Intro from chrisgaraffa

This repo is a fork of the original which hasn't been updated in a few years.

Plans

The items at the top are the most important, but the rest are going to happen in sort of random order.

1. Upgrade to modern Ruby/Rails/Bootstrap/JavaScript
2. Add tests
3. Audit dependencies and security
4. Create a GUI 'setup assistant' for new installs
5. Add categories, tagging
6. Convert at least some of the UI to VueJS, maybe
7. Add call volume and detail reports
8. Localize the interface
9. Internationalize the interface
10. Add switches for (some) features like Twitter and Stripe integration

Contributing

There's a good chance that things will be changing rapidly, especially through December 2020/January 2021. Reach out if you'd like to help!

The original README is below:

---

What

Pockethotline is a rails app that allows you to setup a "distributed hotline". This allows you to have a hotline number that is published and operators signup with their personal numbers. When someone calls the main number the operators will be called (depending on their on-call status) and connected to the main caller.

It was originally conceived as a business by Scott Magee and Chap Ambrose at the Austin Center for Design in the winter of 2011.

The software was open-sourced January 2014.

How much does it cost to run a hotline?

Hosting Costs

The minimum hosting costs are about $35 a month. This is because a background worker dyno is required. (Assuming you're using Heroku for hosting).

Phone Costs

Twilio phone numbers cost $1/month for local numbers and $2/month for toll-free.

Twilio charges you by minutes used, $0.03/minute for local and $0.05/minute for toll-free.

Twilio's published rates are $0.01 / $0.03 but that is only for the incoming call, you also have to add another $0.02 to each call because of the outgoing connection to the operators.

Basic Setup

##1. Setup accounts on:

• Twilio.com
• Heroku.com (or other rails capable host)

##2. Get a phone number on Twilio Start with the free trial number or purchase another toll-free or local number.

##3. Take note of your phone number and API credentials AccountSID and AuthToken Find them under "Account Settings"

##4. Clone the repository
$ git clone git@github.com:chap/pockethotline.git

##5. Edit config file at /config/initializers/hotline.rb You must edit values for:

• config.x.hotline.name
• config.x.hotline.domain
• config.x.hotline.organizer
• config.x.hotline.organizer_email
• config.x.hotline.number

##6. Save changes
$ git commit config/initializers/hotline.rb -m "updated config"

##7. Create an app on heroku
$ heroku create myhotline-name

##8. Enable Sendgrid add-on for sending email $ heroku addons:add sendgrid

Any SMTP provider should work. If you don't use Sendgrid, manually update settings at config/initializers/smtp_settings.rb

##9. Push application to heroku
$ git push heroku master

##10. Create database tables
$ heroku run rake db:schema:load

##11. Scale up worker dyno (required for background tasks)
$ heroku ps:scale worker=1

##12. Add TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN ENV variable to heroku config Use Twilio API credentials from step 3. $ heroku config:set TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN=XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

##13. Add SESSION_SECRET ENV variables to heroku config First run
$ heroku run rake secret

Copy the output and use it here:
$ heroku config:set SESSION_SECRET=XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

##14. Setup the on-call scheduler

1. $ heroku addons:add scheduler
2. $ heroku addons:open scheduler
3. Click "Add Job"
4. In the left-most field enter "rake oncall_scheduler"
5. Change frequency to "Hourly"
6. Set next run to "XX:00" (The XX will depend on the current time.)
7. Click "Save"

##15. Create yourself an account (edit these values)

  $ heroku run rails console
  $ u = User.new(
    :name => 'my name', 
    :email => 'myemail@email.com', 
    :phone => '215-359-5228', 
    :password => 'setyourpasswordhere'
    )
    u.admin = true
    u.on_call = true
    u.save!

##16. Login to your account $ heroku open

##17. Update Twilio with your app's domain

• Click on 'Numbers' in the nav bar
• Click on your phone number
• Change the 'Voice Request URL' to https://myhotline-name.herokuapp.com/twilio/start
• Set request method to [POST]

##18. Call the hotline and see if it's working!

• Don't call from the same number that you added for yourself
• If you're using your free demo Twilio account you'll hear a pre-roll message. That will go away when you upgrade your account.
• Your call should be connected after the greeting message is used.
• If calling via Gtalk fails to connect, try a real land or cell line.

##19. Yeah!

===

#Advanced Setup of Hotline Supporters

##1. Create an account on Stripe.com

##2. Set Stripe publishable key in config Uncomment (remove leading '#') and edit values in config/hotline.rb

• config.x.stripe.secret_key

• config.x.stripe.publishable_key

• config.x.stripe.publishable_key

##3. Add Stripe API key $ heroku config:set STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

##4. Save changes and deploy $ git commit config/initializers/hotline.rb -m "add stripe details" $ git push heroku

##5. Visit suporters page

https://.../supporters/new

Stripe requires SSL to be enabled, if you're using your default heroku domain you will seemlessly piggy-back on the wildcard certificate at *.herokuapp.com.

If you want to use a different domain you may have to purchase and setup your own certificate.

===

#Advanced Allow Supporters to Upload Images

##1. Add your S3 bucket name to /config/hotline.rb

##2. Add S3 access_key_id and secret_access_key $ heroku config:set S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID=XXXXXXXXXXXXXX S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

===

#Forward unanswered calls, change recordings, Twitter integration, etc

Look at all the options in /config/hotline.rb