How to use the Add Dial phone channel agent skill

What the add-dial skill does

Add Dial is an installer for a messaging integration, not a standalone app. Once it has run, a NanoClaw assistant can send and receive text messages and handle AI voice calls through a real phone number provided by Dial.

The skill copies a native Dial channel adapter and its tests into your NanoClaw codebase, registers the adapter, installs a QR-code library, builds and tests the project, and walks you through signing in to a Dial account with the dial command-line tool. Native means there is no Chat SDK bridge: outbound messages go through dial message, and inbound messages arrive through the CLI's command-target daemon.

Install the add-dial skill from the ZIP or the Claude apps

Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it into a skills folder. For a personal install use ~/.claude/skills/. For a single project, use the .claude/skills/ folder inside that project.

If you use the Claude apps instead, upload the skill under Settings, then Capabilities, then Skills.

The package contains three files: SKILL.md, which holds the instructions the agent follows, apply-fixtures.json, and REMOVE.md, which describes how to undo the install.

• Personal install: ~/.claude/skills/
• Project install: .claude/skills/ inside your project
• Claude apps: Settings, then Capabilities, then Skills

Run the install steps and sign in to Dial

The mechanical steps are written so an agent can apply them, and every step is idempotent, so re-running the skill is safe. The Apply section copies the adapter files from the nanocoai/nanoclaw channels branch, appends one import line to src/channels/index.ts, and adds the pair-dial setup step to setup/index.ts if it is missing.

The skill then installs the qrcode package, runs the project build, and runs one integration test, src/channels/dial-registration.test.ts, which checks that the channel is registered. End-to-end SMS and voice are verified manually once the service runs.

For sign-in, the skill checks whether you are already signed in with dial doctor. If you are, you can reuse that account or switch. If you are not, you enter an email address, Dial sends a 6-digit one-time code, and you enter that code to verify it and provision your number.

• Copy the adapter, pairing helper and tests from the channels branch
• Append the import to src/channels/index.ts
• Install qrcode and run the build
• Run the registration test
• Sign in with the dial CLI and enter the one-time code

Pin the dial CLI path so the service can find it

The NanoClaw service does not inherit your interactive shell's PATH. If dial lives in a version-manager bin directory, a bare dial command fails with ENOENT, the inbound command target is never registered, and the channel looks connected but receives nothing. The skill avoids this by writing the absolute path to DIAL_CLI_PATH in your .env file.

Run command -v dial to see the path. The skill uses that output as the value for DIAL_CLI_PATH. If inbound messages and calls do not arrive, check logs/nanoclaw.error.log.

Safety notes: scripts and network access

This skill runs scripts and uses the network. It edits .env, changes source files, and runs builds. If the dial CLI is missing, the skill runs a remote install script from getdial.ai piped into bash. Read that script first if your policy requires it, or install the CLI yourself before you start.

Once the agent is reachable by SMS or phone, it will handle inbound messages and calls from strangers. That carries spam and misuse risk, so decide who may contact the assistant before you enable the channel.

• Runs shell commands and edits .env and source files
• Pipes a remote install script into bash if the dial CLI is missing
• Inbound messages and calls can come from anyone who has the number

Tips for a clean setup and a clean removal

Check the prerequisites first: a NanoClaw git repository with src/channels and setup directories, Node.js and pnpm, and access to the nanocoai/nanoclaw channels branch. The skill does not install Node.js or pnpm for you.

To remove the integration, follow REMOVE.md. It has you remove the import line, delete the adapter files, remove the DIAL_* overrides from .env, and rebuild and restart. The Dial account, its number and the dial listen daemon are managed by the dial CLI, so remove them separately.

• Pin DIAL_CLI_PATH before you expect inbound messages
• Re-running the skill is safe because each step is idempotent
• Account, number and listener are managed by the dial CLI, not NanoClaw