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Enabling, Disabling and Deleting Agents

A published agent can be switched off without losing anything, and switched back on later. Disable an agent to pause it, for example while fixing a problem or outside a seasonal campaign. Delete an agent only when it is no longer needed, because deleting cannot be undone.

Before You Start​

  • Role: Admin or Organisation Admin. See Roles and Permissions.
  • A published agent. Drafts are not live, so they have nothing to switch off. A draft can still be deleted.

Disabling an Agent​

  1. Open Agents.
  2. Find the agent's card and switch it off with the switch at the bottom of the card. On the agent's page, the switch is at the top.

What changes depends on the type:

  • A Frontline agent shows Not taking calls. Its phone number is released from the agent, so calls to the number stop reaching it.
  • A Background agent shows Disabled, with "Not accepting runs" under it.

The agent's settings and versions are kept.

The table view has no switch. Use Stop taking calls or Disable agent in the row's actions menu instead.

Enabling an Agent​

Switch the agent back on. A Frontline agent shows Taking calls and its phone number is pointed back at the agent, which can take a moment. A Background agent shows Enabled, with "Accepting runs". In the table view, use Start taking calls or Enable agent.

If calls do not start reaching a Frontline agent, see Troubleshooting Deployment.

The switch is unavailable while an agent is Building or Deleting. If switching fails, a message reads "Changing the agent status failed. Try again."

Deleting an Agent​

  1. Open Agents.
  2. Open the agent's actions menu on its card or row, or the Agent actions menu on its page.
  3. Select Delete.
  4. Select Delete in "Are You Sure?" to confirm.

Deleting removes the agent and its draft. A Frontline agent's phone number is released and stays in the organisation's Twilio account, free for another agent.

The agent's sessions, metrics and version history are only reached from the agent's own page, so once it is deleted they can no longer be opened from the Admin app. Read any transcripts you need before deleting, or disable the agent instead.

If the agent is deleted but its number could not be released, a message reads "The agent was deleted, but its Twilio phone number could not be cleaned up." Check the number in Twilio before giving it to another agent. See Twilio.

Deleting Cannot Be Undone

There is no way to bring a deleted agent back. To pause an agent instead, disable it.

What Happens Next​