Agent not responding
The agent stays silent, does not answer, or goes quiet partway through a call. Causes and fixes, in the order to check.
What you will achieve
You will find why an agent does not speak or stops replying, and fix it.
Check in this order
- Is it published? An unpublished agent answers nothing on the phone ("Sorry, no agent is available to take this call."). Open the agent and look for Publish. Browser tests (Talk, Chat) work without publishing.
- Does it have a number? Phone calls reach an agent only through a number assigned to it. See Assign a number.
- Is the plan able to publish? The Free plan cannot publish. See Plans and billing.
- Does it have an opening line? The Opening line is what it says first. If empty, it waits for the caller to speak.
- Try Talk. If the agent works in the browser but not on the phone, the problem is the phone side: see Call connection failures.
Symptoms
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Silence from the first second | Agent unpublished, or phone webhook not pointed at Phynxa | Publish; check Webhook setup on the number |
| Greets, then never answers | The caller's speech is not being heard | See Speech recognition problems |
| Answers slowly, long gaps | Slow model, a slow tool, or a large knowledge base | Choose a faster model; see Tool failures; attach fewer knowledge bases |
| Goes silent after a tool runs | The tool took long or failed | Test the tool; use Run in the background for slow actions |
| Stops mid-call, call ends | The agent chose to end the call, or the provider dropped it | Check the transcript in History and the End call setting |
| Says it cannot help | The system prompt forbids it, or the answer is not in its knowledge | Edit Instructions; see Missing knowledge answers |
| "Are you still there?" repeats | The silence check-in is firing | Raise Wait before checking in, or set How many times to ask to 0 |
Testing
After a change, run Talk and speak a full question. Then place one real call.
Expected result
The agent greets you, hears you, and replies each turn.
When to contact support
If Talk is also silent after a refresh and the status banner reports a problem, note the time and the call in History, and use Contact.
Related guides
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