There are a number of places a bot can run into trouble, and it's not always obvious why a bot was unable to join a call or failed to record.

Since each meeting platform has its own settings, constraints, and limitations, Recall provides tools to help you figure out where a bot went wrong so that you can take action to fix it.

Explorer dashboard

To get more visibility into a bot without having to make API requests and inspect them, you can search the bot ID using the explorer dashboard.

In the dashboard, you can search a specific bot ID to view the bot's information, including the status changes, recording, transcript, debug screenshots, and bot logs.

For a URL-based search, you can jump to a bot in the explorer by adding the bot as a path parameter:

https://api.recall.ai/dashboard/explorer/bot/{BOT_ID}

Status change events

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Bot Status Changes capture the lifecycle of a bot and expose it via the API and webhook events.

Besides the typical, default behavior of a bot joining a call, starting recording, and so on, bots can also contain status changes that provide insight into the errors when a bot fails to record or is unable to join a call.

Status changes with a fatal code will have a sub_code explaining the reason that the error occurred. A list of all possible sub codes can be found at Bot Sub Codes.

To see a bot's status changes, call the Retrieve Bot endpoint and view the status_changes array in the bot object:

{
  "bot_id": "...",
  "status_changes": [
    ...
    {
      "code": "joining_call",
      "message": null,
      "created_at": "2024-02-17T16:44:00.505440Z",
      "sub_code": null
    },
    {
      "code": "in_waiting_room",
      "message": null,
      "created_at": "2024-02-17T16:44:17.692342Z",
      "sub_code": null
    },
    {
      "code": "in_call_not_recording",
      "message": null,
      "created_at": "2024-02-17T16:44:23.288984Z",
      "sub_code": null
    },
    {
      "code": "in_call_recording",
      "message": null,
      "created_at": "2024-02-17T16:44:23.295099Z",
      "sub_code": null
    },
    ...
  ],
  ...
}

Bot Screenshots

Bot screenshots give you the bot's point-of-view throughout the duration of a the call.

Screenshots do not include participant video and are meant for debugging.

They're particularly useful for:

Seeing why a bot was unable to join a call if it's unclear from its status_changes
Checking on a bot that appears to be in a weird or unknown state

To get a list of screenshots associated with a bot, you can call List Bot Screenshots.

Bot Logs

Recall exposes log entries for bots to provide more information about certain errors. These can be viewed in the Bot Explorer and can also be accessed via the Get Bot Logs endpoint.

Types of bot logs: