AI agents

An AI agent in Drop Cowboy® answers calls on a phone line or chats on your website. It speaks with a Pro voice or one of your Mimic AI® voices and does the job you describe during setup.

Set up an AI receptionist

Do this when you want an AI agent to pick up calls to one of your phone lines.

1. Open AI Agents in the left menu and click New. If you don't see AI Agents or New, ask your account owner for access.
2. In Create AI agent, pick From template and click Use template, or pick From scratch.
3. Set Up Your AI Agent opens. Work through each step and click Continue. Your progress saves as you go.
   • Name: type an Agent name and an optional Description.
   • Voice: pick a Voice type: Pro voices, Custom (clone) or Designed. Pick a Language, then click Preview to hear it. See Choose a voice.
   • Prompt: answer the Describe the job questions, from Which brand does this agent represent? to What must it never do? Put hours, address, prices and policies in Facts it should always know. Write the Opening greeting.
   • Knowledge: attach documents the agent can answer from. See Give your agent knowledge.
   • Tools, Transfers and Automations are optional. To pass callers to a person, see Transfer a call to a person.
   • Test: talk to the agent. See Test your AI agent.
4. On Review & finish, fix any warning it shows, then click Finish Setup.
5. Open Phone Numbers in the left menu. Open a line and click Re-run Setup Wizard, or click Add and then Create Phone Line.
6. On the routing step, pick AI Receptionist. Choose Use existing and pick your agent under AI agent. Click Continue to Review, then Finish Setup.

You can also click Build new on that routing step to start a draft agent from the line setup. Finish it in AI Agents before it can take calls. See Set up a phone line.

If you turn on Record calls on the Voice step, tell callers they're being recorded where the law requires it. Ask your legal counsel what your greeting should say.

If it doesn't work:

• The phone line wizard says the agent is a draft. Click Finish setting it up in AI Agents and complete Review & finish.
• Review & finish warns that the agent can't put a caller through to anyone. Click Add a transfer, or go back to Transfers.
• The agent makes up answers. Add the facts to Facts it should always know, or attach a knowledge base.
• An edit didn't change the live agent. Open the agent and click Save. Changes go live when you save. If you see Retry Publish, click it.

Set up an AI chat agent

Do this when you want an AI agent to answer visitors in the chat widget on your website.

1. Open AI Agents in the left menu and click New. Set the agent up as in Set up an AI receptionist, steps 2-4.
2. Open Web in the left menu and open your chat widget. If you don't have one yet, see Add the chat widget to your site. In its setup, pick An AI agent to answer.
3. Click AI Workflow. Under AI Chat Workflow, set Orchestration Mode to Single agent (no rules).
4. Pick your agent in Default Agent. Both fields save and publish as soon as you change them, and you see Saved and published.
5. Click Test widget to chat with the agent as a visitor would.

To give the chat agent your help articles, see Add help articles to the chat widget. To step into a chat yourself, see Take over a web chat.

If it doesn't work:

• "The AI is not answering visitors yet." Click Save & Publish.
• "Saved, but not published". Read the error shown, fix that setting, and click Retry Publish.
• Your agent isn't in Default Agent. Finish its setup in AI Agents so it shows Active, then reload the page.

Test your AI agent

Do this before real callers or visitors reach the agent, and after each change to its prompt, knowledge or tools.

1. Open AI Agents in the left menu and click the agent.
2. Click Test call under Quick Actions, or open the Test tab and click Tune, test, and add skills.
3. Pick a mode at the top:
   • Voice Chat: click Start test call and talk through your microphone. Test calls last up to 15 minutes.
   • Text Chat: type as if you were the caller. Click New session to start over.
4. Turn on Show reasoning (or Show reasoning (debug) in Voice Chat) to see why the agent answered the way it did.
5. Use the Prompt, Knowledge, Tools and Voice tabs on the left to fix what you find. Edits save as you make them. Then test again.
6. Click Exit when you're done.

In Text Chat, tools only preview what they would do. To let them book, text or update contacts for real, turn on Live mode and click I understand - enable. Every tool call then has real effects, so test with your own details.

After real calls, open the agent's Calls tab and pick a call for its Transcript and Tool calls.

If it doesn't work:

• The test call doesn't start. Allow microphone access in your browser, then click Start test call again.
• "Can't make changes during a live call". Hang up first, make the edit, then call again.
• The save indicator shows Save failed. Make the edit again. If it keeps failing, reload the page.

This information is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Regulations vary by jurisdiction and use case. Always consult with qualified legal counsel to ensure your specific practices comply with applicable federal and state laws.