How the LISTEN column in the Real-Time Report works

The Real-Time Report in VICIdial can show a LISTEN column next to each active Agent. When you click the link in that column, VICIdial calls a phone of your choice and bridges you silently into that agent's live audio. Neither the agent nor the customer knows you are there. This is called a blind monitor or silent listen session. The column does not appear by default — you need to set the right display options and meet a few account prerequisites first.

Prerequisites before the column appears

Three account and system conditions must be met before the LISTEN column becomes functional. First, Agent API Access (the Agent API flag) must be set to 1 on your user account in Admin → User Modification. Second, View Reports must also be set to 1 on that same account. Third, the system-wide API must be enabled in Admin → System Settings. All three must be true at the same time. If the API is disabled at the system level, no amount of user-level permission changes will make monitoring work.

How to make the LISTEN column appear

Open the Real-Time Report and click the Choose Report Display Options link at the top. A settings panel opens where you select which Campaign data to display and configure display-level options like Monitor and Phone. Find the Monitor drop-down and set it to MONITOR. Then locate the Phone field and type the extension name of the Phones entry you want the system to call when monitoring — for example, monitor_cell. Submit the form.

The Phone field does not accept a raw phone number — it accepts the extension name from an existing Phones entry in your system. That Phones entry is the record that holds the actual Dialplan number including any leading prefix your system needs to reach an outside line. If you have not yet created that Phones entry, set that up first and then return to the Report Display Options.

flowchart TD
  A["Open Real-Time Report"] --> B["Click Choose Report Display Options"]
  B --> C{"Monitor set to MONITOR?"}
  C -->|No| D["Set Monitor drop-down to MONITOR"]
  C -->|Yes| E{"Phone field filled in?"}
  D --> E
  E -->|No| F["Enter Phones entry extension name"]
  E -->|Yes| G{"User level 7+ and Agent API Access = 1?"}
  F --> G
  G -->|No| H["Update permissions in User Modification"]
  G -->|Yes| I["LISTEN column appears in report"]
  I --> J["Click LISTEN next to an agent"]
  J --> K["VICIdial dials your phone"]
  K --> L["Answer to hear agent audio silently"]

What clicking LISTEN does

Clicking the LISTEN link next to an agent fires an API (application programming interface) request to the VICIdial server. The server looks up the Phones entry extension name you provided, retrieves the dialplan number stored there, and places an outbound call to that number. When you answer, VICIdial bridges your audio channel into the agent's active call. You hear both sides of the conversation — the agent and the customer — but neither of them can hear you.

When you want to stop monitoring that agent, hang up. The agent's call continues uninterrupted. You can then click LISTEN next to a different agent and a new outbound call comes in to your phone. Each session is independent and starts fresh. There is no limit on how many sequential monitoring sessions you can run in a shift.

Note that MONITOR mode is a pure listen session — you cannot speak to the agent or the customer. If you need to coach the agent privately during a live call, that is a separate feature handled through whisper coaching and requires a different configuration. LISTEN is strictly for observation.

Related setup and further reading

For the complete end-to-end monitoring setup including the Phones entry and permission steps, read how to live-monitor agents from your mobile phone. The broader context of how external phones and remote access fit together is in VICIdial remote agents explained. If you want a running VICIdial system without building the infrastructure yourself, our managed VICIdial plans provision a dedicated server in under 40 seconds.