Twilio ConversationRelay

Add card-on-file payments to a Twilio ConversationRelay app by call transfer. This works like a hosted web checkout, over the phone: when the order is confirmed, your server creates a Checkout Session and transfers the live call to a Ringup payment line, the caller pays there, and the call optionally returns to your app. Ringup recognizes the caller, charges their saved card, settles it against the order, and texts a receipt. Your server reconciles from a webhook. If the model is new to you, read Call transfer first. With ConversationRelay you own the WebSocket server and the whole tool loop, so there is nothing to register on a platform: you call one HTTP endpoint and emit one piece of TwiML. This page is end to end: setup, the call, the return, and what happens after payment.

How the pieces map to ConversationRelay

Ringup piece	On ConversationRelay
`create_checkout`	An HTTP `POST` your server makes when the order is confirmed
The transfer target	The `transfer_to` SIP URI the Checkout Session returns
The transfer	A `<Dial><Sip>` returned to Twilio (via the action URL) to the Ringup SIP URI
The result	A `checkout.completed` webhook to your server

Prerequisites

A running ConversationRelay app (your own WebSocket server driving the LLM and tool loop).
Your Twilio account (the number the call comes in on).
A Ringup account and API key. Test mode works out of the box on a shared sandbox. See Testing.

Step 1: Recognize the caller at the start

Call identify from your server at the greeting (a plain HTTP call, like the checkout call), not just at payment. It needs only the caller’s phone number, which is available the instant the call connects. For a returning caller it returns their name and saved card, so your agent greets them by name and skips re-asking for anything recognition already provides (for example, never ask “what name for the order?” when identify returned it). This is separate from and happens earlier than creating the Checkout Session and transferring for payment. See Recognize at the start of the call.

Step 2: Create a Checkout Session in your server

When your loop determines the order is confirmed, POST to Ringup’s create_checkout endpoint with your Ringup API key. This is the setup and the call in one: there is no platform tool to register.

POST https://api.ringup.dev/v1/checkouts
Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_RINGUP_KEY>
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "amount_cents": 2500,
  "line_items": [{ "name": "Large pepperoni", "quantity": 1, "amount_cents": 2500 }], // optional
  "order_id": "sq_abc",                              // optional: settle against an existing order
  "return_to": "sip:your-app@your-twilio-number",    // optional: transfer the caller back after payment
  "success_message": "You are all set, your order will be ready shortly."  // optional (if no return_to)
}

Response (the Checkout Session):

{
  "id": "cs_x9f2",                                   // Checkout Session id; the correlation token
  "payment_required": "required",                    // "required" | "optional" | "none"
  "transfer_to": "sip:cs_x9f2@transfer.ringup.dev"   // where to transfer; embeds the id
}

If payment_required is none, do not transfer: finish the call normally. Otherwise transfer.

Step 3: Transfer with a Dial to the SIP URI

Send an end message to close the ConversationRelay session, and have your action URL return TwiML that dials the caller to the Ringup SIP URI, carrying the Checkout Session id as a URI parameter (or SIP header). Speak one line first so the caller is not on silence:

<Response>
  <Say>One moment, connecting you to secure payment.</Say>
  <Dial>
    <Sip>sip:cs_x9f2@transfer.ringup.dev?X-Session-Id=cs_x9f2</Sip>
  </Dial>
</Response>

Because you control the TwiML, the header path is fully reliable here: Twilio passes the URI parameter through to the Ringup line, which matches it to the Checkout Session.

Step 4: The return, and the result (the webhook)

Ringup answers the transferred call, recognizes the caller, charges the saved card, and texts a receipt. A first-time caller with no saved card is texted a secure pay link instead. Then the call ends one of three ways, from what you passed in Step 2:

return_to set: Ringup <Dial>s the caller back to your app with the outcome in SIP headers (X-Payment-Status, X-Confirmation), so your app resumes and closes the call.
success_message / failure_message set (no return_to): Ringup reads your line and ends.
Neither: Ringup reads a short default and ends. The receipt is the proof.

A return_to that cannot connect falls back to reading your success_message (or the default), so a failed return never strands the caller. Either way, your server reconciles from a webhook:

{
  "id": "evt_9f2",
  "type": "checkout.completed",         // or "checkout.failed"
  "data": {
    "checkout_id": "cs_x9f2",
    "payment_id": "pay_abc",
    "amount_cents": 2500,
    "order_id": "sq_abc",               // echoed back
    "confirmation": "2PJJZY",
    "caller": "+14155551234",
    "card": { "brand": "VISA", "last_4": "5858" }
  }
}

Match on the order_id you passed, store the payment_id, and flip your order to paid. See Webhooks for the full catalog, statuses, signature verification, and idempotency.

Validation status

ConversationRelay gives you full control of the TwiML, so the transfer and the header path are standard Twilio <Dial><Sip>. Ringup’s hosted transfer endpoint is rolling out; confirm access in your Ringup dashboard before relying on this in production. The recognition, charge, receipt, and webhook behavior is the same payment path Ringup runs everywhere.

​How the pieces map to ConversationRelay

​Prerequisites

​Step 1: Recognize the caller at the start

​Step 2: Create a Checkout Session in your server

​Step 3: Transfer with a Dial to the SIP URI

​Step 4: The return, and the result (the webhook)

​Validation status

​Next steps

Testing

Webhooks