How to add many phones at once in VICIdial

Adding fifty phones by hand through the admin screen is slow and error-prone. The faster way is to loop the add_phone function over a list of extensions and let a script do the typing. Because the Non-agent API is just HTTP, a few lines of shell or any language with an HTTP client can create a whole bank of phones in seconds.

There is no dedicated bulk endpoint — bulk is just add_phone called repeatedly. That sounds basic, but it is exactly why it scales: each call is independent, so you can run them in a loop and check each result on its own.

Build one row, then loop

Each add_phone call needs the full required set — extension, dialplan_number, voicemail_id, phone_login, phone_pass, server_ip, protocol, registration_password, phone_full_name, local_gmt, and outbound_cid. Put your varying values (usually the Extension and login) in a CSV or a counter, and hold the constants like server_ip and protocol fixed.

1. Generate the extension and phone_login for each phone, keeping every login unique on the server.
2. Fire one add_phone request per row and capture the response line.
3. After the whole batch, call server_refresh once so every new phone goes live together.

flowchart TD
  A[Read list of extensions] --> B[Next row]
  B --> C[Call add_phone]
  C --> D{Success}
  D -->|No| E[Log error and continue]
  D -->|Yes| F[Record login]
  E --> G{More rows}
  F --> G
  G -->|Yes| B
  G -->|No| H[Call server_refresh once]

Check, do not assume

Because each call returns a plain text result, parse it per row. A success line ends with the new login, IP, and protocol; an error line names the exact problem — a bad timezone, a server that does not exist, or a duplicate login. Log the failures and re-run just those rows rather than the whole list. Calling server_refresh once at the end is far better than per-row, since a single refresh rebuilds the Conf file for every new phone at once.

Get one phone working manually before you trust a loop — the field rules are in the required-fields reference, and the full picture is in the phones and aliases guide.

VICIfast gives you a ready server so the API is there the moment you need it — see pricing.