HubSpot Calling (Twilio-powered) + Balto — need call started/ended triggers (not audio streaming)

Developer Support APIs & Integrations
1

We moved off RingCentral due to stability issues and are now using native HubSpot Calling, which has been more reliable. HubSpot Calling is Twilio-powered, but we’re trying to understand what’s exposed to integrators.

We want to integrate Balto. Balto does not require live audio streaming from HubSpot—what we need is:

a “call started” signal

a “call ended” signal
These events trigger Balto’s playbook/listening workflow.

Questions:

For native HubSpot Calling, is there any supported way to receive call lifecycle events (started/ended) in real time (or retrieve a Twilio Call SID), or are we limited to events after the call is logged as a Calls engagement?

If the supported route is post-call, is the best practice:

subscribe to Webhooks for Calls object created/updated events

then fetch call properties via the Calls CRM API and forward to Balto?

If true “started/ended in real time” requires telephony control, is the recommended architecture to implement a Calling Extension, where our integration controls the call and notifies HubSpot using the Calling SDK (e.g., call end events)?

Also: if anyone has guidance on reliably passing recording URLs or transcripts from HubSpot calls to third-party QA/coaching tools, we’d appreciate pointers.

2

Hi @AA-Ron

Thanks for laying this out so clearly — the distinction between real-time call lifecycle signals vs. post-call engagements is exactly the right question to ask.

I’d like to invite a few Community members who are subject matter experts in HubSpot Calling, Calling Extensions/SDK, and webhooks to join this conversation.
@SteveHTM @RubenBurdin @HFisher7 — hope you’re all having a great week! Do you know what HubSpot exposes for native calling in terms of real-time call started/ended events (or Twilio Call SID access), versus only post-call “Calls engagement created/updated” signals? And if real-time isn’t supported for native calling, is the “webhooks → Calls API → forward to Balto” pattern the best practice, or is a Calling Extension the recommended architecture for true lifecycle events + recordings/transcripts handoff?

Any product-accurate guidance (and any gotchas) would be hugely appreciated.
Victor

3

Hey there @AA-Ron

Just checking in to see if you found a solution for your issue?

I found some community threads that offer some helpful context and workarounds:

https://community.hubspot.com/t5/APIs-Integrations/Webhook-for-call-log-event/td-p/722507

https://community.hubspot.com/t5/APIs-Integrations/Excessive-Webhook-Events-for-call-event-subscriptions/td-p/1186603

https://community.hubspot.com/t5/CRM/New-calls-to-kick-off-a-workflow/m-p/659515

Please let me know if it helps!

Victor