How do I protect my AI agent from spam calls, abuse, long calls or repeat callers?

Several controls work together.

To hang up on spam callers and time wasters:

1. Open the agent and turn on the End conversation tool (the hang up tool) in its tools, then save.
2. In the instructions, tell the AI when to use it, for example: if someone is trying to sell you something and you think this is a spam call, tell the person you are not interested and hang up using this tool. You can also tell it to hang up when someone is messing with it, or wasting time and not going to book.
3. Type the @ symbol and tag the End conversation tool in that instruction so the AI knows which tool to use.
4. Test it with the Test button.

Guardrails: click the small shield icon next to the channel. Options include Max duration (the maximum number of minutes for a call), Silence disconnect (ends the call when someone stops talking for an extended period) and Max outbound messages. Max duration is the most common: if your calls last about two minutes and never go over three or four, set it to four. For Max outbound messages, if booking an appointment normally takes ten to fifteen back and forth messages, 50 is a lot and you can lower it.

To block someone who keeps calling, build a workflow with the Inbound call trigger and a Decision node on total calls, for example total calls greater than or equal to 5 (or a number you choose). If true, add a conversation node saying they have reached the maximum number of attempts to speak with the agent, then hang up. Total calls counts all calls from that contact, not only calls to this agent.