Agents
Phone Numbers & Calls
Give your agent a phone number and a natural voice so it answers calls, takes actions, and logs every call to Inbox.
Phone gives your agent a real phone line and a natural voice: customers call a dedicated number and get the same knowledge and actions they would in chat. Use it when customers call you, or when you want to talk to them from your website or place outbound calls from the dashboard.
What you get
- SoftPhone: place outbound calls from the dashboard to a contact, ticket, or any number
- Call recordings with playback, download, and retention in the Inbox
- Voice library: included and premium voices, plus custom voice design on Growth+
- Background noise for a natural, in-office call ambiance
- Call greetings with optional personalized welcomes for returning callers
- Voice widgets: embed voice-only or inline voice alongside your chat widget
- Inbox tools: call thread filter, recording player, message feedback, and conversation export
How it works
The same agent that handles web chat, WhatsApp, and other channels also answers phone calls, using low-latency voice AI tuned for phone audio.
- You purchase or assign a phone number in your workspace.
- You enable voice mode on the agent and assign the number on the Call tab.
- An incoming call connects to your agent's voice session.
- The agent greets the caller, holds the conversation, and can run enabled actions (calendar, tickets, forms, transfers, and more).
- The conversation is saved to the Inbox as a call thread, with transcript, optional recording, and review tools.
The agent uses the same prompt, knowledge, and tools across channels. Phone-specific behavior (greeting, silence handling, recording, ambiance) lives on the Call tab.
Voice mode requirement
Voice mode must be enabled before phone calls or web voice will work, even if a number is already assigned.
To enable it, open your agent's Call tab and turn on Enable voice mode. Then configure voice, greeting, and call behavior, and assign a phone number.
Voice minutes are included per plan, with overage billing when you exceed your limit. Premium voices add a per-minute surcharge (see Voice library).
Set up a phone line
Configure voice on the Call tab
On your agent's Call tab:
- Enable voice mode
- Assign the phone number
- Choose a voice from the library (or design a custom voice on Growth+)
- Set your call greeting and optional personalized welcome
- Toggle background noise for a more natural call feel
- Enable call recording if your plan supports it
- Adjust call behavior (presence checks, silence timeout, max duration)
Use the Play control next to your greeting to preview it with your selected voice, including background noise when that option is on.
You should hear your greeting in the selected voice and see the call as a new thread in Inbox.
Phone numbers are workspace-scoped and billed with the workspace subscription. See Workspaces for multi-workspace setup.
Voice and call settings
All of the following live on the agent Call tab.
Voice library
Open the voice selector to browse the voice library.
- Included voices: part of your plan's voice minute usage at the standard rate.
- Premium voices: higher-fidelity voices with an additional +$0.15/min surcharge on top of standard voice minutes.
Filter by:
- Tier (Included / Premium)
- Gender
- Language (English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Hindi, and more)
Plan voice limits
Design a custom voice (Growth+)
On Growth and Scale, you can create a voice for your brand. Custom voice design is a paid feature on Growth and above.
Call greeting
Set the first thing your agent says when a call connects (up to 200 characters).
Examples:
- "Thanks for calling Acme Support. I'm Alex, your AI assistant. How can I help?"
- "Hi, you've reached Bright Dental. I can help with scheduling or general questions."
Use Play to hear the greeting with your current voice before going live.
Personalized welcome
Turn on Personalized welcome so returning callers hear a greeting that uses their name and history when Link AI recognizes them. The agent may say "Welcome back" for repeat callers or a warm first-time greeting for new ones, without reading internal data aloud.
This works for phone and web voice when caller or contact context is available.
Background noise
Enable Background noise under Voice mode to add subtle office ambiance during calls. This makes the voice sound closer to a real phone call.
- Applies to phone calls and web voice
- Included in the greeting preview when enabled
- Off by default. Turn on when it fits your brand
Call recording
Enable Record calls to save call audio to the Inbox and workspace memory.
Retention
- Growth / Free trial: recordings kept for 90 days
- Scale: recordings kept for 180 days
After retention expires, the audio is removed automatically. The transcript remains in the thread.
Recording laws vary by region. Some jurisdictions require all-party consent or an announcement at the start of the call. You are responsible for compliance with local laws.
Call behavior
Control how calls start, pause, and end:
These settings help manage cost, avoid dead air, and keep conversations professional.
SoftPhone (outbound)
SoftPhone lets you place outbound calls from the dashboard using a workspace phone number. Use it to call a contact, follow up on a ticket, or dial any number, without leaving Link AI.
Place a call
Open SoftPhone
Open Phone Numbers, select a number, and click Call at the top right. You can also start SoftPhone from a contact or a ticket, with that contact already selected.
The dialer matches the number to a workspace contact when it can, so you see the name and photo before you call.
During and after the call
- The call stays active if you move to another dashboard page. Expand it from the floating bar.
- The conversation is saved in the Inbox as an outbound call thread.
- When recording is enabled, audio is stored with the thread and in workspace memory, same as inbound calls.
SoftPhone uses the same voice-minute pool as inbound phone. Check included minutes and overage in Settings → Billing.
Send an SMS
SoftPhone also sends text messages from your workspace number.
Pick a contact
Choose who to text from the Contacts panel on the right. SMS goes to saved contacts, so add the person in Contacts first if they are not there yet.
SMS only works after the number completes A2P 10DLC registration, which is a carrier requirement for business texting in the US. See the SMS setup on the Channels page for fees and steps. The number's page in Phone Numbers shows SMS as Approved once it is ready.
Web voice and widgets
Voice is not only for phone numbers. You can offer talk-to-agent on your website with the same voice, greeting, and settings.
Widget styles
In widget configuration, choose a button style:
- Standard button: classic chat launcher
- Floating input: compact input bar
- Voice only: dedicated voice call button (no chat UI)
Embed options
On the agent Deploy tab, copy embed code for:
- Full widget: chat (and voice if enabled in the widget UI)
- Voice only: standalone voice button
Inline voice on your site
Place a voice button anywhere in your layout (hero, CTA row, or sidebar) without a floating corner widget:
<linkai-widget agent-id="YOUR_AGENT_ID" mode="voice-only" placement="inline"></linkai-widget>
To use voice on the same page as chat, keep your normal chat widget and add a second inline voice snippet. Load chatbot.js once per page.
Enable voice on the Call tab and add every embed domain under Domain security. Visitors see a one-time legal consent notice on first use (stored per agent in the browser).
Inbox and call review
Every phone call creates an Inbox thread with source Call. Use the Inbox to review, QA, and export conversations.
Call threads
- Filter by Call in the channel tabs
- See caller info, agent, timestamps, and full transcript
- Live transcript during the call; post-call transcription fills in gaps when needed
Recording player
When recording is enabled, the thread includes an audio player with:
- Waveform synced to the conversation
- Segments for caller, agent, and agent actions (tools)
- Playback speed (1x, 1.25x, 1.5x, 2x)
- Download the recording file
- Delete the recording (transcript stays)
A warning appears when a recording is within 7 days of expiry.
Message feedback
Review individual agent replies with thumbs up / thumbs down and optional comments (up to 500 characters). Use this to flag weak answers, document QA notes, and improve prompts over time.
Feedback is included when you export the conversation.
Export conversations
From the thread header, Export downloads a structured JSON file with:
- Thread and contact metadata
- Full message and tool timeline
- Voice session details (duration, numbers, recording status)
- Admin feedback ratings and comments
Use it for compliance archives, coaching, and integrations.
What your agent can do on a call
Phone calls support the same enabled actions as other channels, with voice-appropriate behavior:
- Calendar: check availability, book appointments
- Smart Forms: collect information conversationally
- Smart Tickets: create support tickets
- Orders: process with verbal confirmation
- Web search: look up live information with spoken progress updates
- Phone forwarding: transfer to a human when needed (see below)
During longer operations, the agent gives verbal progress cues ("Let me check that for you…") so callers aren't left in silence.
Phone forwarding
Phone forwarding is a phone-specific action for agents that are the first line on an incoming number.
Instead of "Press 1 for sales, Press 2 for support," the agent talks with the caller, resolves what it can, and transfers only when appropriate: when the caller asks for a person or the issue requires it.
Configure forwarding rules in your agent's Actions tab. Rules can be saved before a number is assigned; they activate once a number is connected.
Pricing snapshot
Check your plan in Settings → Billing for exact included minutes and limits.
Best practices
Optimize for phone
- Keep answers short and spoken-friendly
- Confirm actions verbally ("I've booked you for Tuesday at 2pm")
- Offer to text or email details when something is too long for voice
Sound human
- Pick a voice that matches your brand
- Write a concise, warm greeting
- Consider background noise for customer-facing lines
- Use personalized welcome for support lines with repeat callers
Record responsibly
- Enable recording only when you have a lawful basis
- Disclose recording where required
- Use Inbox export and retention settings for your compliance workflow
Test regularly
- Call from different devices and networks
- Test noisy environments
- Verify transfers, forms, and calendar actions end-to-end
Review and improve
- Scan Call threads weekly
- Use message feedback on weak replies
- Listen to recordings for tone, pacing, and accuracy
Troubleshooting
Call not connecting
Check that voice mode is enabled on the agent, the phone number is assigned to the correct agent, and the number is active in Phone Numbers.
No audio or poor quality
Test from another network, check device volume and Bluetooth routing, and retry during off-peak hours to rule out local network issues.
Agent not responding
Check that the agent is published and not over its voice minute limit, and that a greeting and voice are selected. Review the agent prompt for conflicting phone instructions.
Recording missing
Check that Record calls is enabled on the Call tab and that your plan includes call recording (Growth+). The recording may still be processing, so refresh the Inbox thread. Expired or deleted recordings show a notice; the transcript remains.
Widget voice not working
Check that voice mode is enabled and the domain is allowlisted. For inline voice, confirm mode="voice-only" and placement="inline" are set, and that chatbot.js is loaded once per page.
Call drops on silence
Adjust the silence timeout and presence check settings. Increase the maximum call duration if calls end too early.
SoftPhone will not dial
Check that a workspace phone number is active and selected as the From number, that the destination quote succeeded (some numbers cannot be priced or dialed), and that you are inside your voice-minute limit.