AI Agent | Creating an Agent: Voice or Chat, Templates and Finish Setup
Overview
You can create an AI Agent in two ways: from scratch, where you fill in the basics and then tune everything yourself, or from a template, where you start with a complete ready-made agent (prompt, conversation flow and tools already in place) that you rename and customise.
Every new agent is one of two types:
- Voice agent: answers and makes phone calls with a spoken voice. It needs an extension on your phone system.
- Chatbot: chats with people in text on your website, in the portal and by SMS. It has no extension, voice or call settings.
This article walks through the whole creation path: choosing a type, choosing how to start, picking a template, filling in the details, answering any setup questions, watching the build, and finishing the setup steps a template leaves for you.
Prerequisites
- A user account that is allowed to add AI Agents in your domain.
- For a voice agent: an unused extension number for the agent, and (optionally) your company website address so the agent can learn about your business.
- For a template that connects to another service (a calendar, CRM or help desk): sign-in access to that service. The template picker lists what each template needs before you choose it.
Step 1: Choose the agent type
- Open AI Agent and select Create New Agent.
- The Create AI Agent window asks What kind of agent do you want to create? Choose Voice agent (selected by default) or Chatbot.
- Select Continue.
The type cannot be changed after the agent is created. If you picked the wrong one, create a new agent of the right type.
Step 2: Choose how to start
The next screen asks How would you like to start?
| Choice | What it does |
|---|---|
| Start from scratch | "Set up every detail of your agent yourself." You get the basic form, and the rest of the settings open after the agent exists. |
| Start from a template | "Begin with a complete, ready-made agent you can rename and customize." Choose this to see the template list. For a Chatbot the description reads "Create a chatbot from a ready-made template." |
| Build with AI | Describe your business, answer a few questions, and AI drafts the agent and its flow for you to review. This choice only appears when it is switched on for your account, and may be greyed out with a reason shown on hover. |
If no templates exist for the type you chose, Start from a template is unavailable ("There are no templates for this kind of agent yet" or "No agent templates are available yet. Check back later, or start from scratch.").
Step 3 (templates only): Pick a template
- Choose Start from a template and select Continue. The window widens and shows Loading agent templates... and then the list. If loading fails, select Retry.
- Use Search templates to find one by name, or Filter by category to narrow the list. Categories include Automotive, Customer service, IT support, Sales and Scheduling.
- Templates are grouped by who provides them: the platform's own templates, templates from your Reseller (shown as "Reseller: name"), and Your organization (templates saved by your own team, see: Custom Agent Templates: Save, Share, Promote and Replace). The platform group heading shows the provider’s brand name, for example OneCloud.
- Each card shows the name, a short description and a What this template needs line, for example Needs: Google Calendar, You'll upload: Inventory CSV, You'll enter: Zoho details or You'll review: Booking page. Read this line first: it is the list of things you will do after the agent is built (see "Finish setup" below).
- Select a template, then Continue. The Add AI Agent form opens, headed Creating from template: (template name).
Bundled voice templates
These ready-made voice templates are provided with the platform. Your account may also show templates from your reseller or your own organization, and the exact list can differ.
| Template | What it does | Category | Connects to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Calendar Booking Agent | Books, reschedules, and cancels appointments on Google Calendar. | Scheduling | Google Calendar; you review a booking page afterwards |
| Microsoft Calendar Agent | Books appointments on your Outlook calendar. | Scheduling | Microsoft 365 |
| Microsoft Bookings Agent | Books appointments for your Microsoft Bookings services. | Scheduling | Microsoft Bookings |
| Microsoft Entra Password Reset Agent | Verifies callers and resets their Microsoft work passwords. | IT support | Microsoft Entra ID |
| Zoho Desk Help Desk Agent | Opens and checks Zoho Desk support tickets. | IT support | Zoho Desk (you enter your Zoho details) |
| HubSpot Sales & Callback Agent | Recognizes HubSpot callers, logs leads and deals, and sets up callbacks. | Sales | HubSpot |
| DealerOn Inventory Agent | Answers inventory questions and texts vehicle details to callers. | Automotive | DealerOn; you upload an inventory CSV |
Built-in chatbot templates
| Template | What it does |
|---|---|
| General website assistant | Answers visitor questions from your company information and takes details for follow-up. |
| Lead capture | Collects the visitor's name, contact details and need, then confirms them back. |
| FAQ / support | Answers from your company information first and collects details for follow-up. |
Step 4: Fill in the Add AI Agent form
The same form is used from scratch and from a template. A template pre-fills what it can (description, greeting, time zone and voice), and you complete the rest. A Chatbot hides the voice-only fields marked below.
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Agent Name | Required. A unique name, for example "Acme Dental Front Desk". Names cannot be reused. |
| Extension (voice only) | Required. An unused extension on your phone system. If it is already taken you will see "This extension is already in use. Please choose a different extension." |
| Agent Timezone | The time zone the agent uses for hours and appointments. |
| Company Website | Optional but recommended, for example https://www.example.com. The system scans the site to gather FAQs, products and services and adds them to the agent's data. This happens only once, when the agent is created, so enter it now. |
| Site | Optional. Pick a site to filter call queues for keyword routing. |
| Industry | Pick the closest match. |
| License Tier | Only shown to some roles. Pick a tier, or leave on Assign automatically to use your domain's default. Trial creates a free trial license; turn it off to assign a paid tier. See: Licensing articles. |
| Description | Notes for your own reference. It is not used to train the AI. |
| Greeting Prompt (voice only) | The first thing callers hear. A template supplies a friendly default such as "Thanks for calling! I can help you ... How can I help you today?" See: Language Model, Prompt and Greeting Settings. |
| Mute caller during greeting (voice only) | Stops callers interrupting until the greeting finishes. |
| Voice Language and Voice (voice only) | Required. Pick a language, then a voice, and use Play preview to hear it. See: Voice and Speech Settings: Choosing a Voice and Tuning How Your Agent Listens. |
| Spam Detection (voice only) | When enabled, blocks caller IDs that make excessive calls within a short time period. |
A template can name a voice that is not available in your account. In that case you will see "The voice referenced by this bundle is not available on this tenant" and should pick another voice.
Setup questions (some templates only)
A few templates add a short extra section to the form, headed with the template's own title (or Template options). These are questions that shape how the agent is built, for example how long an appointment lasts or which hours can be booked. Each question has a hint under it. The answers are applied when the agent is created; most can be changed later from the agent's settings.
| Question type | What you see |
|---|---|
| Choice | A drop-down, for example appointment length. |
| Number | A whole number with its unit and allowed range. Out of range shows "Enter a number from X to Y." |
| On/off switch | A toggle. One switch may require another: the second then shows "Required while "(first switch)" is on" and is locked. |
| Weekly hours | An open/closed editor for each day. Open at least one day, start before end, use quarter-hour times, and leave room for at least one appointment. |
Example: a password reset template asks Require 2FA verification (on by default and recommended) and Set a temporary password (off by default). A temporary password needs 2FA, so turning that second switch on locks the first. Turning 2FA off asks you to confirm with Turn off anyway, because the agent would then reset a password after only basic identity questions.
Create the agent
- Select Save (or Cancel to stop).
- If something is wrong you see "Please fix all validation errors before saving." with the fields marked.
- On success you see "AI Agent created successfully!" (or "Agent created from template").
Step 5: Watch the build
After you save, a window titled Setting Up Your Agent shows a progress bar and the current step. For a voice agent built from scratch the steps are, in order:
- Initializing agent setup
- Scanning company website
- Collecting phone system data
- Processing training data
- Generating agent prompt
- Saving configuration
- Provisioning phone system
A chatbot has no phone side, so it skips the phone steps and shows fewer steps. The time depends mostly on how large your website is.
- When it finishes, the title changes to Agent Created Successfully! with "Congratulations! Your agent is ready to go." Select Close.
- You do not have to wait. Select Close & Continue in Background: "This process will continue in the background. You can close this dialog and check back from the agent list." You can reopen the progress from the agent's build status in the list.
- If a step fails, the title becomes Creation Issue with "Your agent was created but the setup pipeline encountered an issue. You can continue configuring it manually." The agent exists; open it and complete its company information and settings by hand.
[Screenshot: progress window]
Step 6: Finish setup (agents created from a template)
Many templates need something from you before they can work: signing in to a connected service, entering a few settings, uploading a file, or reviewing a page. After the build, a Finish Setup window opens with "Finish setting up "(agent name)"" and lists whatever is pending. Typical items:
| Heading | What to do |
|---|---|
| Re-authorization required | Select Authorize (or Authorize now) next to each service and sign in in the pop-up. The label changes to Connected. This only reconnects the service; the agent's flow is not changed. |
| Credentials needed | Enter the requested details and select Save. Items are tagged Required or Optional. Some can only be saved by a super user; others show "Set this up from the agent editor after import" with an Open in agent editor link. |
| Finish setup | The template-specific steps: upload the inventory CSV (Inventory uploaded: filename), enter your Zoho Desk organization and department (sign in to Zoho first), enter the email address that should receive messages callers leave, or Configure booking page / Edit booking page for Google Calendar. |
You can skip a step and come back. If you try to close with something unfinished you are warned what will not work yet, for example "This agent can't answer inventory questions until a CSV is uploaded", with the choices Upload now / Skip for now, Review now / Use defaults, or Finish now. The agent itself is already active and ready to take calls; only the listed tools wait for you.
Coming back later
While steps are pending, the agent shows a Finish setup button in the agent list. Hover over it: "This agent was created from a template and still has setup steps to finish." Select it to reopen the window with the live status. Finished steps drop off the list by themselves. When nothing is left, the reminder disappears the next time you close the window.
If the window cannot load you will see "Couldn't load this agent's setup steps. Please try again." Wait a moment and select the button again.
Tips
- Start from a template whenever one matches your use case. It saves hours of building and shows exactly what it needs on the card.
- Pick the voice and greeting before you save; you can change them later but the preview helps you get them right.
- Enter the company website at creation. It is only scanned once; to add information later, use the Company Information, FAQs and Knowledge Base tabs.
- After creating a voice agent, test it with a call before sharing the number. See: AI Agent Tester: Scenarios, Suites and Batch Runs.
- Template-created agents are independent copies. Changing the template later does not change agents already created from it.
Troubleshooting
- "This extension is already in use." Choose a different extension. "This extension already exists in the phone system" means the phone system itself already has it.
- "That template is for a different kind of agent." The template's type (voice or chat) does not match the type you chose. Go back and pick the matching type.
- "Failed to load agent templates". Select Retry; if it keeps failing, start from scratch and contact support.
- The build seems stuck. Large websites take longer. If it still has not finished after a long time, "Agent build is taking longer than expected" appears; check back later, and if it is still not done delete the agent and create it again.
- A connected service shows "Re-authorization required" again. The sign-in expired or was revoked; select Authorize again.
- The agent cannot book, look up or open tickets. Open Finish setup and check that every item is done.
Related articles
- Setup AI Agent
- Custom Agent Templates: Save, Share, Promote and Replace
- Phone Numbers for AI Agents: Order, Assign and Voicemail Destinations
- Chat Agents: Create, Test and Review Chat History
- Language Model, Prompt and Greeting Settings
- Voice and Speech Settings: Choosing a Voice and Tuning How Your Agent Listens
- Building Conversation Flows
- Importing and Exporting Flows
- AI Agent | In Call Action | How to Setup and Enable a Zoho MCP Server
- Build an AI Agent with AI | Describe Your Business and Get a Draft Agent