CDR (Call Detail Records)

Call Detail Records (CDRs) provide the most comprehensive view of each voice call processed through Exotel. CDRs contain every data point captured during a call's lifecycle, making them essential for billing reconciliation, compliance auditing, and deep call analytics.

CDR vs. Call Logs

Feature	Call Logs	CDR Reports
Detail level	Summary fields (status, duration, numbers)	Full metadata including legs, recordings, cost breakdown
Access	Dashboard list view, API	Downloadable CSV/Excel, API
Use case	Quick lookup, real-time monitoring	Billing, compliance, analytics
Leg-level data	No	Yes -- includes each call leg

CDR Fields

Standard CDR Fields

Field	Description	Example
CallSid	Unique call identifier	c5797dcbaaeed7678c406...
DateCreated	Call initiation timestamp	2026-03-05 14:30:00
From	Originating phone number	+919876543210
To	Destination phone number	+919123456789
PhoneNumberSid	ExoPhone used for the call	0XXXXXX4890
Direction	Call direction	inbound, outbound-api
Status	Final call disposition	completed, no-answer
StartTime	When the call was answered	2026-03-05 14:30:05
EndTime	When the call ended	2026-03-05 14:32:19
Duration	Total call duration (seconds)	134
RecordingUrl	URL to call recording	https://s3-ap-...
Price	Total call cost	1.50
Currency	Billing currency	INR

Extended CDR Fields

Field	Description	Example
ConversationDuration	Actual talk time (seconds)	120
Legs	Number of call legs	2
Leg1Status	Status of the first leg	completed
Leg2Status	Status of the second leg	completed
Leg1Duration	Duration of first leg (seconds)	134
Leg2Duration	Duration of second leg (seconds)	120
Leg1From	First leg originating number	0XXXXXX4890
Leg1To	First leg destination number	+919876543210
Leg2From	Second leg originating number	0XXXXXX4890
Leg2To	Second leg destination number	+919123456789
FlowId	App/flow used for the call	12345
RecordingDuration	Recording file duration (seconds)	120

Downloading CDRs from the Dashboard

Step-by-Step

1. Log in to my.exotel.com
2. Navigate to Reports > CDR / Call Details
3. Set your date range (maximum 31 days per export)
4. Apply optional filters:
   • Direction: Inbound, Outbound, or All
   • Status: Completed, Failed, Busy, No-Answer
   • ExoPhone: Filter by specific virtual number
5. Click Download CSV or Download Excel

info

CDR exports for large date ranges may take a few minutes to generate. You will receive an email with a download link when the export is ready.

Export File Format

The exported CSV contains one row per call with all standard and extended CDR fields. The file uses UTF-8 encoding with comma-separated values.

Sample CSV header:

CallSid,DateCreated,From,To,PhoneNumberSid,Direction,Status,StartTime,EndTime,Duration,ConversationDuration,Price,Currency,RecordingUrl,FlowId

Accessing CDRs via API

Single Call CDR

Retrieve the full CDR for a specific call:

curl "https://$EXOTEL_API_KEY:$EXOTEL_API_TOKEN@$EXOTEL_SUBDOMAIN/v1/Accounts/$EXOTEL_ACCOUNT_SID/Calls/YOUR_CALL_SID.json"

Response:

{
  "Call": {
    "Sid": "c5797dcbaaeed7678c4062a4a3ed2f8a",
    "DateCreated": "2026-03-05 14:30:00",
    "DateUpdated": "2026-03-05 14:32:19",
    "AccountSid": "your_account_sid",
    "To": "+919123456789",
    "From": "+919876543210",
    "PhoneNumberSid": "0XXXXXX4890",
    "Status": "completed",
    "StartTime": "2026-03-05 14:30:05",
    "EndTime": "2026-03-05 14:32:19",
    "Duration": "134",
    "Price": "1.50",
    "Direction": "outbound-api",
    "RecordingUrl": "https://s3-ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/recordings/abc123.mp3"
  }
}

Bulk CDR Download

Fetch CDRs for a date range with pagination:

curl "https://$EXOTEL_API_KEY:$EXOTEL_API_TOKEN@$EXOTEL_SUBDOMAIN/v1/Accounts/$EXOTEL_ACCOUNT_SID/Calls.json?DateCreated=gte:2026-03-01%2000:00:00;lte:2026-03-05%2023:59:59&PageSize=100"

warning

The bulk CDR API allows querying up to 6 months of historical data with a maximum 1-month range per request. For larger exports, break your query into monthly chunks.

Filtering CDR API Requests

Parameter	Description	Example
DateCreated	Date range filter	gte:2026-03-01 00:00:00;lte:2026-03-05 23:59:59
Status	Call status filter	completed
Direction	Call direction filter	inbound
PhoneNumber	ExoPhone filter	0XXXXXX4890
PageSize	Results per page (max 200)	100

CDR Use Cases

Billing Reconciliation

Compare CDR Price fields against your invoices to verify billing accuracy:

1. Export CDRs for the billing period
2. Sum the Price column
3. Match against your Exotel invoice total

Compliance Auditing

CDRs provide the audit trail required by many regulatory frameworks:

• Call timestamps for regulatory record-keeping
• Recording URLs for call quality audits
• Leg-level data for verifying call routing compliance

Performance Analytics

Build performance metrics from CDR data:

Metric	Calculation
Answer rate	COUNT(completed) / COUNT(total) * 100
Average handle time	AVG(Duration) WHERE Status = 'completed'
Average talk time	AVG(ConversationDuration) WHERE Status = 'completed'
Peak hour	MODE(HOUR(DateCreated))

tip

For automated analytics, use the API to pull CDRs into your data warehouse (BigQuery, Redshift, Snowflake) on a scheduled basis. See Custom Reports for automation patterns.

Related Resources

• Call Logs -- Quick lookup view of calls
• Call Details API -- Full API reference
• Call Monitoring & Visualization -- Build visualizations with CDR data