recall-ai

name	recall_ai
description	Use recall.ai to record video meetings, retrieve transcripts, and access recordings. Use when the user wants to record a meeting, get a transcript, summarize a call, or access meeting audio/video.

Recall.ai

Records video meetings (Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Webex, GoToMeeting), generates speaker-attributed transcripts, and produces downloadable audio/video files.

Status Reference

Bot lifecycle status (from get_bot):

Status	Meaning
pending	Bot created, not yet attempting to join
joining	Bot is connecting to the meeting
joined	Bot is in the meeting, recording NOT started
recording	Bot is actively recording
stopped	Recording stopped, processing in progress
done	Bot left and all processing complete

Artifact status (media_shortcuts.*.status.code):

Status	Meaning
waiting	Not started
processing	Being generated
done	Ready to retrieve
failed	Generation failed — retry or contact support
deleted	Artifact was removed

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CRITICAL: Async Lifecycle

Creating a bot does NOT start recording. The full sequence is async:

create_bot → [wait: pending→joining→joined] → start_recording → [meeting runs] → leave_call/stop_recording → [wait: processing] → get_transcript → download_transcript

Do NOT call get_transcript immediately after create_bot. You will get an error or empty data. Always poll first.

Polling intervals:

• While status is pending or joining: every 10–15 seconds (max 2 minutes — if longer, the meeting URL may be invalid or the meeting hasn't started)
• While status is recording: every 30 seconds
• After stop_recording or leave_call, while transcript is processing: every 15 seconds

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Recipe A: Record a meeting and get the transcript

# 1. Create the bot (schedule 10+ minutes ahead for reliability)
earl call --yes --json recall_ai.create_bot \
  --meeting_url "https://zoom.us/j/123456789" \
  --bot_name "Notetaker" \
  --join_at "2026-02-23T15:00:00Z"
# → SAVE the returned id as bot_id

# 2. Poll until the bot has joined (repeat every 10–15s)
earl call --yes --json recall_ai.get_bot --bot_id <bot_id>
# → Wait until status == "joined"

# 3. Start recording
earl call --yes --json recall_ai.start_recording --bot_id <bot_id>

# 4. (Meeting runs — poll every 30s if you need to monitor)
earl call --yes --json recall_ai.get_bot --bot_id <bot_id>

# 5. When the meeting ends, leave the call
earl call --yes --json recall_ai.leave_call --bot_id <bot_id>

# 6. Poll until transcript is ready (repeat every 15s)
earl call --yes --json recall_ai.get_bot --bot_id <bot_id>
# → Wait until media_shortcuts.transcript.status.code == "done"
# → Read media_shortcuts.transcript.id from the response

# 7. Get transcript metadata (includes download URL)
earl call --yes --json recall_ai.get_transcript --transcript_id <transcript_id>
# → Read data.download_url from the response

# 8. Download full transcript text
earl call --yes --json recall_ai.download_transcript --url "<data.download_url>"
# → Returns speaker-attributed transcript text — summarize, extract action items, etc.

---

Recipe B: Retrieve a video or audio recording

# 1. Get bot to find media IDs and confirm artifacts are ready
earl call --yes --json recall_ai.get_bot --bot_id <bot_id>
# → Read media_shortcuts.video_mixed.id and media_shortcuts.audio_mixed.id
# → If media_shortcuts.video_mixed.status.code != "done", poll every 15s until it is

# 2. Get video download URL
earl call --yes --json recall_ai.get_video --video_id <video_mixed_id>
# → Returns data.download_url — share this link with the user (expires in ~5 hours)

# 3. Get audio download URL
earl call --yes --json recall_ai.get_audio --audio_id <audio_mixed_id>
# → Returns data.download_url — share this link with the user (expires in ~5 hours)

Important: Do not attempt to download or process binary video/audio content. Present the download URL to the user as a clickable link.

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Recipe C: Control a live meeting

# Stop recording early (bot stays in meeting; triggers transcript processing)
earl call --yes --json recall_ai.stop_recording --bot_id <bot_id>
# → After stopping, poll get_bot until media_shortcuts.transcript.status.code == "done"

# Pause recording during a sensitive segment
earl call --yes --json recall_ai.pause_recording --bot_id <bot_id>

# Resume when ready
earl call --yes --json recall_ai.resume_recording --bot_id <bot_id>

# Send a message to meeting participants
earl call --yes --json recall_ai.send_chat_message \
  --bot_id <bot_id> \
  --message "Action items so far: 1) Alice to send report 2) Bob to schedule follow-up"

stop_recording vs leave_call: stop_recording stops capturing but keeps the bot present. leave_call removes the bot from the meeting entirely. Both trigger transcript processing.

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Finding a lost bot_id

If you don't have the bot_id, use list_bots to find it:

# List all bots
earl call --yes --json recall_ai.list_bots

# List only future scheduled bots
earl call --yes --json recall_ai.list_bots --join_at_after "2026-02-23T00:00:00Z"

Sort the results by join_at or created_at to find the most recent bot. Never create a duplicate bot for a meeting — check the list first.

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Scheduling constraint

For reliable joins, join_at must be at least 10 minutes in the future. Ad-hoc bots (no join_at) join immediately from a warm pool but may fail with 507 errors during peak usage. For production workflows, always schedule ahead.

Earl limitation: The create_bot template always sends join_at in the request body. When omitted, it sends "join_at": "". If the recall.ai API rejects this, always provide --join_at with a valid ISO 8601 timestamp. Similarly, list_bots always sends join_at_after in the query — provide a value or expect a possible 400 if the API validates the empty string.

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Download URL expiry

data.download_url values are pre-signed AWS S3 URLs that expire in approximately 5 hours. Retrieve and process transcript/media in the same session. Do not save the URL for later use.