Your First Auto-Attendant

What a call flow is

A call flow is a visual map of what happens when someone calls one of your phone numbers. You drag boxes onto a canvas, connect them with arrows, and the platform handles the rest.

A simple call flow:

Incoming call → Play greeting → Menu (1 for sales, 2 for support) → Route based on choice

A complex call flow can have 20+ steps with time conditions, queues, callbacks, and conditional routing. Start simple. Add complexity as needed.

Where call flows live

Click Call Flows in the top nav.

The list shows every call flow you've built, with columns for name, status (active/inactive), node count (how many steps), DID count (how many phone numbers route to this flow), and creation date.

Creating your first auto-attendant

Click New Call Flow. Give it a name like "Main Auto-Attendant" and click Create.

You're now on the visual designer. The canvas is empty except for one box: a Start node.

The node palette

On the left side of the canvas, you'll see a palette of node types you can drag onto the canvas:

Node Type	What it does
Play Audio	Plays an audio file from the Media Library
TTS	Plays text-to-speech generated audio
Menu (IVR)	Plays a prompt and waits for a keypad press
Hangup	Ends the call
Voicemail	Sends caller to a voicemail box
Queue	Sends caller to a call queue
Ring Group	Sends caller to a ring group
Extension	Sends caller to a specific extension
External Number	Sends caller to an outside phone number
Time Condition	Branches based on time-of-day or day-of-week
Day/Night Toggle	Branches based on a manually-toggleable day/night state
Get Digits	Collects digits from the caller (e.g., account number)
Recording	Records a portion of the call
Conference	Sends caller into a conference room
Sub-Flow	Calls another call flow as a subroutine

There are more — about 23 total — but those above cover 90% of use cases.

Building the flow

A basic auto-attendant needs:

1. Start node (already there)
2. Play Audio or TTS node — plays the greeting ("Thanks for calling Acme...")
3. Menu node — listens for 1, 2, 3, or 0
4. Multiple destination nodes — one for each choice
5. Voicemail or Hangup as a fallback

Drag a TTS node onto the canvas. Click it. In the right panel, enter your greeting text:

"Thank you for calling Acme Plumbing. Press 1 for sales, 2 for service, or 0 to reach the operator."

Pick a voice. Save.

Drag a Menu node onto the canvas, below the TTS node. Click the connector dot on the bottom of the TTS node and drag to the top of the Menu node. They're now connected.

Click the Menu node. Configure the choices: 1 → "Sales path", 2 → "Service path", 0 → "Operator path", and a timeout/no-input behavior.

For each choice, drag a destination node onto the canvas. For "Sales", drag an Extension or Ring Group node. For "Service", drag a Queue node. For "Operator", drag an Extension node pointing to the receptionist's extension.

Connect each menu choice to its destination node by dragging from the choice's connector to the top of the destination node.

For a fallback, drag a Voicemail node and connect it to the Menu's "no input" output.

Saving and activating

Click Save in the top right. The flow is now stored but not yet live.

To make it live, click Active toggle in the top right. The flow is now eligible to receive calls — it just needs a phone number pointed at it.

Attaching a phone number

In the call flow designer, click Attach DIDs in the top right. A modal opens showing your unrouted phone numbers. Tick the ones to attach. Click Apply.

Now any incoming call to those numbers follows your flow.

Testing

Call the number from your cell phone. You should hear your greeting. Press 1, 2, or 0 — verify each path goes where you expect.

If something doesn't work:

• Check the connections (every node must be reachable from Start)
• Check the Active toggle (the flow has to be marked Active)
• Check the DID attachment (the number must be attached to the flow)
• Check the Call History page after the test call to see what actually happened

Templates

We provide a few starter templates — click Templates when creating a new flow:

• Basic Auto-Attendant — what you just built, prefilled
• Sales/Support Menu — separate sales and support paths
• Time-Conditional Greeting — different greeting during business vs after hours
• Voicemail Only — every call straight to voicemail (useful for marketing-only numbers)

Pick a template, customize, save.

Editing a live flow

You can edit a flow while it's active. Changes take effect immediately. Calls in progress aren't affected — they keep following the old version of the flow until they hang up.

Be careful editing during business hours. If you break a connection while live, calls will fail. Test changes during off-hours when possible.

Deleting a flow

Click Delete on the flow's row. Confirm. The flow is removed. Any DIDs attached to it become unrouted (callers hear "this number isn't configured" until you route them somewhere else).

What's next

You've got an auto-attendant routing calls. Let's set up the first desk phone so a real person can answer.