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Before you begin, make sure you’ve signed up for an account. You can find detailed instructions here.
Welcome to PolyAI’s quickstart guide for voice and webchat agents. This should give you a brief overview of the main capabilities available to you as a user of the Agent Studio platform, but there are many more features you can learn about by browsing the documentation or asking the AI assistant at the top of your window.

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Creating an agent

1

Start the creation process

After logging in, click “Create agent” to start the process.create-agent
You can also duplicate an existing agent from the home page by clicking the three dots information icon next to a profile.duplicate-agentThe duplicated profile will have the same name as the original, but appended with (copy). You can also export and import existing agents from .bin files.
2

Set a name, response language, voice, and greeting line

Full page: Voice, Agent settingsCreate a new agent by entering an agent name, response language, voice, and the welcome greeting.You can also set a project ID here, which will determine your URL.After completing these steps, click “Next”.general
3

Entering Agent Studio and the knowledge base

Once you have created your agent, you will see is a blank knowledge base. Other functionality and settings are available on the left-side navigation bar.general
4

Add a knowledge base item

add-kb-itemLet’s get started by giving your agent some information it can use.Full page: Knowledge baseTo teach your agent factual information, you can add knowledge base items. Each item contains:
  • A topic title (for example, “The café’s opening hours”)
  • A set of sample questions that users might ask (e.g., “When do you close?”)
  • The answer content your agent should return (e.g., “The café is closed on Mondays…”).
You can also add Actions to connect knowledge items with functions, APIs, or follow-up flows.
When editing or adding knowledge, changes are saved as Drafts. You can then publish to the Sandbox for internal testing before moving to Pre-release or Live environments. For more information on the deployment pipeline, visit the environments and versions feature page.
5

Change your language model

Go to Settings → Model to select which LLM will power your agent. The default is GPT-4o Mini, but others like Claude 3.5 Haiku or PolyAI’s Raven are also available depending on use case.Full page: Model Selection
6

[Voice agents only] Select a number for telephony integration

Full page: Telephony IntegrationYou may buy a number or connect an existing number for your agent. You can also skip this step and return later.telephony
7

[Webchat agents only] Design your chat widget

Full page: WebchatUse the Webchat Customize tab to set how the widget will look on your site. You can update the:
  • Header text – the title shown in the chat window (e.g. “Cafe Assistant Cassandra”).
  • Primary color – controls the header background and action elements like buttons. Enter a hex code or use the color picker.
The right-hand panel shows a live preview of your widget, updating instantly as you change settings. This lets you verify styling, branding, and greeting text before publishing.webchat customization example
After changing styles, you must redeploy the widget under Test and install → Generate script tag so updates appear on your site.
8

[Advanced] Integrate functions into your knowledge base

Full page: FunctionsWhat they do: Functions allow you to add dynamic, programmable behavior to your agent, and allow you to handle external API calls, retrieve specific data, and use that data to make decisions based on real-time context.Example use case: An agent retrieving shipping information for a customer query about an order.functions
9

[Advanced] Add a flow to your project

Full page: FlowsWhat they do: Flows are designed for managing multi-step conversations, like booking a table at a restaurant, resetting a password, or collecting feedback.Example use case: A customer reservation flow for a restaurant, with steps to ask for the date, time, and number of people before confirming the booking, as well as handling any problems that might arise along the way.flows
10

Test your agent (web-chat, browser call, or phone)

Full page: Agent ChatYou can test your agent without deploying by:
  • Using the web chat interface
  • Making an in-browser voice call using the phone icon
  • Calling from a connected number
11

Publish your agent

Full page: Environments & versionsOnce you have completed setup:
  • Publish your agent to the Sandbox for internal testing.
  • Promote to Pre-release for user testing and QA.
  • Finally, promote it to Live to once it production-ready.
Each environment can be linked to a separate phone number and has rollback capabilities.
By following these steps, you can create a personalized and effective agent tailored to your needs.

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How does my agent work?

Full page: Processing order Once your agent is setup, here is how it will process calls:
  1. Caller speaks: The agent receives the caller’s input as an audio stream.
  2. ASR Service: Transcribes the audio into text.
  3. LLM Service: Interprets the request and determines an appropriate response.
  4. TTS Service: Converts the response back into speech and delivers it to the caller.
This cycle allows for real-time, responsive interactions. For a deeper breakdown of processing steps, see the advanced conversation flow processing order page.
To tune your agent’s latency and style of reply, try adjusting the Interaction Style slider under Audio Management. Choose between Turbo, Swift, Balanced, or Precise.
You can set a custom disclaimer message to precede the call using an alternate voice.multi-voiceYou can also assign multiple voices to your agent using the Multi-voice UI under Voice settings. Voices can be distributed across calls by percentage.