Quickstart

Get a working agent you can talk to from the dashboard, in about ten minutes. No phone number, no code, no telephony setup.

You'll configure the agent, then use the Test tab to speak with it in the browser. Embedding it on a website is optional and comes at the end.

Before you start

You need an iCallAgent account and a workspace. If you've just signed up, a workspace already exists — that's the one you're in.

1. Open Agents

1. Open the dashboard.
2. In the left sidebar, under Configure, click Agents.

You'll see the list of agents in this workspace (empty if this is your first).

2. Create the agent

1. Click + New Agent (or Create your first agent if the list is empty).
2. You'll land on the agent editor. The tab row across the top is: Agent Overview · Knowledge Base · Analysis · Tools · Test · Advanced
3. Stay on Agent Overview for this whole quickstart.

Click the agent name at the top to rename it if you want — for example Quickstart agent. Names are internal; callers never hear them.

3. Set the first message

Still on Agent Overview, find the First message section.

That text is the first thing a caller hears. Put:

Hi, thanks for calling Northwind. What can I help you with?

Name the business — it sets the caller's expectations immediately.

4. Write a minimal system prompt

Above the first message, find System prompt. Replace the default with something small and specific:

You are Sam, the phone assistant for Northwind Plumbing.

You can help with:
- Booking a plumbing appointment
- Answering questions about pricing and service areas

You cannot help with anything else. If someone asks about something
outside those two topics, say so politely and offer to take a message.

Keep replies to one or two sentences. This is a phone call, not an
email — no lists, no formatting.

When the caller's question is answered and they have nothing else,
say a short goodbye and end the call.

That's deliberately short. It names who the agent is, what it does, what it refuses, and how it should sound. You can grow it later — see Writing the system prompt.

5. Pick a voice

On the same Agent Overview tab, open Voice settings (the voice / TTS controls on the page).

1. Choose a provider if more than one is available.
2. Pick a voice. Play a few samples and choose one you'd be happy to listen to for two minutes.
3. Leave speed, pitch and volume at their defaults for now.

If you open the right-hand panel for voice or model details, click Save changes there so the selection is stored.

6. Save

Two ways — either works:

• Click Close and save (the X at the top-right of the agent editor), or
• Click Save changes if you have the side panel open for voice / model / other panel settings.

The notice Saved appears briefly when the write succeeds. New agents are created Live, which means they are ready to take calls.

7. Test it before anyone else does

1. Still in the agent editor (re-open the agent from Agents if you closed it).
2. In the top tab row, click Test.
3. Click Start test call.
4. Allow the browser microphone when prompted.

This talks to the real agent — same prompt, same voice, same model — from inside the dashboard. No phone number required.

If the tab fails to connect, see Testing your agent (billing and domain gates are covered there). For most new agents, Test works without extra setup.

Try all four of these, because each one exercises something different:

1. Something it should handle. "I need someone to look at a leaking tap."
2. Something it should refuse. "Can you tell me today's football scores?"
3. Something ambiguous. "How much?" — with no context. A good agent asks what you mean.
4. Ending the call. "That's all, thanks." It should say goodbye and hang up, not wait.

If the agent rambles, refuses things it should handle, or won't hang up — that's the prompt, and it's the normal part of building an agent. Adjust on Agent Overview, save, open Test again.

8. Reach real callers

When the conversation is right, give the agent a way for people to reach it:

• Phone numbers — answer inbound calls on a real number.
• Outbound campaigns — call a list of contacts on a schedule.

Until then, the Test tab is enough to build and iterate.

What you just built

An agent that answers in the browser Test tab, stays on topic, and ends its own calls. What it does not have yet:

Missing	Add it with
Knowledge of your actual prices, hours, policies	Knowledge base
The ability to book, look up, or record anything	Tools
A phone number	Phone numbers
A real call to your own mobile	Call your own phone
Outbound calling	Campaigns

Next

Understand what you built — How a voice agent works explains the pipeline behind that conversation, and Anatomy of an agent breaks down every field you skipped.

Or keep building — Build your first agent walks the full configuration, tab by tab, including everything this quickstart left at defaults.