requests the voice URL, sending call parameters such as CallSid, From, and To. See webhooks for the complete parameter set.

Your server returns a OneML document, and PressOne executes it on the call.

Answer with a greeting

The following server answers every inbound call with a spoken greeting. It is complete and runnable. Point your number's voice URL at it to try it.

const express = require("express");
const app = express();
app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: false }));

app.post("/voice/incoming", (req, res) => {
  const oneml = `<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Response>
  <Say>Thank you for calling PressOne. Have a great day.</Say>
  <Hangup/>
</Response>`;

  res.type("text/xml").send(oneml);
});

app.listen(3000);

Note: Responses must be served with a Content-Type of text/xml. res.type("text/xml") and Response(..., mimetype="text/xml") set it explicitly in the examples above.

Build a two-option menu

const express = require("express");
const app = express();
app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: false }));

app.post("/voice/incoming", (req, res) => {
  const oneml = `<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Response>
  <Gather action="/voice/menu" numDigits="1" timeout="10">
    <Say>For sales, press 1. For support, press 2.</Say>
  </Gather>
  <Say>We did not receive your selection. Goodbye.</Say>
  <Hangup/>
</Response>`;

  res.type("text/xml").send(oneml);
});

app.post("/voice/menu", (req, res) => {
  const digits = req.body.Digits;
  let oneml;

  if (digits === "1") {
    oneml = `<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Response>
  <Say>Connecting you to sales.</Say>
  <Hangup/>
</Response>`;
  } else if (digits === "2") {
    oneml = `<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Response>
  <Say>Connecting you to support.</Say>
  <Hangup/>
</Response>`;
  } else {
    oneml = `<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Response>
  <Say>That is not a valid option. Goodbye.</Say>
  <Hangup/>
</Response>`;
  }

  res.type("text/xml").send(oneml);
});

app.listen(3000);

A real menu would dial an agent instead of hanging up. See Forwarding calls for connecting the caller to another number.