What has to exist first
Your agent speaks through a phone number that lives in your Twilio account and thinks with an AI model you bring yourself. Until both of those accounts are linked, there is nothing for the agent to run on.
What each plan gives you
| Capability | Team | Unlimited |
|---|---|---|
| AI phone agents | 1 | Unlimited |
| Typed knowledge and document upload | Included | Included |
| Website crawling for knowledge | Not included | Included |
| Streaming voice | Not included | Available to enable per agent |
| Outbound AI calls, including “Call me” tests | Not included | Included |
To test everything in this guide, start your 14-day free trial on the Unlimited plan.
Accounts to link
Open Settings → Integrations and link:
- Twilio, with browser phone setup finished. The Twilio setup guide covers credentials, numbers and SMS registration in detail.
- An AI model provider, such as OpenRouter. Without this key the agent has no way to respond.
- An extraction provider, but only if you want to pull documents or web pages into the agent’s knowledge.
SaaSVisionary does not bill you for minutes, tokens or streaming voice. Each of those appears on the invoice of the provider that delivers it. Managing phone numbers is limited to owners and administrators, and if an agency looks after your provider accounts, talk to them before you touch a connection.
Remember: An agent can be fully configured and still receive zero calls. Pointing a number at it is the last step of this guide, not a side effect of saving.
Step 1: Create the agent with a narrow purpose
Under AI → AI Agents, choose New agent, give it a name (a description is optional) and confirm with Create agent.
On the Identity card, check that the agent is switched on and choose its language and model. Then, on Persona & goals, describe three things: the opening line a caller hears, the agent’s job in a sentence or two, and how it should behave on the calls it is meant for. That last part should say what the agent does when it lacks an answer and when a caller asks for a human.
Resist giving it every job at once. An agent told to “answer service questions and take callback requests” is far easier to test and trust than one told to handle anything.
Example persona: “You are the front desk for Lakeside Dental in Madison. Answer questions about services, hours and insurance using the knowledge provided. If you are unsure, say so and offer to take a message for the office manager. Never quote treatment prices that are not in your knowledge.”
Step 2: Give it the facts it needs, and no more
Write short entries in Knowledge Brain covering what callers ask about: what you offer, when you are open, where you work, any prices you are happy to state, your policies and when to escalate. Typed entries work on any plan with no extra provider. On Unlimited, with an extraction provider linked, you can also upload files or crawl your site.
Back on the agent, the Knowledge card decides how much of the Brain it can draw on: Entire brain, Selected topics or None.
More is not better here. A single call can only carry a limited slice of knowledge, so a crawled website does not put every page in front of the model for every question. Stale prices and policies that disagree with each other are the most common cause of muddled answers, so delete them.
Step 3: Pick how it sounds
Choose a voice and language that fit the people who call you, decide whether this agent should use streaming voice (where your plan allows it) and listen to the preview.
Certain voices rely on a separate provider and will be swapped for a default if that provider is not linked. Treat the preview as a sound check only; whether the agent actually knows things, takes actions and handles interruptions is what Step 6 is for.
Step 4: Grant only the permissions its job calls for
Everything the agent is allowed to do lives on the What this agent can do card. Go through it option by option rather than ticking everything.
Messages and contact details. Switch on contact capture and message-taking if callers should be able to leave word. Each message is saved as a task for your team, and that is all: nobody gets an email or text about it automatically. Either assign someone to check those tasks or build a workflow that alerts them.
Handing callers to a person. The Transfers setting has three choices: Disabled, Forward to a number or Send to your online team. Whichever you choose, decide what should happen if the call rings out, because a transfer promise means nothing if nobody is there.
Booking. Two actions work as a pair, Book appointments plus Find open appointment times, so tick both. Also confirm you have an active event type with genuine open slots. Tell the agent, in its instructions, to ask for an email or phone number and to repeat the slot back to the caller before it books. Finished bookings trigger the same confirmations and appointment automations as any other booking.
Paid appointments. These cannot be completed on the phone. The agent should direct the caller to the event’s booking link, and texting that link only works if the agent has messaging permission and your SMS setup is live.
Checking other systems. For something like an order status held elsewhere, build and publish an API tool and attach it to the agent. Putting your website into the Brain gives the agent static text, not a live connection.
Step 5: Save
The Save agent button in the bar pinned to the bottom of the screen stores every card on the page in one go. Save before each test, otherwise you are testing the previous version.
Step 6: Try to break it
Test methods
| Method | How it works | Needs |
|---|---|---|
| Start web call (in the Live test studio) | You talk to the agent through your computer’s microphone; no phone line is involved. | Agent active, model provider linked, browser phone ready, microphone permission granted, no other browser call running |
| Call me | The agent rings a real phone number you type in. | Unlimited plan and a phone you own |
Neither method is a practice mode. Whatever actions you enabled will really happen: tasks get created, appointments land in the calendar, automations fire and providers charge you. Test with a dummy contact and a dummy event type.
Web calls carry no caller ID, so the agent will not recognize who is calling. To check recognition, either use Call me or, once routing is in place, ring the business number from your test phone.
What to try and what counts as proof
| Scenario | What you do | What proves it worked |
|---|---|---|
| Covered question | Ask about something you put in the Brain | The spoken answer matches your knowledge entry |
| Uncovered question | Ask about a service you never mentioned | It admits it does not know and offers your configured follow-up |
| Human request | Ask for a person, then repeat with the destination unavailable | The call actually reaches someone, and the fallback kicks in when it does not |
| Message | Leave a message and callback number | The task and contact record contain the right details |
| Free booking | Ask for times, pick one, confirm | The appointment is in the calendar and any confirmation went out |
| Paid booking | Ask to book a paid service | It offers the booking link and does not claim the booking is done |
Keep a simple log of each scenario, the result and anything you changed, and rerun the scenario after each change. Judge by the records the call produced, not by how friendly the conversation sounded.
Step 7: Point your number at the agent
Agent answers every call. In Phone → Numbers, open the number. Under Inbound routing, change Send incoming calls to so it reads AI receptionist answers, choose your agent and Save.
Agent as backup. Keep team ringing selected, then in If nobody answers choose how many rings to wait, select the AI fallback and pick the agent. Save.
The backup option only catches calls your team misses. It does not know your opening hours, so test a call someone picks up and one nobody does.
Finally, ring the business number from an outside phone. Check that the correct agent answers and that asking for a person follows the transfer route you set.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Where to look |
|---|---|
| “Start web call” is greyed out | The agent must be switched on and saved, the model provider linked and Twilio browser phone setup finished. Close any other browser call and grant microphone access. |
| Voice is slow or differs from the preview | Check which voice, model and streaming setting were saved and whether a fallback voice took over. Provider latency, a weak connection, tool lookups and a large knowledge scope all add delay. |
| Wrong business facts | Look at the knowledge scope, the Brain entries it can see and the persona. Remove contradictions and irrelevant material, then ask the same question again. Adding more documents rarely helps. |
| Promised transfer never arrives | Check the agent’s Transfers setting, the destination and the number’s routing. Test with the destination unavailable as well, and trust the call result over the transcript. |
| Talks about booking, nothing booked | Both booking actions must be on, the event type active with free slots, and an email or phone captured. Paid event types always fall back to the link. |
If you are still stuck, write to support@saasvisionary.com and include your workspace, the agent’s name, when you tested and what you expected.
FAQ
Which SaaSVisionary plan includes the AI receptionist?
You get one AI phone agent on the Team plan. Unlimited removes that cap and adds website crawling, optional streaming voice and outbound AI calls, including “Call me” tests. Every plan includes a 14-day free trial; start it on Unlimited to try all of these features.
Can the AI receptionist book appointments on my calendar?
Yes. Enable the two booking actions, have an active event type with open availability, and instruct the agent to confirm the slot out loud. The booking then sets off your normal confirmations and automations. For paid appointments the agent sends the caller the booking link instead.
Does testing the agent cost anything?
It can. A test uses the live agent, so your model provider charges for web calls, and Twilio charges minutes for Call me tests and inbound test calls. Any actions you enabled also create real records, which is why a dummy contact and event type are a good idea.
Can the AI receptionist transfer calls to my staff?
Yes. The Transfers setting can forward to a phone number or ring the teammates who are currently available. Test the case where nobody answers and give it a fallback, such as taking a message, so callers are never stranded.
How much knowledge should I give the agent?
Start smaller than feels natural. A handful of accurate entries about services, hours, prices and policies beats an entire website, because each call can only use a limited amount and contradictions cause wrong answers. Add material when a test reveals a genuine gap.
