Create and Manage Flows

A flow defines the end-to-end customer experience for a communication channel. You can build flows visually in the Flow Designer — a drag-and-drop canvas that links action blocks called nodes — without writing any code.

Section	Description
Flows Live Board	View and manage all flows from a central list with search and sort.
Flow Types	Start Flows handle inbound voice and chat; Exit Flows run post-call cleanup. Default welcome flows ship with every account as fallbacks.
Creating Flows	Step-by-step instructions for creating Start and Exit Flows, with channel-specific settings for Voice (ASR/TTS, bot no-input handling, AMD, streaming), Chat, and SMS.
Flow Designer	Navigate the canvas, toolbar, nodes panel, index panel, and mini map. All changes are auto-saved.
Managing Flows	Edit and delete Start and Exit Flows, with notes on default flows and campaign-linked flows.
Publishing	Make a flow available to end users.
Flow Nodes	A reference table of all node types and channel support, plus instructions for adding, configuring, connecting, and removing nodes.
Automation Routing	Manage routing modes, automation node settings, and linked apps across all flows.

Flows Live Board

Navigate to Automation AI / Contact Center AI / Agent AI > Flows & Channels > FLOWS to access all flows.

Field	Description
Flow	Name of the Start Flow entry.
Actions (⋮)	View (default flows): see Name and Description. Update: edit Name, Description, and Channel. Delete: remove the entry.
Description	Flow description.
Channels	Attached channels and flow type (call or chat).
Status	Published or In Development.

Search — Enter keywords to filter flows. Sort — Click the Flow column header to toggle alphabetical sort (↑ ascending / ↓ descending).

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Flow Types

Type	Channels	Description
Start Flow	Voice, Chat	Entry point for inbound calls and chats. Supports all node types. Two default start flows (Chat-Welcome, Voice-Welcome) are auto-created per account as fallbacks.
Exit Flow	Voice	Runs when a call disconnects. Used for post-call analytics, system cleanup, or external updates. Conversational context from the main flow can be passed in.

Default Welcome Flows

Default flows ship with every new account and act as fallbacks when no intent is matched.

Flow	Test Channel	Purpose
Chat-Welcome	RTM (Real-Time Messaging)	Handles inbound chat when the user’s intent is unclear.
Voice-Welcome	SBC simulation channel	Handles inbound voice calls with no predefined intent match.

Use these flows to validate fallback behavior and verify channel-specific configurations.

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Create a Start Flow

1. Go to Flows & Channels > FLOWS.
2. Click + New Start Flow.
3. Enter a Start Flow Name and Description.
4. Select a channel under Attach a Channel — see channel-specific settings below.
5. Click Update & Continue to Flow Design to open the Flow Designer.

Voice Channel

Phone Number

Select an existing phone number from your account, or click Purchase a phone number to acquire one.

• Click Get New Phone Number, then select: Country, Local or Toll-Free, State, and Area Code. Monthly fee and per-minute charge are displayed before confirmation.
• After purchase, set the number for Inbound, Outbound, or both calls, then click Done.

Phone number purchase requires a Twilio account. Not supported for SIP trunk setups.

ASR and TTS

Setting	Options
ASR Speech Recognition Engine	Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Speech-to-Text, Amazon Transcribe
English Dialect	Select the applicable dialect.
TTS Engine	Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Text-to-Speech, AWS Amazon Polly, ElevenLabs, Whisper, PlayHT, Deepgram
Language / Voice	Set TTS language and voice. Use Voice Preview > Sample Text > Play to audition.

Show Advanced Settings — Configure Primary and Fallback TTS independently. Learn more.

Bot No Input

Prevents dead air when the bot doesn’t respond due to backend delays or failures. When disabled, the call disconnects after a 30-second default give-up timeout.

Option	Description
Bot No Input Timeout	Seconds before triggering an action if the bot hasn’t responded. Repeats until the bot responds, retries are exhausted, or the give-up timeout is reached.
Interaction Type	Bot No Input Speech: bot speaks a message. Bot No Input URL: bot plays audio from a URL. (Realtime TTS supports URL input only and doesn’t accept speech input.)
Bot No Input Retries	Number of retry attempts.
Bot No Input Give Up Timeout	Total seconds before executing the give-up action.
Give-Up Action	End the Call: bot speaks a message then disconnects. Transfer the Call: bot speaks a message then transfers via SIP REFER to a redirect URL (with optional SIP headers).

Example configuration:

Parameter	Value
Enabled	true
Bot No Input Timeout	10 s
Bot No Input Speech	”Please wait while the bot responds.”
Bot No Input Retries	15
Bot No Input Give Up Timeout	120 s
Give-Up Action	End Call: “Bot not responding ending the call”

Behavior: The bot plays the message every 10 seconds. After 120 seconds (or 15 retries), it speaks the end-call message and disconnects.

Answering Machine Detection (AMD)

Detects whether a human or answering machine answered the call. The result is stored in context.session.UserSession. Enable Disconnect the call after detecting a machine to auto-terminate on detection.

When AMD triggers a disconnection, the interaction is recorded as follows:

View	Status	Mode
Interactions Dashboard	Completed	Machine Detected
Insights to Log	Completed (Closed)	Machine Detected; Disconnecting Event: System; Smart Status: Closed

Applicable to voice flows only.

TTS Streaming

Streams the TTS response, reducing TTS connection latency by ~200 ms. Supported only for Deepgram and ElevenLabs.

Continuous Gather

Available when TTS Streaming is enabled. Captures user responses concurrently to further reduce latency. Use only for Agentic App use cases.

Optional Flow Attachments (Voice)

Only published flows appear in these dropdowns.

Optional Flow	Trigger
Exit Flow	Executes the published version when the call disconnects.
No Agents Available Flow	Executes when agent transfer is triggered but no agents are available, or the queue wait time is exceeded.
Out-of-Hours Flow	Executes when agent transfer is triggered outside the queue’s configured working hours.

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Chat Channel

Setting	Description
All	Selects Web/Mobile Client and all other configured chat channels.
Web/Mobile Client	Browser or mobile front end that communicates with the server.
Prompt Overrides at Input Nodes (Advanced)	Passes unprocessed user input to the first input node instead of replaying its stored prompt. Useful when a conversation ends and restarts — the user skips the welcome message and gets a contextual reply instead.
No Agents Available Flow (optional)	Same trigger as Voice.
Out-of-Hours Flow (optional)	Same trigger as Voice.

Click Update & Continue to Flow Design to open the Flow Designer.

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SMS Channel

1. Select a configured phone number.
2. Optionally attach a No Agents Available Flow and/or Out-of-Hours Flow.
3. Click Update & Continue to Flow Design.

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Create an Exit Flow

1. Go to Flows & Channels > FLOWS.
2. Click + New Exit Flow.
3. Enter an Exit Flow Name and Description.
4. Under Attach a Channel, select Voice or Chat.
5. Click Update & Continue to Flow Design.

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Navigate the Flow Designer

Once you enter the Flow Designer, the default Start node is already on the canvas.

Area	Description
Toolbar	Close Flow button, flow name, creation timestamp dropdown, Test button, Error status indicator.
Canvas	The drag-and-drop work surface. Contains the Start node and any nodes you add.
Nodes Panel	Nodes grouped by category for easy browsing.
Index Panel	Full alphabetical list of all nodes with a search bar.
Mini Map	Miniature canvas overview — useful for navigating large flows.

All changes are auto-saved.

Toolbar Details

Element	Behavior
Close Flow	Exits the designer and returns to the Flows list.
Flow Name	Displays the name assigned at creation.
˅ Dropdown	Shows the timestamp of the last save.
Test	Opens a chat window (chat channel) or softphone dialer pad (voice channel) for flow testing.
Error Status	Displays the error count; click to view error details.

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Manage Flows

Edit a Start Flow

1. On the Flows Live Board, click ⋮ next to the flow.
2. Click Update, edit the fields (Name, Description, Channel), and click Update.

The Channel field of default Start Flows can’t be edited.

Delete a Start Flow

1. Click ⋮ next to the flow and click Delete.
2. Confirm deletion.

When deleting a flow, consider the following:

• Deleted flows can’t be restored.
• Default start flows can’t be deleted.
• A flow linked to an active campaign must be removed from that campaign before it can be deleted.

Edit an Exit Flow

1. Click ⋮ next to the exit flow and click Update.
2. Make changes and click Update.

Delete an Exit Flow

1. Click ⋮ next to the exit flow and click Delete.
2. Confirm deletion.

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Publish a Flow

Publishing makes the flow available to end users. See Publishing Components.

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Flow Nodes and Node Types

Nodes are the building blocks of a flow. Drag them onto the canvas and connect them to define the customer journey.

Node Reference

Node	Channel	Description
IVR Menu	Voice	Present callers with menu options selectable by phone keypress.
IVR Digit Input	Voice	Collect numeric input (for example, phone number, last 4 card digits).
Split	Voice, Chat	Branch the flow based on defined conditions.
Check Agent Availability	Voice, Chat	Route based on agent availability filtered by skill set. (Experimental — may be deprecated.)
Check Business Hours	Voice, Chat	Route based on whether the query arrives within configured working hours.
Message Prompt	Voice, Chat	Deliver a message to the customer via voice or chat.
Automation	Voice, Chat	Execute a specific dialog task defined in your Platform Bot.
Agent Transfer	Voice, Chat	Transfer the conversation to a live agent based on defined triggers.
Connect to API	Voice, Chat	Make synchronous or asynchronous REST or SOAP API calls.
Go To Flow	Voice, Chat	Jump from the current flow to a target flow in Contact Center AI.
Script Task	Voice, Chat	Run a script to process or set context and flow variables.
Set Queue	Voice, Chat	Define or modify queue settings, messages, and behavior.
End Flow	Voice, Chat	Define the message played to the customer when the flow ends.
Deflection Flow	Voice	Transfer a call to chat, providing the customer a link to continue via chat with a bot or human agent.
Script Nodes & Flow Utils	Voice, Chat	Reference for context variables, call flow variable helpers (setCallFlowVariable / getCallFlowVariable), agentUtils, and userSessionUtils.

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Working with Nodes

Add a Node

• Method 1: Click + on the canvas → select a node from the pop-up → click + New Node.
• Method 2: Drag a node from the Nodes Panel onto the canvas.

Configure a Node

Click any node on the canvas to open its configuration panel, then fill in the required fields.

Rearrange Nodes

Drag and drop nodes to new positions. Connected nodes stay in place regardless of drag direction.

Connect Nodes

1. Click + on the source node.
2. Drag to the target node. An arrowed line appears indicating the connection direction.

Connections can also be defined within individual node configuration panels.

Edit or Delete a Node Connection

Click the connector line between two nodes to reveal options:

Option	Action
Bend line connector	Converts the line to a curved path.
Straight line connector	Converts the line to a straight path.
Change line color	Opens a color picker.
Delete connector	Removes the connection; nodes remain on the canvas but are disconnected.

After deleting a connector, reconnect the nodes or remove the orphaned node to keep the flow valid.

Edit or Delete a Node

Right-click a node to access:

Option	Action
Rename	Change the node’s display name.
Mark as Flow Starting Point	Designates the node as the flow entry point.
Sequence Color	Change the node’s color for visual grouping.
Delete	Remove the node (requires confirmation).

• Deleted nodes can’t be restored unless a previously saved version contains them. Restoring a version may overwrite other changes — proceed with caution. See Restore Versions.
• The Start node can’t be deleted.

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Automation Routing

Path: Flows & Channels > Automation Routing > Routing Modes

The Routing Modes page lists all Chat and Voice flows with their automation routing configuration. Use it to manage automation app connections and routing behavior. The integrated search bar filters results across all displayed fields.

Column	Description
Flow Name	Name of the flow entry.
Automation Node	The automation node configured in the flow.
Routing Mode	The routing mode applied to the flow.
Channel	The associated channel (Chat or Voice).

Click ⋮ next to any welcome flow to access the following options:

Option	Description
Automation Settings	Configure the Automation Node: autonomy level for Automation AI, Automation AI options, Agentic App Configurations, connection rules, and error prompts. Learn more.
Manage Linked Apps	View all linked apps. Click + Link Apps to add an app; click the unlink icon next to an app to remove it. Learn more.