Is SIPHON really free?

Yes. SIPHON is 100% open-source under the Apache 2.0 license. You never pay us a platform fee. You only pay for your own infrastructure and the AI/Telephony providers you choose (e.g., OpenAI, Twilio).

Do I need to be a VoIP expert?

Not at all. SIPHON abstracts away the complex SIP signaling and media handling. If you're comfortable with Python, you can build production-grade voice agents.

Which AI models can I use with SIPHON?

You have total freedom. SIPHON supports OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Groq, and open-source models via Ollama. You can swap providers with a single line of code.

How does SIPHON handle latency?

SIPHON is optimized for real-time performance. By hosting it on your own infrastructure (close to your users) and using WebSocket streams, you eliminate the additional hop and latency overhead of managed platforms.

Can I scale SIPHON to thousands of calls?

Yes. SIPHON is built on top of LiveKit, which powers massive scale streaming. The worker architecture allows you to horizontal scale your agent fleet to handle any volume.

How does SIPHON compare to closed platforms like Vapi or Retell?

Those are managed platforms that charge a markup per minute (often $0.05-$0.10/min). SIPHON gives you the same capabilities but runs on your own infrastructure, costing just the raw provider fees (typically ~$0.005-$0.02/min) and giving you full code control.

Date & Time Integration

The Date & Time integration provides your agent with awareness of the current date, time, and timezone. This is critical for any agent that needs to schedule appointments, check deadlines, or simply know "now".

Usage

Enable the integration when initializing your agent:

agent = Agent(
    # ...
    date_time=True
)

Functionality

When enabled, this integration:

Injects Logic: A lightweight tool or context injector that allows the agent to query the current time.
Timezone Support: By default, it uses the server's local time. You can override this using the TIMEZONE environment variable.

Configuration

Set the timezone in your .env file to ensure the agent speaks in the correct time for your users.

TIMEZONE=America/New_York

How logic works

The agent typically receives the current datetime in the system prompt context, ensuring that queries like "is today a weekend?" or "schedule for next Tuesday" are calculated correctly relative to the actual current moment.