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Changing phone agent settings requires Voice settings write access. Edit any agent from Channels → Phone → Agents.
Haven’t created an agent yet? Start with Create Phone Agent.

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Voice And Language

Use the play button beside a voice to hear a sample. When samples are available for several of your agent’s languages, choose one from the preview menu. Voices with language-specific samples use English when none of the configured languages has a sample. For Jordanian Arabic, select Arabic (Jordan) and choose Saqer or Abdallah from the voice library. Both use their recorded speaking pace, so their voice speed control is disabled. Use a test call to hear the voice before assigning the agent to a phone number. When Arabic is one of the agent’s languages, the agent estimates from the caller’s first few turns whether they sound male or female, and uses matching Arabic grammar when it addresses them. What the caller says about themselves and your instructions take priority. For example, add “Always address callers in the feminine form” to override the estimate.

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Response Timing And Interruptions

For supported agents enabled by OpenCX staff, the agent can begin preparing a reply while your speech is still being finalized. It waits for confirmed speech before speaking or taking an action. If you continue speaking or correct a number, the prepared reply can be discarded and generated again. The agent also distinguishes brief acknowledgements from attempts to interrupt. This can reduce unnecessary stops, but background speech or an acknowledgement can still be misclassified. Test short acknowledgements, deliberate interruptions, and numbers spoken with pauses. Check both browser and phone calls before assigning the agent to a live phone number.

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Instructions

Define what the agent does during a call. Two approaches:
Write natural-language instructions in the text field. The agent follows them as guidelines throughout the call.

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First Message

The opening greeting when the call connects. Outbound answer detection runs in the background while the agent greets the recipient. Set this to a greeting that matches your brand (e.g. “Thanks for calling Acme. How can I help you today?”). Defaults to “Hello?” if left blank.

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Saving And Preparation

Click Save to store your changes. Save becomes unavailable briefly, and a loading indicator appears inside Test. Once your changes are saved, Save becomes available again. If preparation is still needed, the same Test indicator continues; hover over it or focus it with the keyboard for an explanation. Nothing opens automatically, and you can continue editing while preparation runs. When your agent is ready immediately after saving, an Agent saved confirmation appears. Otherwise, Test simply becomes available when preparation finishes, without another notification. Test becomes available as soon as the preparation required by the saved settings is complete. Knowledge only needs preparing when the agent searches it (see Knowledge Sources); voice instructions still need to finish preparing where applicable. When you remove sources so the rest is loaded up front, Test becomes available as soon as you save, even if earlier preparation had not finished. Browser and phone tests use the same readiness check, including after reloading the page. Saving unchanged settings reuses completed preparation. If no preparation is required, Test is available as soon as the save finishes. Real customer calls continue using the available instructions and knowledge while preparation runs; this waiting period applies to testing.

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Knowledge Sources

Choose the instructions and knowledge the agent can use during calls. The agent uses only what you check here: a new agent knows nothing beyond its own instructions until you select sources.
  • Check individual items or entire folders, under Instructions and Knowledge.
  • Only published (non-draft) items that are available for voice sessions are used.
  • Checking a folder includes all current and future items within it. Folders and instructions created later outside your selection stay out until you check them.
After you save, the agent’s use of the selection depends on its size:
  • Nothing selected: the agent follows only its own instructions.
  • The selection fits: everything selected is loaded at the start of each call, so the agent can answer from it right away.
  • The selection is too large: the agent looks up what it needs during calls. It is prepared in the background after you save, and Test becomes available when preparation finishes.
The size is checked each time you save the agent. If a selected folder grows past what fits, save the agent again so it switches to looking things up: until then, sources past the limit are left out of calls. When you set sources through the API or MCP, send the IDs of every instruction, folder and knowledge item to use. An empty list means none.
Knowledge sources are managed under the Knowledge Sources section of the agent settings page. Agents that could use every source before selections became required kept access to the folders that existed then, selected for them.

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Actions And Workflows

Select which active AI-trigger workflows the agent can use during calls. The AI decides when to trigger them based on the session context.
  • A null selection means all actions are available.
  • An empty selection means no actions.

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Transfer Destinations

are defined at the org level and then assigned to individual agents. Phone numbers use format. Manage destinations under Transfer Destinations in the agent settings. Add the destinations the agent may use and describe when to choose each one in its instructions. Test both an answered transfer and an unavailable destination. Team routing may fall back to other available teammates; see Human calling.

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Failover transfer destination

Failover transfer destination is used for a critical technical failure during the call. If unset, the agent attempts the first allowed destination; with no destination, it ends the call. This is separate from the instructions for ordinary customer-requested handoffs. Test the selected destination before relying on it.

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Recording

Where available, enable Call recording → Record calls to keep audio for calls handled by the agent. Transcript messages and audio recording are separate. See Recordings and transcripts for settings, permissions, and post-call timing.

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Telephony And Routing

Assign one or more verified phone numbers to the agent. Each number can only be assigned to one agent. For BYOC numbers, configure SIP trunks under Settings → SIP and assign them here.
Set the caller number for outbound calls. Choose a hosted number or configure a custom SIP trunk. See Outbound Calls.
Each agent has a unique Agent ID shown on the settings page. Use it with the SIP header for dynamic routing from your own infrastructure. See SIP Integration.

Inbound Calls

Call routing, session matching, and call behavior.

Outbound Calls

Make calls from the dashboard, API, or workflows.

SIP Integration

Inbound and outbound SIP trunks for BYOC.
For number verification and route selection, see Numbers and routing.