Fixed lines

A fixed line is a step whose words never change. No model writes it: the line you typed is what the caller hears, in their language. Use one wherever the exact wording matters more than a natural reply, such as a recording notice, a consent question, a price read back, or a goodbye that must be said in full.

Write the line

The line goes in What it says, with a tab for each language the agent speaks. The first language must have a line, and is marked red until it does; a language left empty is marked amber.

The call plays the line for the language it is in now. A language without a line of its own falls back to the English line, or else to the first line written, and Check warns about each language you left out. It also warns about a line written for a language the agent doesn't speak.

A line can include variables, such as Your plan renews on {renewal_date}. They are filled in from the call's data like anywhere else. See Using your data.

Played without a wait

When you save, the builder prepares the audio of every fixed line, in each language, in that language's voice. On a call, the line then starts playing the moment the step is reached: no model runs and no speech has to be generated.

Two kinds of line are spoken live instead, which sounds the same and starts a moment later:

• a line that contains a variable, because its words change from call to call;
• a line whose audio isn't ready yet, on a call placed just after you save.

In a chat, the line arrives as text. Either way it appears in the transcript as the agent's turn.

After the line plays

A fixed line doesn't move the call on by itself: it waits for the caller. When they answer, the step's paths are checked, as on any step.

• With an Always path, the call moves on whatever the caller says.
• With paths the AI decides, the decision model reads the caller's answer against their conditions. A fixed line has no instructions, so the decision model reads the step's title as its goal; give it a title that says what the line asks.
• When nothing is taken, the line plays again.

Repeat after silence, in Fine-tune this step, plays the line again when both sides have been quiet that many seconds. Each repeat is counted in _silence_repeats, so a rule path can give a silent caller a way out. While End the call after a long silence is on, a step repeats at most twice in a row, unless one of its rules needs more (see Silence).

[Recording notice]   Fixed line, repeat after silence 7 s
  "This call is recorded to help us improve. Is it all right to carry on?"
 ├─ AI decides: "The caller agrees to carry on."         ─► [Find out what they need]
 ├─ AI decides: "The caller doesn't want to carry on."   ─► [Close politely]
 └─ Rule: _silence_repeats is at least 2                 ─► [Close politely]

Hang up after the line

A fixed line can be the last thing a caller hears. Switch on Hang up after this line and, once the line has played, the call ends.

• Only on a step with no paths. While the step has a path out, the switch is off and can't be switched on; adding a path to a step that has it on switches it off. (A flow imported with both gets a warning: the line plays and the call moves on.)
• The whole line plays first, however long it is, before the call ends.
• No goodbye is added. The agent's Goodbye message isn't said after it: the line is the goodbye.
• Talking over it. By default the line plays to the end, and anything the caller says or presses meanwhile is ignored. With Let the caller talk over a closing step on, in Settings › On the call, a caller who speaks over the line stops the hang-up; when they finish, the line plays again, and then the call ends.
• Answering machines hear the whole line, whatever that setting says.
• Events can lead here too: the line plays at once, then the call ends.

On the canvas the step shows Ends here and an Ends the call chip, and its paths list reads "No paths — the call hangs up after this line."

Choosing between a fixed line and an AI reply

Next: Using your data.