RingCentral AI receptionist for the calls you forward
A RingCentral extension forwards calls to a Cartesia agent's number, so the agent works as your RingCentral AI receptionist and transfers callers back.
Front-line agent
Answers forwarded calls and passes the rest to your team.
Instructions
Answer clinic hours, directions and pre-surgery instructions. Transfer booking to the front desk queue, surgery questions to the surgical queue, and named requests to that vet's extension.
- Handoff
- RingCentral team number
Connected tools
- Transfer to RingCentralTransfer
What a RingCentral AI voice agent can do
Open one to watch a call. The grey lines are the tools the agent calls mid-sentence.
A RingCentral user's incoming call rule sends calls to the agent's number, all day or on a schedule you set.
The agent answers what pet owners ask most, such as Saturday hours and fasting before surgery, and ends the call itself.
Callers who need a person go to a RingCentral direct number, such as a call queue or a vet's extension.
RingCentral settings
These are the Admin Portal settings for forwarding one user's calls.
- Where
- Admin Portal, Users, Users with Extensions, the user, Phone, Incoming call rules.
- Rule
- Forward all calls, on. Add a schedule to forward only some hours.
- Incoming calls
- Forward the call, to the Cartesia agent's phone number.
- Permission
- The user needs call handling permission from an admin.
Set it up
A phone hand-off by call forwarding. There is no SIP trunk between RingCentral and Cartesia and no native RingCentral integration. Vendor details read in November 2026.
Give the agent a number
Import a number from Twilio or connect a SIP trunk number. Transfers work only on Twilio and SIP trunk numbers, not on Cartesia numbers.
Forward a RingCentral user's calls
In the Admin Portal, open Users, then Users with Extensions, pick the user, and open Phone, then Incoming call rules. Turn on Forward all calls and choose Forward the call to the agent's number.
Set the way back
Add a transfer rule in Cartesia to a RingCentral number that reaches the right person or queue.
Test both directions
Call the RingCentral number, reach the agent, and ask for a person to check the transfer back.
Before you build
Forwarding takes the user out of queues
While Forward all calls is on, RingCentral shows that user as unavailable in every call queue they belong to. Use a dedicated extension for the agent line.
Transfers are cold
The person who picks up gets the call, not the conversation. Have the agent tell the caller where it's sending them before it transfers.
Use cases for teams on RingCentral
More integrations
Enterprise-grade security
HIPAA compliant
SOC 2 Type 2
GDPR
RingCentral AI voice agent FAQs
Does RingCentral have an AI receptionist?
Yes. RingCentral sells AI Receptionist (AIR) as a RingEX add-on that answers calls and texts, books appointments, captures leads and routes callers to a person with a summary. To use a Cartesia agent instead, forward a RingCentral extension to the agent's phone number. RingCentral has no built-in Cartesia connection, so the agent only sees the calls you forward.
Can I use my own AI agent with RingCentral?
Yes, if the agent has its own phone number. An incoming call rule forwards a RingCentral user's calls to that number, and the agent transfers callers back to a RingCentral number. A Cartesia agent calls webhook tools you define in your own systems and uses the voice and model you choose.
How do I forward RingCentral calls to an AI agent?
Use the user's incoming call rules. In the Admin Portal, open Users, then Users with Extensions, pick the user, and open Phone, then Incoming call rules. Turn on Forward all calls and choose Forward the call to the agent's number. The user needs call handling permission from an admin.
Can the AI answer only after-hours calls?
Yes. Add a schedule to the Forward all calls rule so it applies only in the hours you pick. While the rule is on, RingCentral shows that user as unavailable in every call queue they belong to, so forward a dedicated extension rather than a staff member's.
Can the agent transfer callers back to RingCentral?
Yes. Add a transfer rule in Cartesia to a RingCentral direct number, such as a call queue or an extension. Transfers work only on Twilio and SIP trunk numbers, not on Cartesia numbers. Transfers are cold, so the person who picks up gets the call but not the conversation.
Who bills the minutes when RingCentral forwards to an agent?
Two parties. Cartesia charges $0.03/min, plus LLM usage and telephony, and the telephony on the agent's number is billed by Twilio or your SIP carrier at their rates. Check how your RingCentral plan bills calls forwarded to an outside number.
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