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Asterisk AI Application Server

Overview​

This guide will help you setup an Asterisk AI application server that has two way communication, though some entries are static, it will shed light on the usability of both FreePBX and FusionPBX. The setup of this took two days of research, using various tools such as OpenAI, Claude, and Grok.

Further documentation and setup is found by going to: https://github.com/hkjarral/Asterisk-AI-Voice-Agent/

At the time of writing this, the development was fairly active, and offers a Discord as well for support. We go into detail on the bottom of this page for supporting the maintainer, as well as their support Discord.

Prerequisites​

Servers​

  • 2 vCPU/4G of ram/50G of space - FS PBX
  • 2 vCPU/8G of ram/50G of space - FreePBX & Asterisk AI

FreePBX, Asterisk AI, and Ollama can operate off of the same system. If you choose to locally host your LLM or have a machine that handles Ollama (current support) you will have the option in the configuration on which IP to communicate with Ollama's API.

Demonstration​

In our demonstration we will be setting up Asterisk AI to host two contexts, with appropriate settings in FreePBX (Asterisk) and FS PBX respectively.

This assumes you'll be hosting Ollama on a dedicated system.

FusionPBX Configuration Changes​

Overview​

These changes allow FreePBX to route calls through FusionPBX to external trunks (VoIP.ms) without authentication issues.

Set up FSPBX to FreePBX IP Auth Trunk​

Steps​

  1. Gateway - Any name can be chosen
  2. Register - False
  3. Context - public
  4. Profile: external
  5. Enabled = YES (toggled to the right)
  6. Description: To-FreePBX

SIP Profile - Internal​

Navigation: Advanced → SIP Profiles → (Click) Internal to edit

Steps​

  1. Go to Advanced → SIP Profiles
  2. Click Internal profile
  3. Make sure auth-calls is set to true
  4. Make sure apply-inbound-acl is set to providers
  5. Ensure it's Enabled
  6. Click SAVE

Reload Command​

fs_cli -x "sofia profile internal restart"

2. Dialplan - Route 1xxx extension​

Navigation: Dialplan → Inbound Routes → Add

Configuration​

FieldValue
NameFrom-FreePBX-to-1000
Contextpublic
Order100
EnabledTrue
DescriptionTransfer calls from FreePBX to default context for outbound routing

Conditions​

ConditionTypeData
Condition 1destination_numberChoose one

Actions​

ActionTypeData
Action 1OtherChoose one

Hit Save and click what we just added again.

Steps​

After adding the above, we will edit, and make sure it has the following (our example uses 1000 as a direct to extension for a deskphone):

  1. In Inbound routes
  2. Click From-FreePBX-to-1000
  3. Fill in the fields as shown in the table above
  4. Add Condition 1: Type = destination_number, Data = ^(1000)$
  5. Add Action 1: Type = bridge, Data = user/1000@pbx.blueintegrations.com
  6. Click SAVE

Reload Command (if needed)​

fs_cli -x "reloadxml"

Quick Start to setting up Asterisk AI​

Get the Admin UI running in 2 minutes while on the Debian instance, GIT should be installed, and in having so, the following is the howto for installation:

1. Run Pre-flight Check (Required)​

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/hkjarral/Asterisk-AI-Voice-Agent.git
cd Asterisk-AI-Voice-Agent

# Run preflight with auto-fix (creates .env, generates JWT_SECRET)
sudo ./preflight.sh --apply-fixes

Important: Preflight creates your .env file and generates a secure JWT_SECRET. Always run this first!

2. Start the Admin UI​

# Start the Admin UI container
docker compose -p asterisk-ai-voice-agent up -d --build --force-recreate admin_ui

3. Access the Dashboard​

Open in your browser:

  • Local: http://localhost:3003
  • Remote server: http://<server-ip>:3003

Default Login: admin / admin

Follow the Setup Wizard to configure your providers and make a test call.

⚠️ Security: The Admin UI is accessible on the network. Change the default password immediately and restrict port 3003 via firewall, VPN, or reverse proxy for production use.

4. Verify Installation​

# Start ai_engine (required for health checks)
docker compose -p asterisk-ai-voice-agent up -d --build ai_engine

# Check ai_engine health
curl http://localhost:15000/health
# Expected: {"status":"healthy"}

# View logs for any errors
docker compose -p asterisk-ai-voice-agent logs ai_engine | tail -20

5. Connect Asterisk​

The wizard will generate the necessary dialplan configuration for your Asterisk server.

There's additional contexts setup, that you can repurpose as your own or add additional.

Once those are added you should be able to accept calls to the contexts in quesetion.

FreePBX Configuration Settings​

These changes allow FreePBX to route calls through to FusionPBX.

We are assuming that you have an Debian installation of FreePBX already setup, and functional. Doing so means you have an extension setup, and can access simple services like Voicemail on FreePBX/Asterisk.

Provision Trunk​

Under Connectivity you will find Trunks, once clicked, hit Add Trunk

Give the trunk a name: FSPBX

Click pjsip settings

  1. Make sure Authentication is set to None.
  2. Make sure Registration is set to None.
  3. Set SIP Server to FSPBX
  4. Set SIP Server Port to 5060
  5. Set Context to from-trunk

Choose Advanced

  1. Set Match (Permit) to IP of FSPBX
  2. Set From Domain to hostname of "fspbx domain"
  3. Set Rewrite Contact to Yes
  4. Set Force rport to Yes

Choose Submit to save changes - you may apply settings

Configuration Editor​

Under Admin click Config Edit, a list of files will be visible, the file we want to edit is extensions_custom.conf. We will want to place the following:

[from-ai-agent]
exten => s,1,NoOp(AI Agent - DID 5556016126)
 same => n,Set(AI_PROVIDER=local_hybrid)
 same => n,Set(AI_CONTEXT=CompanyA)
 same => n,Stasis(asterisk-ai-voice-agent)
 same => n,Hangup()
 
[from-ai-agent-CompanyB]
exten => s,1,NoOp(AI Agent - DID 5556016043)
 same => n,Set(AI_PROVIDER=local_hybrid)
 same => n,Set(AI_CONTEXT=CompanyB)
 same => n,Stasis(asterisk-ai-voice-agent)
 same => n,Hangup()
 
[custom-to-fusionpbx]
exten => s,1,NoOp(Forcing call out FusionPBX trunk)
exten => s,n,Dial(PJSIP/${EXTEN}@FSPBX)  ; or SIP/ depending on trunk type
exten => s,n,Hangup()

The two AI agent mentions are for two contexts, CompanyA and CompanyB are the custom extensions that will be visible under Custom Destinations when viewing the Inbound Route.

The third custom-to-fusionpbx is our method of handing the call off to the FSPBX trunk, much like we handled the call with Fusion to FreePBX, it is Asterisk method of handing off.

Provision Custom Destinations​

Under Custom Destinations in (under) Admin there will be an Add Destination, click.

  1. Target: from-ai-agent,s,1
  2. Description: Inbound CompanyA

And click Submit

The same would be replicated for additional, like CompanyB reference.

Hint/Warning: Ensure, when adding the second one that you label it as from-ai-agent-CompanyB,s,1

Provision Inbound Route​

Using 5556016043 and 5556016126 as our make believe numbers for setup, do the following.

Under Connectivity you will find Inbound routes, once clicked hit Add Inbound Route

Give the Inbound route a name: Any inbound to 5556016043

  1. Make sure the DID number is 5556016043
  2. Under Set Destination we want to set a Custom Destination, Inbound CompanyA, and Inbound CompanyB should be options, set these respectively.

And click Submit

Hint/Warning: Ensure that when applying the destinations that you've keyed in the correct inbound number.

Disclaimer: The reason for IP Auth is due to FreePBX/Asterisk handling of routing. Routing is handled better with IP Auth style authentication.

Provision Extension 1000 on FreePBX​

Click Add Extension, set User Extension to the extension that is on FusionPBX, that you want to "mirror"

Display Name: Your name

Click Advanced

Under Dial in the Edit Extension area, make sure the text field reads PJSIP/1000@FSPBX.

And click Submit

Apply config is pressed to make all changes we've made

As far as configuration goes, for Asterisk AI, we strongly encourage you review the documentation, we also encourage checking out their Discord. The maintainer is quite active, and if you've caught him at a good time will offer assistance.

Be sure to support the work of the maintainer by going here.