#Call handling
| Role | Access Level |
|---|---|
| Client Admin | Edit |
| Client Manager | View only |
| Partner Admin | View only |
| Partner User | View only |
| Client Staff | No section |
The route key is still
/settings?section=call-limitsfor backward compatibility, but the visible label and panel are now Call handling (v5.3).
#Overview
Call handling settings let you manage three things together for one project at a time:
- the receptionist's welcome message
- whether callers can interrupt the greeting
- the maximum call duration before the runtime hangup policy applies
The portal exposes only these customer-safe controls. It does not configure concurrent-call caps, daily-call caps, queues, rejects, redirects, persona, voice, language, agent type, instructions, tools, knowledge bases, or transfer internals.
Maximum call duration is limited to whole-minute values between 5 and 30 minutes in this release. Extended duration options are tracked separately and are not yet available in this portal panel.
#Prerequisites
- You are signed in to the AiDial portal. See Signing In for instructions.
- Client Admins can edit supported call-handling values.
- Client Managers, Partner Admins, and Partner Users can review the summary only (no full greeting text).
- Client Staff do not receive this Settings section.
- Your session must include at least one in-scope project. Client Admins choose the project from the top-bar project switcher; when the switcher is set to all projects, the panel shows a select-project guidance state instead of loading project-specific controls. Summary-only roles may see an in-panel Project selector when more than one project is available.
#Configuring Call handling
- Open Settings from the sidebar, then select Call handling.
- Choose a project if needed. Client Admins use the top-bar project switcher; summary-only roles use the in-panel Project selector if it appears.
- Review the current call-handling state. Client Admins can see the full Welcome message; summary-only roles see whether a welcome message is configured and its character count, but not the raw greeting text.
- If the section is editable, update any of the three controls:
- Welcome message: 1 or 2 sentences works best. The character counter shows your length up to 280 characters. If your plan requires a transcription or recording notice, include it here.
- Let callers interrupt the greeting: toggle on to let callers start talking before the greeting finishes; off feels more polished for short greetings.
- Maximum call duration: pick a value between 5 and 30 minutes.
- Select Save call handling to save all three controls together under one version.
- The footer's Last changed timestamp refreshes with the server-confirmed change time.
Screenshot reference: v5.3 Call handling panel with three icon-led sections and a shared footer.
#Field Reference
| Field Name | Description | Validation Rules | Default Behaviour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project | The in-scope project whose call handling you are reviewing or editing | Required when your session has multiple projects and no concrete project is selected. The server accepts only projects in your current scope and returns a non-enumerating not-found response for invalid or out-of-scope project references. | A single in-scope project loads automatically. Multi-project Client Admins use the top-bar project switcher; summary-only roles may use the in-panel selector. |
| Welcome message | The first thing your receptionist says when a caller is connected | 1-280 Unicode code points after line-ending and Unicode normalisation. Line feed is allowed; other control characters, bidi overrides/isolates, zero-width controls, delete, and private-use characters are rejected. Plain text only. | Loads from the saved working copy if one exists, otherwise from the published project configuration. If the inherited source has no greeting, Save remains disabled until a non-empty greeting is entered. |
| Let callers interrupt the greeting | Whether callers can start talking before the greeting finishes | Boolean toggle. | Loads from the saved working copy if one exists, otherwise from the published project configuration. If neither source defines it, the runtime baseline defaults to true (interruptions allowed). |
| Maximum call duration | The maximum call duration before the runtime hangup policy applies | Whole-minute value from 5 through 30. | Loads from the saved working copy if one exists, otherwise from the published project configuration. |
| Last changed | When the call-handling state was last changed or observed | Read only. | Shown in the shared footer with a checkmark icon. |
#Saving works as a single operation
All three controls (welcome message, interruption, duration) save together under one version token. The browser sends a single protected request to /api/settings/call-limits; the portal server enforces session, RBAC, CSRF, and project scope before forwarding a bearer-authenticated request to aidial_api at /v1/projects/{project_id}/call-handling. The browser does not send X-API-Key.
If anyone else changes the same project's call-handling state between your last load and your save, the portal rejects the save with a "state stale" message and asks you to reload the latest state before saving again.
#Empty State
- If your session has no in-scope projects, the page displays No in-scope projects available and does not show edit controls.
- If a Client Admin has multiple in-scope projects and the top-bar project switcher is set to all projects, the panel displays Select a project to view these settings and does not show Save or Discard controls.
- If a summary-only role has multiple in-scope projects, the in-panel Project selector asks them to select one before the call-handling summary loads.
- If the published runtime call-handling state cannot be resolved safely, the page displays a temporary unavailable state. Reload after the source is corrected, or contact your AiDial delivery partner.
#Common Issues
| Issue | Resolution |
|---|---|
| Cannot edit call handling | Only Client Admins can save changes. Other roles see a summary-only view, and Client Staff do not receive this section. |
| No project is selected | Client Admins choose a project from the top-bar project switcher. Summary-only roles choose from the in-panel Project selector when it appears. The page will not load project-specific call-handling state until one in-scope project is selected. |
| Welcome message text is not visible | Summary-only roles see only whether a welcome message is configured and its length. Raw greeting text is shown only to editable Client Admins. |
| Welcome message rejected | The greeting must be non-empty and 1-280 Unicode code points after normalisation. Remove unusual control characters, zero-width controls, private-use characters, or bidi overrides/isolates. Plain punctuation such as <, >, $, {, } is allowed. |
| Maximum call duration rejected | Enter a whole number of minutes from 5 through 30. Values outside that customer-safe range cannot be saved from the portal. |
| Save button is disabled | The values may be unchanged, the section may be summary-only, the welcome message may be empty or over 280 characters, or the published runtime value may be outside the supported customer-safe range. Contact your AiDial delivery partner if the panel says the value is managed elsewhere. |
| Save reports that the state changed elsewhere | Select Reload latest, review the latest confirmed values, then save again if a change is still needed. |
| Changes are temporarily rate-limited | Wait for the retry period shown in the message, then try again. |