Skip to content
EN
Open app

On Call Start

3 min read
Copy as Markdown
View as MarkdownOpen the raw .md file.md

Call Start Trigger fires when a call is received - before the AI speaks. On the canvas the node says Runs when: When a call is received, and the outbound edge is Work Flow Triggered. Use it to look someone up so the greeting already has a name. The same API mid-call adds a pause the caller hears.

This trigger has no required settings. The work is the nodes after it.

Call Start Trigger on the canvas
wf-startExpand

Anything you already know from the caller ID belongs here: CRM record, open ticket, last order. During Call is for facts the person has not said yet.

When Call Connects is later - after someone actually answers. Start still runs on a ring that will become a miss.

Do this after Get a workflow running.

  1. + Add Trigger - Call Start Trigger (Phone Triggers).

  2. From Work Flow Triggered, add Connect To External Service (or the lookup node your plan shows).

    Your lookup URL. Call parameters insert the caller number when available. Describe the JSON you get back so later nodes can use the fields.

  3. AI Response to Caller on the successful path

    Background Information for AI
    What the agent should know before it speaks. Pull fields from the API node.
    Do Not Respond to Call
    The AI never answers. The line keeps ringing.
    Forward Call To
    Another agent id or a number - instead of this agent answering.
    Add Delay Before Picking Up (seconds)
    Time for a human to grab the line first.
  4. Save & go live, then attach on Skills - Tools & Workflows - Business Workflows, and call the production DID (or Try this agent).

    Business Workflows attach toggle
    on-call-start-attachExpand
  5. Listen. If the greeting is generic, the API failed, the field names do not match, or this agent does not have the workflow on.

Put mapped variables in the agent greeting only after a test call actually filled them.

  • Workflow on, greeting still generic - Start ran but background information is empty, or the API failed.
  • Caller hears a long ring then the AI - delay is set, or Do Not Respond is on.
  • Graph never runs - not saved with Save & go live, or not attached. Get a workflow running.
The greeting starts late

The lookup is still in flight. Cache, or shrink the Start graph. Do not add a second API “just in case.”

Should I use When Call Connects instead?

Use Connect when the work must happen after answer (a person is there). Use Start when the greeting needs the data.