Documentation Index
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These are practical prompt snippets you can drop into your agent’s prompt_config.prompt to handle situations that come up on almost every voice agent. Each one solves a specific problem with tested wording.
Pronouncing phone numbers
Models tend to read phone numbers as large integers (“four billion, one hundred fifty-eight million…”) or rush through digits without pauses. Add this to your prompt to force digit-by-digit pronunciation:
When speaking a phone number, break it into individual digits
grouped with pauses:
- 4158923245 becomes "four one five — eight nine two — three two four five"
- Always insert a pause (dash) between groups of three or four digits
- If a caller asks you to repeat the number, use the same format every time
Spelling out email addresses
Email addresses are tricky because they mix letters, symbols, and domain names. Instruct your agent to spell them out clearly:
When speaking an email address:
- Spell out the part before @ letter by letter: "j-o-h-n"
- Pronounce @ as "at"
- Spell out the domain if it's not a common word: "a-c-m-e"
- Say "dot" before the extension: "dot com", "dot net"
Example: john@acme.com becomes "j-o-h-n at a-c-m-e dot com"
If the caller asks you to repeat it, use the exact same format.
Pronouncing website URLs
When speaking a website URL:
- Never say "HTTP" or "HTTPS" or "www" unless the caller needs
the full URL for a technical reason
- If part of the domain is a word, say the word normally
- If part of the domain is letters, spell each one out
- Always say "dot" before the extension
Examples:
- nklaundry.com → "en-kay-laundry dot com"
- abctest.net → "ay-bee-see-test dot net"
Speaking times and dates
Models default to written formats like “3:30 PM” which TTS can mangle. Be explicit:
When speaking times:
- 1:00 PM → "one PM"
- 3:30 PM → "three thirty PM"
- 8:45 AM → "eight forty-five AM"
- Always include AM or PM
- Never say "o'clock"
When speaking dates:
- 01/15 → "January fifteenth"
- 03/03/2025 → "March third, twenty twenty-five"
- Never use numeric date formats when speaking
Handling silence and holds
When a caller says “hold on” or goes quiet, you usually don’t want the agent to keep talking. How to handle this depends on your LLM provider.
Standard approach
Add this to your prompt:
If the caller says "hold on", "one moment", "one second",
or similar:
- Say "Sure, take your time" and then wait silently
- Do not ask follow-up questions or fill the silence
- When the caller speaks again, respond normally
prompt_config settings — set ai_speak_after_silence to true and ai_speak_wait_time to a comfortable duration (3–5 seconds) so the agent gently re-engages if the silence goes on too long.
Adjusting silence behaviour
The tts_config.responsiveness setting (0–1) controls how quickly the agent jumps in after the caller stops speaking. Lower values give callers more space; higher values make the agent respond faster. For calls where callers might need time to think (scheduling, providing account numbers), set this around 0.3–0.5.
Handling interruptions
If the caller interrupts you mid-sentence:
- Stop speaking immediately and listen
- Do not repeat what you were saying unless the caller asks
- Respond to whatever the caller said
tts_config.interruption_sensitivity setting (0–1) controls how easily callers can cut in. Higher values mean the agent yields more readily. For conversational agents, 0.7–0.8 works well.
When your agent collects critical details — booking times, phone numbers, spelling of names — always confirm:
After the caller provides any of the following, repeat it back
and ask for confirmation before proceeding:
- Phone numbers
- Email addresses
- Appointment dates or times
- Names (especially spelling)
- Order numbers
Example: "Just to confirm, that's j-o-h-n at a-c-m-e dot com — is that correct?"
Handling “I don’t know” gracefully
If you don't have enough information to answer a question:
- Say so honestly: "I don't have that information available right now"
- Do NOT make up an answer or guess
- Offer an alternative: transfer to a team member, take a message,
or suggest the caller check a specific resource
Keeping responses concise
The single most common problem with voice agents is responses that are too long. Add this as a hard constraint:
IMPORTANT: Keep every response to 1–2 sentences maximum.
The caller is listening on a phone, not reading a screen.
If you need to convey multiple pieces of information,
break them across separate turns and check for understanding
between each one.
