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Session Analysis API Usage Guide

Understand the full cost and event tree for any Telnyx AI or voice session — from a single inference call to complex multi-product conversations.

What is Session Analysis?

Session Analysis gives you a complete view of costs and events for any usage session on the Telnyx platform:
  • Full event tree — parent events, child events, and their relationships
  • Rollup costs — per-event costs plus cumulative totals across the session
  • Product linkages — how different Telnyx products interacted in a single session
This is especially valuable for AI-powered sessions, where a single call can involve multiple Telnyx products — AI Voice Assistant, inference, speech-to-text, text-to-speech, call control, SIP trunking, and more — all layered into one conversation.

When to Use It

Use CaseWhy Session Analysis Helps
AI session cost breakdownSee the full cost tree for an AI assistant call, broken down by inference turns, STT/TTS, and infrastructure costs
TroubleshootingTrace the complete event chain to debug unexpected call flow or billing issues
Usage auditingVerify which products and services were consumed during a session
Cost optimizationIdentify which components of an AI session drive the most cost and optimize accordingly

Core Concepts

Record Types

A record type identifies the category of usage event for a Telnyx product. Each record type maps to a specific product and has defined relationships to other record types. Example: ai-voice-assistant is the record type for AI Voice Assistant sessions, which have inference events as children.

Sessions

A session is a tree of related usage events. The root event is the primary event you’re analyzing. Child events are related usage that occurred as part of that session. Example: An AI Voice Assistant call involves a call-session root with a call-control child, which in turn has an ai-voice-assistant child with inference events underneath — each representing one LLM turn in the conversation.

Relationships

Events are connected via relationships:
RelationshipDirectionExample
child_ofParent → ChildAn ai-voice-assistant event has inference children (one per LLM turn)
parent_ofChild → ParentAn inference event has a parent ai-voice-assistant session
Relationships are defined via field mappings — the child’s local_field matches the parent’s parent_field. For example, inference events link to their ai-voice-assistant parent via the conversation_id field.

Cost Rollup

Each event node includes:
  • event_cost — Cost of this individual event
  • cumulative_cost — This event’s cost plus all descendant costs
The root event’s cumulative_cost equals the total session cost. For AI sessions, this means the call-session cumulative cost includes everything — the AI assistant, each inference turn, STT, TTS, call control, and SIP trunking — rolled up into one number.

Endpoints

1. List All Record Types

GET /v2/session_analysis/metadata
Returns all available record types, their relationships, and query parameter options. Response includes:
  • record_types[] — Array of all record types with their parent/child relationships
  • query_parameters — Valid parameters for session analysis queries
  • meta — Total count and last updated timestamp
Example:
curl "https://api.telnyx.com/v2/session_analysis/metadata" \
 -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

2. Get Record Type Details

GET /v2/session_analysis/metadata/{record_type}
Returns metadata for a specific record type with additional details:
  • Valid child and parent relationships
  • Example query URLs
  • Recommended max depth for traversal
Example:
curl "https://api.telnyx.com/v2/session_analysis/metadata/ai-voice-assistant" \
 -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

3. Get Session Analysis

GET /v2/session_analysis/{record_type}/{event_id}
Retrieves the full session analysis tree for a specific event. Path Parameters:
ParameterTypeDescription
record_typestringThe record type identifier (see Record Types Reference below)
event_idUUIDThe event’s unique identifier
You can find event IDs in the individual webhooks or detail records for the applicable event. Which record type should I use? If you’re analyzing a call made with your AI assistant, start with call-session. This gives you the full picture — AI assistant sessions, inference events, call control, SIP trunking, and all other products in one tree. Use the metadata endpoint to explore other starting points for different products. Query Parameters:
ParameterTypeDefaultDescription
include_childrenbooleantrueInclude child events in the response
max_depthinteger2Maximum traversal depth (1-5)
expandstringrecordOnly record (include full record data) or none (omit record data)
date_timeISO 8601Timestamp to narrow index selection (improves performance)
Example:
curl "https://api.telnyx.com/v2/session_analysis/call-session/a1b2c3d4-5e6f-7a8b-9c0d-1e2f3a4b5c6d?include_children=true&max_depth=3&date_time=2026-03-17" \
 -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Response Structure

Top-Level Fields

{
 "session_id": "4c9d22b0-1e4b-11f1-83a0-02420aef51a1",
 "cost": {
 "total": "0.009800",
 "currency": "USD"
 },
 "root": { /* EventNode */ },
 "meta": {
 "event_count": 3,
 "products": ["ai-voice-assistant", "inference", "callcontrol-cdrs"]
 }
}
FieldDescription
session_idIdentifier for the analyzed session
cost.totalTotal session cost (sum of all events)
cost.currencyISO 4217 currency code
rootRoot event node (tree structure)
meta.event_countTotal events in the tree
meta.productsUnique products involved in the session

Event Node Structure

Each event in the tree follows this structure:
{
 "id": "4c9d22b0-1e4b-11f1-83a0-02420aef51a1",
 "product": "callcontrol-cdrs",
 "event_name": "callcontrol-cdrs",
 "relationship": null,
 "cost": {
 "event_cost": "0.000000",
 "cumulative_cost": "0.009800",
 "currency": "USD"
 },
 "links": {
 "self": "/v2/session_analysis/call-control/4c9d22b0-...",
 "records": "/v2/detail_records?record_type=call-control&id=4c9d22b0-..."
 },
 "record": { /* Full detail record */ },
 "children": [ /* Array of child EventNodes */ ]
}
FieldDescription
idEvent identifier
productInternal product identifier
event_nameEvent type name
relationshipHow this event relates to its parent (null for root)
cost.event_costCost of this individual event
cost.cumulative_costThis event + all descendants
links.selfLink to this analysis node
links.recordsLink to underlying detail records
recordFull detail record data (varies by record type)
childrenChild event nodes

Relationship Object

For child events, the relationship field explains the connection:
{
 "type": "child_of",
 "via": {
 "local_field": "conversation_id",
 "parent_field": "conversation_id"
 },
 "parent_id": "4c9063e0-1e4b-11f1-b789-02420aef51a1"
}
FieldDescription
typeRelationship type (child_of or parent_of)
via.local_fieldField on this record that links to parent
via.parent_fieldField on the parent record that’s matched
parent_idIdentifier of the parent event
Note: The via fields vary by relationship. AI-related linkages often use conversation_id, while voice/telephony relationships typically use telnyx_session_id or call_session_id.

Example: AI Voice Assistant Session

A customer makes an inbound call to an AI Voice Assistant using the Telnyx Web Dialer. The assistant handles a multi-turn conversation over ~152 seconds. Query:
curl "https://api.telnyx.com/v2/session_analysis/call-session/a1b2c3d4-5e6f-7a8b-9c0d-1e2f3a4b5c6d?max_depth=5&include_children=true&date_time=2026-03-17" \
 -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
Session tree:
call-session (SIP Trunking) event: $0.0000 cumulative: $0.2128
├── recording event: $0.0051 cumulative: $0.0051
├── webrtc event: $0.0052 cumulative: $0.0052
├── sip-trunking event: $0.0052 cumulative: $0.0052
└── call-control event: $0.0052 cumulative: $0.1973
    └── ai-voice-assistant event: $0.1800 cumulative: $0.1921
        ├── inference event: $0.0010
        ├── inference event: $0.0015
        ├── inference event: $0.0029
        ├── inference event: $0.0033
        └── inference event: $0.0034
Summary:
FieldValue
Total session cost$0.2128
Event count11
Duration~152 seconds
Products involvedsiptrunking-cdrs, recording-cdrs, webrtc-cdrs, callcontrol-cdrs, ai-voice-assistant, inference
Key observations:
  • The call-session root has $0.00 event cost — it’s a container for the session, not a billable event itself.
  • ai-voice-assistant is the dominant cost at 0.18(billedat0.18 (billed at 0.06/min for 3 billed minutes). Its cumulative cost of $0.1921 includes 5 inference events underneath.
  • Each inference event represents a single LLM call during the conversation — one per assistant turn. The cost per turn varies based on the model and token count.
  • call-control has a 0.0052eventcostbuta0.0052 event cost but a 0.1973 cumulative cost — the difference is the ai-voice-assistant subtree rolling up underneath it.
  • recording, webrtc, and sip-trunking are leaf nodes with no children, so their event cost equals their cumulative cost.

Understanding the AI Cost Structure

In an AI-powered call, costs come from multiple layers:
LayerRecord TypeWhat You’re Billed For
AI Assistantai-voice-assistantTime-based (per minute of assistant usage)
LLM InferenceinferencePer-turn (each LLM call is a separate event)
Call Controlcall-controlTime-based (per minute of call control usage)
Transportsip-trunking, webrtcTime-based (per minute for the voice leg)
Add-onsrecording, speech-to-text, text-to-speechPer-use or per-minute depending on the product
Session Analysis rolls all of these into one tree, so you can see exactly where cost accumulates — whether it’s the AI assistant minute rate, the number of inference turns, or the underlying voice transport.

Common Use Cases

Debugging High-Cost AI Sessions

  1. Query the session with max_depth=5 to get the full tree
  2. Look at meta.products to see which products were involved
  3. Compare event_cost across children — if ai-voice-assistant is the driver, check how many inference turns occurred underneath
  4. Check record fields for rate information (rate, rate_measured_in) and duration
  1. Start from any event in the tree
  2. Use relationship.via to understand the field linkage
  3. Query the parent or children directly using their id

Exporting for Analysis

  1. Use expand=none to get just the tree structure without full records
  2. Flatten the tree programmatically for spreadsheet import
  3. Or keep full records and parse specific fields (e.g., rate, duration_sec)

Best Practices

Performance

  • Provide date_time when you know it — this narrows the index search and improves response time
  • Use appropriate max_depth — start with 2, increase only if needed. AI sessions with inference events typically need max_depth=4 or 5 to reach the leaf level.
  • Use expand=none if you only need cost rollups, not full records

Querying

  • Start from the root event — the most complete picture comes from the top-level event
  • Check metadata first/metadata/{record_type} shows expected children and recommended depth
  • Use links.records to get the underlying detail records for deeper analysis

Error Handling

Status CodeMeaningAction
400Invalid parametersCheck record_type spelling, event_id format
403ForbiddenVerify API key has access to this user’s data
404Event not foundEvent may not exist, or date_time is incorrect
500Internal errorRetry with exponential backoff

Record Types Reference

AI & Voice Intelligence

Record TypeProductDescriptionCommon Children
ai-voice-assistantAI Voice AssistantAI assistant sessionsinference
inferenceInferenceAI inference events (one per LLM turn)
inference-speech-to-textInferenceSTT-specific inference
inference-text-to-speechInferenceTTS-specific inference
summarizationInferenceText summarization
embeddingInferenceVector embeddings
speech-to-textSpeech-to-TextSTT transcription records
text-to-speechText-to-SpeechTTS synthesis records
amdAnswering Machine DetectionAMD invocations
noise-suppressionNoise SuppressionAudio enhancement records

Voice & Telephony

Record TypeProductDescriptionCommon Children
call-sessionN/ARoot-level record for grouping related voice product usage recordscall-control, sip-trunking, recording, webrtc, siprec-client, fax-api, conference-participant
call-controlCall Control (Programmable Voice)Voice API call recordsai-voice-assistant, amd, media-streaming, speech-to-text, text-to-speech, noise-suppression
sip-trunkingSIP TrunkingSIP trunking detail records
webrtcWebRTCWebRTC call records

Media & Storage

Record TypeProductDescriptionCommon Children
recordingCall RecordingCall recording CDRs
media_storageMedia StorageStored media files
media-streamingMedia StreamingReal-time audio streams
forkingMedia ForkingForked media records

Conferencing

Record TypeProductDescriptionCommon Children
conferenceConferenceConference sessionsconference-participant
conference-participantConferenceIndividual participant records

Messaging

Record TypeProductDescriptionCommon Children
messageMessagingSMS/MMS message recordsai-messaging-assistant

Video

Record TypeProductDescriptionCommon Children
room-session-eventProgrammable VideoVideo room sessions
room-session-participant-eventProgrammable VideoVideo participants
room-session-recording-eventProgrammable VideoVideo recordings
room-session-composition-eventProgrammable VideoVideo compositions

Other Products

Record TypeProductDescriptionCommon Children
verifyVerify (2FA)Verification attempts
fax-apiFax APIFax transmission records
branded-callingBranded CallingCaller ID branding
siprec-clientSIPRECSIPREC recording sessions
sim_card_usageWirelessSIM card data usage
customer-service-recordCSRCustomer service records