Using AXFER to blind-transfer a customer into an AGI or IVR

Not every transfer goes to a person. Sometimes you want to push the customer into an automated script, a survey, a PIN-entry IVR, or a logging routine, and then get the agent off the call. VICIdial does that with a keyword, AXFER, that you place in the number-to-dial field of the transfer-conference frame.

What AXFER does

AXFER turns a normal handoff into a Cold transfer aimed at a script instead of a phone number. When the agent triggers it, the customer is sent off to a VICIdial AGI (Asterisk Gateway Interface) application for logging, or to an IVR (interactive voice response), with no live party waiting on the far end. Plain AXFER sends the call to a default destination, but you can append a custom extension to choose your own. AXFER82904, for example, routes the customer to whatever your dialplan has under _82904. The same idea drives the built-in IVR scripts: a setup like AXFER83209 sends the customer into a PIN-entry routine.

You set this in the Transfer-Conf number fields on the campaign or in-group, the same D1 through D5 presets that auto-populate the agent's number-to-dial. Drop AXFER (or AXFER plus your extension) into the number field and the preset becomes a one-click push into automation.

The dialplan it relies on

For a custom extension to work, the matching pattern has to exist in your Dialplan. Some of these AGI routines are designed to run across two servers: the originating server hands the call out over a trunk, and the server that hosts the script answers it and runs the AGI. A PIN IVR, for instance, uses an outbound entry that dials the call over the trunk and an inbound entry that answers and calls the script before hanging up.

sequenceDiagram
  participant Agent
  participant VICIdial
  participant Trunk
  participant Script as AGI or IVR Server
  Agent->>VICIdial: Trigger AXFER preset
  VICIdial->>VICIdial: Match number to dial field
  VICIdial->>Trunk: Send customer outbound
  Trunk->>Script: Inbound extension answers
  Script->>Script: Run AGI or IVR logic
  Note over Agent,VICIdial: Agent drops off the call

When to reach for it

Use AXFER when the next step does not need a human: a satisfaction survey, a PIN or DTMF capture, a compliance message, or a logging script that records something about the call. Because it is a blind handoff, the Agent is free the moment the transfer fires, which is the whole appeal for high-volume queues. If the destination is a person who needs context, a warm handoff is the better tool; for everything automated, AXFER is the clean path.

Two things to watch. First, the extension after AXFER must actually exist in the dialplan or the transfer simply fails, so confirm the pattern is loaded before you put the preset in front of agents. Second, because no one is on the far end, the customer experience depends entirely on the script: a long silence before a beep feels broken, so test the prompts the way a caller will hear them.

For the version of this that targets a plain phone number instead of a script, see how to blind-transfer a call to a number, and for where automated handoffs fit among all the others, read the transfers and closers guide.

Wiring AGI scripts across servers is the kind of work a managed setup spares you. If you would rather drop AXFER presets into a dialer that already has the dialplan in place, see our pricing.