Last updated: 2026-06-17•Location: AI Agents > Voice Agents

AI Text Agents - Overview Knowledge Base - Training Your AI Agents Voice Agent Conditional Tools Voice Agent Field Extractors Voice Agent Booking Configuration Voice Agent Specialists Testing Voice Agents Live Call Monitoring & Takeover Voice Agent Transfers & Handoffs

AI Voice Agents - Overview

Overview

AI Voice Agents power automated phone conversations in brayv.ai. They use advanced AI to have natural, voice-based conversations with your contacts - answering questions, gathering information, booking appointments, and handling both inbound and outbound calls without manual intervention.

About Voice Agents 3.0

Voice Agents are currently being upgraded to Voice Agents 3.0 (also referred to as "v3"), a rebuilt platform that is faster, more reliable, and unlocks several new capabilities. You can migrate to v3 by simply clicking the Migrate to Voice Agents 3.0 button on the Voice Agents page. Migrations are final. Eventually all accounts will be automatically migrated to v3. Some of the features in these guides apply only after your account has been upgraded.

Throughout these guides you'll see callouts like this:

Voice Agents 3.0: Notes in boxes like this describe behavior that applies once your account is on v3.

How to tell which version you're on: Open any voice agent in the editor. If you don't see a Model/Provider selector, a Voice Speed option, or the Background Denoising / Active Listening / Emotion Recognition toggles, you're on Voice Agents 3.0. The system now handles those automatically.

What's new in v3 (big changes):

No model picking - the system automatically routes to the most powerful available model and falls back to close runner-ups during an outage (the older system had no model fallback).
Agent-to-agent handoffs with a new Specialist agent type - see Voice Agent Specialists.
In-browser testing - test an agent live in your browser without placing a phone call (this testing doesn't burn credits, live phone calls do) - see Testing Voice Agents.
Live call monitoring & human takeover - watch active calls in real time and take over when needed - see Live Call Monitoring & Takeover.
Appointment lookup & rescheduling - agents can look up a caller's existing appointments and reschedule them.
Voice library - browse and preview voices (including brayv.ai's custom "Courage" collection) before choosing one.
Smarter voicemail handling - the agent listens and recognizes a voicemail naturally instead of relying on automated machine detection.

What AI Voice Agents Do

An AI Voice Agent can:

Answer inbound phone calls automatically
Make outbound calls to contacts
Gather information from voice conversations and save to contact records
Book appointments by checking calendar availability
Look up and reschedule a caller's existing appointments (v3)
Transfer calls to team members, or hand off to another AI agent (v3)
Leave voicemails when calls go unanswered
Access knowledge base to answer questions accurately
Take actions based on conversation (send notifications, end journeys, enroll in email campaigns, and more!)
Be monitored live and handed over to a human mid-call (v3)

Voice Agent Types

Inbound Default Agent

Purpose: Handle all incoming calls to a specific phone number

Configuration:

Assigned to a specific phone number
Handles all inbound calls to that number
Answers automatically when call comes in

Use For:

Main business line: forward all your calls to an Agent's phone number and let the agent act as your receptionist.
Specific types of customer inquiries: from your phone system route specific calls to an Agent's phone number and set up the agent to handle a specific type of requests

Required: Phone number selection

Outbound Default Agent

Purpose: Make outbound calls to contacts

Configuration:

Assigned to a specific phone number
Used when initiating calls from brayv.ai

Use For:

Journey outreach to new leads

Required: Phone number selection

Required: If you want to make outbound voice AI calls, by law you are required to collect and maintain express opt-in consent that includes language about voice AI. For example, only make outbound voice AI calls to contacts that checked a box on your form that says "I agree receive calls from (business name). Calls may include AI generated voices."

Specialist Agent (Voice Agents 3.0)

Voice Agents 3.0: Specialist agents are only available on v3.

Purpose: A focused agent that another agent can hand a call off to mid-conversation.

Configuration:

No phone number (specialists are never called directly)
Only reached when another agent uses a handoff
Configured and tested like any other agent, but tested in the browser rather than over the phone (or test inbound/outbound default agent that hands off to them over the phone and go through the handoff)

Use For:

Deep expertise on one topic (e.g., a billing specialist, a specific product line)
Keeping each agent's instructions focused instead of one giant prompt

See Voice Agent Specialists and the handoff section of Transfers & Handoffs.

Setting up a Voice Agent

Step 1: Navigate to Voice Agents

Go to AI Agents page > Click "AI Voice Agents" tab

Step 2: Create New Agent

Click "New Voice Agent" button

Step 3: Configure Agent

The Voice Agent Editor Modal opens with these tabs:

General: Basic settings (internal name, voice, language, inbound vs outbound vs specialist (v3 only), phone number; model on legacy accounts)
Instructions: Agent behavior and conversation flow
Actions: Conditional tools (trigger actions based on conversation)
Field Entry: Field extractors (save conversation data to contact fields)
Booking: Calendar appointment booking (plus appointment lookup & rescheduling on v3)
Phone Settings: Call behavior, voicemail, audio settings
Transfers (called Transfers & Handoffs on v3): Call transfer configuration, plus agent-to-agent handoffs on v3
External APIs: Connect to external REST APIs for data lookups

Step 4: Save

Click "Save Changes"

Voice Agent Editor Overview

General Tab

Basic Configuration:

Name - Descriptive name for internal use

Example: "Main Inbound Line", "HVAC Outbound"
This is an internal label. To set the name the agent uses with callers, set it in the Instructions tab.

Description - Internal notes

Agent Type - Inbound Default or Outbound Default (plus Specialist on v3)

Cannot be changed after creation

Phone Number (Required for default agents)

Which phone number this agent handles
Only phone numbers configured for voice AI appear
To configure a phone number for AI Agents, go to Settings > Phone > search for the area code you want > click purchase > click configure for voice ai

Model - AI model to use

Options: gpt-4.1, gpt-4.1-mini, gpt-4o, gemini-2.5-flash, openai/gpt-oss-120b, etc.
Default: gpt-4.1

Voice Agents 3.0: Model and provider are not configurable in v3. The system automatically routes every call to the most powerful available model, and automatically falls back to close runner-up models if the primary one has an outage. This is a meaningful upgrade over the legacy system, which had no model fallback. There's nothing to choose here - you'll just see no Model or Provider option.

Language

English (en) - For English-only conversations
Multi-Language (multi) - AI detects and responds in caller's language
Multi-language only available with certain voices

Voice - AI voice for speech

Multiple voices available
Be sure to run test calls with agent to ensure you like the voice.

Voice Agents 3.0: Click Browse voice library next to the voice dropdown to preview voices with photos and sample recordings before choosing. The library includes the Standard collection (high-performing voices created by xAI) and the Courage collection (voices designed by and unique to brayv.ai), and lets you filter by gender, collection, and language.

Voice Speed (Certain voices support speed modulation)

Slower, Medium, Faster
Adjust speech rate

Voice Agents 3.0: Voice Speed is no longer applicable in v3 and is not shown. The realtime voices set their own natural pacing. Some are faster, some slower, test to find the one with a cadence that feels right to you.

Temperature - Creativity level (0-1)

Default: 0.7
Lower = more consistent, Higher = more creative

Max Tokens - Maximum response length

Default: 250
Unless you run into issues with agent speaking too long, this value probably does not need to be adjusted

Voice Agents 3.0: Temperature and Max Tokens are deprecated in v3 and are not shown - the system tunes response behavior for you.

Enable Knowledge Base

Allows agent to access your knowledge base (FAQs, PDFs, URLs)
Enabled by default
Highly recommended

Instructions Tab

Agent Instructions (Prompt)

Define:

Role: Who is the agent? (Example: "Your name is Alex. You are a friendly customer service representative for {account.name}")
Goal: What should the agent accomplish?
Rules: Guidelines and constraints
Context: Business information

Use Variables: Press { key to access variables:

{contact.first_name}, {contact.last_name}
{contact.phone}, {contact.email}
{account.name}, {account.company_context}
{appointment.details_only} - Inserts any current and upcoming appointments for the specific contact into the instructions so the AI is aware of them.
All other contact fields and custom fields

Actions Tab

Conditional Tools - Automatically trigger actions during calls based on conversation

Available Actions:

Internal Notification - In-app alerts to team
Email Notification - Email alerts to team
Internal SMS - Text message alerts to team
End Journey - Mark opportunity as ended
Send Webhook - POST request to external URL
Enroll in Email Campaign - Add contact to email campaign
Send SMS to Contact - Text message to contact after call

Not Available (Text Agents Only):

Turn Off Text AI (ending journey will end AI text followups if needed)
Mark Contact DND SMS (contact is not texting with you at the moment, they can always text in STOP to unsubscribe)
Add to Journey (contact is either in a Journey already, or you can achieve the Journey goal during the call, e.g. booking an appointment which would automatically place them in the correct spot in the Journey. Use transfers to transfer to a different agent if you need a handoff for a different goal.)
Zip Code Territory Check (coming soon)

See: Voice Agent Conditional Tools Guide for details

Field Entry Tab

Field Extractors - Automatically save conversation data to contact fields

Works virtually identically to text agents:

Extract information from conversation
Save to contact record
With voice agents its important to explicitly state the format you want in the field when that is important. E.g. for contact zip code, you could says "the user's 5 digit zip code in this format '23823' (numbers only, no whitespace)". This is helpful because the AI is processing a speech to text transcription of the call in real time, so numbers it "hears" from the contact will always come across separate. For example 23823, will come through to the AI as 2 3 8 2 3, or two, three, eight, two, three, depending on how the speech to text ai transcribes it.

See: Voice Agent Field Extractors Guide for details

Booking Tab

Calendar Appointment Booking

Same booking modes as text agents:

No Booking
Specific Calendar
Account Default Calendar
AI Calendar Selection (with script generation)

See: Voice Agent Booking Configuration Guide for details

Phone Settings Tab

Call Behavior Configuration:

First Message

What agent says when call connects
Default: "Hi! Alex here with {account.name} on a recorded line. How can I help you today?"
Can use variables
ALL voice AI calls are recorded. If you do business in a 2-party consent state, you are required to state the call is being recorded.
Not sure if your state is "2-party consent", Just google "is (insert your state) a two party consent state for phone call recordings?", and google will tell you the answer. (it doesnt hurt to mention the call is being recorded even if your state law does not require it)

Agent Speaks First

Toggle to control who speaks first
Enabled: Agent greets caller
Disabled: Agent waits for caller to speak
Recommended: Enabled, but keep your initial greeting succinct

End Call Message

What agent says before hanging up
Default: "Thank you for calling. Have a great day!"
This only is spoken if the agent hangs up before the contact does

Max Call Duration

Maximum call length in seconds
Default: 600 (10 minutes)
Range: 60 - 3600 seconds
This is a safety feature to prevent people from abusing your system and running up your costs
In reality most AI phone conversations can be completed in less than 5 minutes, choose whatever you think an appropriate upper limit is and adjust as needed
This is a hard stop, the system will end the call when this time has elapsed, not controlled by the agent directly

Background Sound

Office: Subtle office ambiance
Off: No background sound
Default: Office

Background Denoising

Removes background noise from caller
Enabled by default
Recommended: Test and see whether you prefer it on or off

Active Listening

Agent provides verbal interjections like a human would ("mm-hmm", "I see")
Enabled by default
Can make conversation feel more natural. Works better with some voices than with others. Test with it on and off to see if you like it.

Emotion Recognition

AI detects caller emotion and adapts tone
Disabled by default
This is an extra layer of AI that actually listens to tonality. Can be helpful in some usecases, not necessary for most. (AI is good at determing emotion simply based on the words)

Voice Agents 3.0: Background Denoising, Active Listening, and Emotion Recognition are deprecated in v3 and are not shown - the system handles all of this automatically. (Emotion Recognition in particular was a legacy add-on that layered a separate model to guess tone; today's realtime approach picks this up natively, so it's no longer needed.)

Voicemail Detection

Detects when call goes to voicemail
Leaves custom message automatically
Only relevant for outbound agents, do not enable for inbound

Enable Voicemail Detection: Toggle on/off

Voicemail Message: What to say if voicemail is detected

Example: "Hi, this is {account.name} calling {contact.first_name}. Please give us a call back at..."

Voice Agents 3.0: Voicemail handling is smarter in v3. Rather than relying on automated machine detection, the agent simply listens and recognizes when it has reached a voicemail - which is more intuitive and tested better in practice. Keep the toggle on for outbound agents and provide a good voicemail message.

See: Voice Agent Phone Settings Guide for details

Transfers Tab (called Transfers & Handoffs on v3)

Call Transfer Configuration

Enable Call Transfers: Toggle to allow agent to transfer calls

Transfer Destinations: For each destination:

Phone Number: Number to transfer to (e.g., +1234567890)
Description: Label (e.g., "Sales Team")
Transfer Message: What agent says before transferring (Required)

Example:

Number: +15551234567
Description: "Sales Manager"
Message: "Let me transfer you to our sales manager who can help with that."

How Transfers Work:

In your agent instructions, give explicit direction on when it is appropriate to initiate a transfer and where. For example: "If the user says they want to speak with the sales manger, transfer them to Sales Manager"
Agent determines transfer is needed during conversation
Agent tells caller: [Transfer Message]
Call is transferred to the destination number

Voice Agents 3.0: This tab is called Transfers & Handoffs and adds agent-to-agent handoffs. Instead of phone-transferring a caller to another AI agent, the current agent can hand the call to a Specialist (or any other agent) instantly, keeping the full conversation context. If you currently transfer to another AI agent by phone number, switch that to a handoff on v3 - it produces better context and better conversations.

See: Voice Agent Transfers Guide for details

External APIs Tab

Real-Time Data Lookups

Connect to external REST APIs to fetch information during calls.

Use Cases:

Order status lookups
Account balance checking
Inventory availability
Custom CRM data
Real-time pricing

Each API Tool Includes:

Name and description (shown to AI)
Endpoint URL
HTTP method (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE)
Headers and authentication
Parameters the AI can pass
Success/failure messages

See: Voice Agent External APIs Guide for details

Using the AI Editor Assistant

Click "Edit with AI" button to ask Ava to help configure your voice agent.

Ava can help with:

Writing agent instructions that handle the conversational flow
Creating conditional tools
Configuring field extractors
Setting up external API tools

Voice Agents 3.0: On v3, Ava can also configure agent-to-agent handoffs for you - she'll pull in your other active agents as handoff destinations, set up when to hand off to each, and add matching guidance to the prompt. She can also walk you through booking, appointment lookup, and rescheduling flow (and will remind you to flip the related toggles in the Booking tab). Ava explains specialists but won't create new agents or change an agent's type for you.

Always Review: Ava's suggestions before saving.

Testing Your Agent

For inbound and outbound default agents, you can place a real test phone call from the agent's Test button.

Voice Agents 3.0: v3 adds a Web Test - test any agent (including Specialists) live in your browser with a full transcript and visibility into the tools it uses, no phone call required. See Testing Voice Agents.

Monitoring Live Calls

Voice Agents 3.0: v3 lets you watch active calls in real time and take over a call as a human when needed. See Live Call Monitoring & Takeover.

Voice vs Text Agents - Key Differences

Similarities (80-90% Overlap)

Instructions/prompt structure
Field extractors work the same way
Booking configuration is identical
Variable system is the same
Ask Ava AI Editor Assistant available

Differences

Voice-Specific Features:

Voice options (voice, language, speed)
First message and end call message
Background sound and audio settings
Voicemail detection and messages
Call transfers
External API tools (unique to voice)
Active listening and emotion recognition

Different Action Types:

Voice has: Enroll in Email Campaign
Voice doesn't have: Turn Off AI, Mark DND, Add to Journey, Zip Code Check

No Follow-Ups:

Voice agents don't have sequenced follow-up messages
Follow-ups are handle by text agents

Real-Time Execution:

Voice agent tools execute during the call
Text agent tools execute after message is received

Setting Up Your First Voice Agent

Example Inbound Agent Configuration

General Tab:

Name: "Main Inbound Line"
Agent Type: Inbound Default
Phone Number: select phone number configured for voice AI
Voice: Select appropriate voice
Language: English (or Multi-Language if needed)

Instructions Tab:

## Role
You are a friendly customer service representative for {account.name}. 
You are speaking with {contact.first_name} on a recorded line.

## Goal
Determine how you can help the caller. If they need service, gather 
their service_description, street_address, city, zip_code and then offer available times for an appointment. After the user selects a time offered, confirm it back to them. When the user confirms the second time, book the appointment and let the user know it has been booked.

## Rules
- Speak naturally and conversationally
- Keep responses concise (2-3 sentences max)
- Be helpful and professional
- Don't quote exact pricing

## Context
{account.company_context}

Actions Tab:

Add conditional tool: "Emergency Service Request" → Email notification to team

Field Entry Tab:

Extract: service_description, street_address, city, zip_code

Booking Tab:

Enable calendar booking
Mode: Account Default or Specific Calendar

Phone Settings Tab:

Review defaults, adjust as needed
Enable voicemail detection if desired

Monitoring Voice Agent Performance

Voice Agent Logs

Location: AI Agents page > Voice Logs tab

What You See:

All voice agent calls
Call duration and summary
Transcripts
Conditional tools that triggered
Field extractors that fired
Other tools used
Recording
Errors or issues

Use For:

Troubleshooting
Improving agent instructions
Monitoring performance
Training and quality assurance

Call Quality

Review logs to improve:

Conversation flow
Response accuracy
Transfer appropriateness
Booking success rate
Information capture

Best Practices

Choose the Right Voice

Match voice to your brand
Test different voices with your team
Consider customer demographics
Male vs female voice preferences vary by industry

Keep Instructions Concise

Voice conversations move faster than text:

Shorter rules and guidelines
Focus on conversational flow
Avoid long lists in instructions

Test with Real Scenarios

Before deploying:

Call the agent yourself
Have team members test
Try different conversation paths
Verify transfers work
Test appointment booking

Enable Voicemail Detection

Most outbound calls hit voicemail:

Configure a professional voicemail message
Include callback number
Keep it brief (15-20 seconds)

Configure Conditional Tools

At minimum:

Emergency/urgent request alerts
Appointment-related notifications
High-value opportunity alerts

Use Knowledge Base

Add FAQs and information:

Common customer questions
Product/service details
Pricing guidelines
Policies and procedures

Monitor and Iterate

After deployment:

Review call logs regularly
Listen to call recordings
Identify common issues
Update instructions as needed
Refine conditional tools

How to Configure Outbound Voice Agent Calling

Voice Agents can make outbound calls to contacts enrolled in Journeys

Go to the Journey you want this feature in
Click on the Starting Line stage
Switch On "Enable Outbound Voice Call"
Select the Voice Agent that you want to call your customers/leads
- Only "outbound default" agents will show as available
Select "When to call"
- Immediately, or after a delay if the contact does not respond to SMS
Time gate your calls (lead enters journey at 3AM, call is skipped)
- Highly recommended
Important: You may only use outbound voice AI to call contacts that have expressly agreed to be contacted over the phone by AI. Ensure your Journey only has contacts that meet this criteria. (you can create duplicate Journeys with the same basic purpose if some of your leads are opted-in and some are not. You can route to the appropriate Journey in your Lead Source settings)
This opt-in restriction is technically only applicable if you sell B2C (business-to-consumer). If your customers are other businesses (B2B), it is not strictly required, but still recommended.

Troubleshooting

Problem: Agent not answering calls

Solution:

Verify agent is assigned to correct phone number
Check phone number is configured for voice AI
Ensure agent type is "Inbound Default"
Verify phone number is active

Problem: Agent not speaking clearly

Solution:

Try different voice
Review instructions for clarity
(Legacy accounts) Adjust voice speed and check the max_tokens setting

Voice Agents 3.0: Voice speed and max tokens aren't adjustable in v3. If a voice doesn't sound right, pick a different voice from the voice library; if responses run long, tighten your instructions (e.g. "keep responses to 1-2 short sentences").

Problem: Agent interrupting caller

Solution:

Disable "Agent Speaks First" for inbound
Turn off "Active Listening"
Adjust instructions to be more responsive

Problem: Agent giving wrong information

Solution:

Update agent instructions
Add or update knowledge base items
Review call logs to identify patterns
Adjust prompt for accuracy

Problem: Transfers not working

Solution:

Verify "Enable Call Transfers" is on
Check transfer destinations have valid phone numbers
Ensure transfer messages are configured
Test transfer

Problem: Voicemail not being detected

Solution:

Ensure voicemail detection is enabled
Verify voicemail message is configured
Voicemail detection is not 100% perfect. Different phones send through different signals when calls go to voicemail.

Problem: Booking failing during calls

Solution:

Verify booking is enabled
Check booking mode is configured
Ensure calendar has availability and at least one team member selected
Test booking separately
Review call logs for errors

Related Features

AI Text Agents - Companion text messaging automation
Voice Conditional Tools - Automate actions during calls
Voice Field Extractors - Capture conversation data
Voice Booking Configuration - Configure appointment booking, lookup, and rescheduling
Voice Phone Settings - Call behavior and audio
Transfers & Handoffs - Call transfers and agent-to-agent handoffs
Voice Agent Specialists - Handoff-only expert agents (v3)
Testing Voice Agents - In-browser test calls (v3)
Live Call Monitoring & Takeover - Watch and take over live calls (v3)
Voice External APIs - Real-time data lookups
Calendars and Appointments - Calendar setup for booking

Related Articles

AI Voice Agents - Overview

Overview

About Voice Agents 3.0

What AI Voice Agents Do

Voice Agent Types

Inbound Default Agent

Outbound Default Agent

Specialist Agent (Voice Agents 3.0)

Setting up a Voice Agent

Step 1: Navigate to Voice Agents

Step 2: Create New Agent

Step 3: Configure Agent

Step 4: Save

Voice Agent Editor Overview

General Tab

Instructions Tab

Actions Tab

Field Entry Tab

Booking Tab

Phone Settings Tab

Transfers Tab (called Transfers & Handoffs on v3)

External APIs Tab

Using the AI Editor Assistant

Testing Your Agent

Monitoring Live Calls

Voice vs Text Agents - Key Differences

Similarities (80-90% Overlap)

Differences

Setting Up Your First Voice Agent

Example Inbound Agent Configuration

Monitoring Voice Agent Performance

Voice Agent Logs

Call Quality

Best Practices

Choose the Right Voice

Keep Instructions Concise

Test with Real Scenarios

Enable Voicemail Detection

Configure Conditional Tools

Use Knowledge Base

Monitor and Iterate

How to Configure Outbound Voice Agent Calling

Troubleshooting

Problem: Agent not answering calls

Problem: Agent not speaking clearly

Problem: Agent interrupting caller

Problem: Agent giving wrong information

Problem: Transfers not working

Problem: Voicemail not being detected

Problem: Booking failing during calls

Related Features