How to exit agent step after continued caller silence.
Hello folks. What's the best way to reliably exit an AGENT step to terminate a call when the user is silent / none-responsive?
Steps I've Taken so far
- STEP A. The agent's system prompt has a detailed Silence Detection Protocol defined near the top. The system prompt is also peppered with reminders that the agent should refer to the protocol if the user is silent. If have created the system variable silenceCounter.
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SILENCE DETECTION PROTOCOL:
- FIRST SILENCE (8+ seconds): Say "Are you still there?" and wait 5 seconds. Increment {{silenceCounter}} by 1.
- SECOND SILENCE (5+ seconds after first prompt): Say "Hello? Are you still there?" Wait 3 seconds. Increment {{silenceCounter}} by 1.
- THIRD SILENCE (3+ seconds after second prompt): Immediately say "We'll leave things there. Bye!" - Increment the {{silenceCounter}} by 1 then IMMEDIATELY go to END block - Do NOT attempt further conversation - Do NOT ask additional questions - ALWAYS go to END block after third silence SILENCE COUNTER RESET: - Reset the
- THIRD SILENCE (3+ seconds after second prompt): Immediately say "We'll leave things there. Bye!" - Increment the {{silenceCounter}} by 1 then IMMEDIATELY go to END block - Do NOT attempt further conversation - Do NOT ask additional questions - ALWAYS go to END block after third silence SILENCE COUNTER RESET: - Reset the
{{silenceCounter}} if the user provides a meaningful verbal response
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- STEP B Exit Condition added called "Terminate Call". LLM Description =
"End the call when 1 of the following 2 conditions are met.
1. The user is repeatedly silent as per the Silence Detection Protocol
2. The user acknowledges they are ready to end the call by saying something similar to one of the following: 'Goodbye', 'Bye', 'That's it thanks' .... [list of synonyms user would say to end call]"
- STEP C Terminate Call Exit Condition is connected to an END step
Problem I'm Facing
Despite the above, the agent does not move to the END step. It loops through asking the user if they are still there. I'm aware there's a global 3 minute timeout, but I prefer not to wait 3 mins (client is incurring phone costs unnecessarily).
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Cheers!3 Replies
Would love this too, maybe an adjustable timeout so we can set 30seconds, 1 minute, etc.
interestingly i just searched yesterday for a timeout feature for agent steps (and then realized that's not available). i'd love that feature too
Thanks for your comments @cvb @chirashi . I'll keep my eyes on this thread but pretty sobering to spend a good amount of time building a detailed VF integration only to find there is no way to reliably end the call. Would love to hear from the VF team on this as it seems like pretty vital functionality for all users.