How to Get Twilio Call Notifications in Slack

If your team runs on Slack, you've probably wished your business phone line did too. A call comes in, nobody at the desk sees it, and by the time someone checks voicemail the customer has already called a competitor. Getting a Slack message the moment your Twilio number rings closes that gap.

Twilio doesn't post call notifications to Slack on its own. You'd need to write a Function or webhook that catches the call event and pushes it to Slack's API yourself. Twilanswer connects to your existing Twilio account and adds Slack notifications as a channel you can attach to any call route in a few clicks, no code required. This guide covers why teams want call notifications in Slack, what a good notification setup looks like, and how to set one up.

Twilanswer sits on top of the Twilio account you already have. It's not a replacement for Twilio, it's the layer that handles call forwarding, voicemail, AI call agents, call recording and transcription, and notifications like this one, without you having to touch Twilio Functions or Studio Flows.

Why Teams Want Call Notifications in Slack

A ringing phone is easy to miss. An email notification is easy to bury. Slack is different: most small teams already have it open all day, so a call notification that lands there actually gets seen.

This matters most for a few common situations:

• Remote or hybrid teams with no one physically near a desk phone.
• Small teams sharing one business line, where "who's supposed to answer this?" is a real question.
• After-hours or overflow calls that go to voicemail, where someone still needs to know a call happened even if nobody picked up.
• Sales and support teams who want a fast heads-up on inbound calls without babysitting a phone.

The alternative is checking a call log or voicemail inbox manually, which almost never happens consistently.

What a Slack Call Notification Should Tell You

At minimum, a useful call notification includes the caller's number, the time of the call, and which line or route it came in on. Better setups also show what happened to the call, whether it was forwarded, sent to voicemail, or handled by an AI agent, so the Slack message doubles as a record of the interaction, not just a ping.

How to Set Up Twilio Call Notifications in Slack with Twilanswer

Twilanswer's Slack integration works as a notification channel that you connect once, then attach to any call route.

1. Add the Slack channel type. In your Twilanswer dashboard, go to Channels, then click Add Channel.
2. Name the integration. Under Channel Type, choose Slack and give it a nickname so you can identify it later (useful if you're connecting more than one Slack workspace or channel).
3. Authorize with Slack. Click Add to Slack, sign in if prompted, and pick the Slack channel where you want call notifications to land. Click Allow to confirm.
4. Confirm it's active. You'll be redirected back to Twilanswer, where the integration should show as Active. Slack will also post a confirmation message in the channel you selected, so you know it's working.
5. Attach it to a call route. A Slack channel on its own doesn't send anything, you need to enable it on the specific call route you want notifications for. This is what lets you send notifications for one number to one Slack channel and another number to a different channel, if you're running multiple lines.

Full step-by-step screenshots are in the Slack integration docs.

Getting Slack Alerts for Missed Calls and Voicemail

Call notifications aren't limited to answered calls. If a route sends unanswered calls to voicemail, the same Slack channel can post when a voicemail comes in, so your team isn't relying on someone remembering to check a voicemail inbox. The same applies to calls that get forwarded to a cell phone, or handled by an AI agent: whatever a route does with the call, Slack can be told about it.

Example: A Small Business Getting Call Alerts in Slack

A two-person plumbing business has one Twilio number. During business hours, calls forward to whoever's on call. After hours, calls go to voicemail. Both routes have the Slack channel enabled. A call comes in at 6 PM, forwards to voicemail since no one answers, and within seconds a Slack message shows the caller's number and a link to the recording. The team checks it after dinner instead of finding out from the customer that they never called back.

FAQ

Does Twilio send call notifications to Slack by default? No. Twilio's core platform doesn't have a built-in Slack notification feature. Getting Twilio call events into Slack requires either writing your own Function or webhook to call Slack's API, or using a tool like Twilanswer, which adds Slack as a notification channel you can enable on a call route without writing code.

Do I need to set up a webhook or server to get call notifications in Slack? Not if you use a channel-based integration. Building it yourself with raw Twilio does require hosting a webhook that receives the call event and posts to Slack's API. With Twilanswer, that hosting and webhook logic is handled for you, you just connect the Slack channel and turn it on for a route.

Can I send notifications to more than one Slack channel? Yes. You can add multiple Slack channel integrations in Twilanswer, each with its own nickname, and attach different channels to different call routes. That's useful if, say, sales calls should notify one channel and support calls another.

Will I get a Slack notification for missed calls and voicemails, not just answered ones? Yes, as long as the Slack channel is enabled on the route handling those calls. A route that sends unanswered calls to voicemail can post to Slack just like a route that forwards to a live person, so you get visibility into every outcome, not just picked-up calls.

Can I see who called without opening my phone? Yes. The Slack message includes the caller's number and call details, so you get the key information right in Slack. If the call was recorded or transcribed, that's accessible from your Twilanswer dashboard as well.

Is this only for incoming calls? The Slack integration is built around call routes, which handle inbound calls. If your main goal is inbound call visibility, that's exactly what it covers.

Final Thoughts

Slack call notifications are a small feature that fixes a real problem: calls getting missed because nobody was watching the phone. Building it yourself means writing and hosting code that talks to both Twilio and Slack's APIs. Twilanswer skips that by turning it into a channel you connect once and enable per call route.

If you're already on Twilio and want your team to see calls, voicemails, and forwards land in Slack without writing a Function, try Twilanswer free and connect your first call route in a few minutes.