---
title: Silence, reminders and call duration
description: "The Reminders card under Advanced: how long the agent waits before prompting a silent caller, how often, and when it hangs up."
---

<Badge variant="accent">Voice agents</Badge>

The **Reminders** card under **Advanced** controls what happens when nobody is
talking, and how long a call may last at most. Four settings: the delay before the
first reminder, the number of reminders, the total silence before hanging up, and
the hard cut-off in minutes.

:::tip[Why this matters]
These four settings are what stops a call from running on after the caller walks
away, and what caps the cost of a call that goes wrong. Set **Max call duration**
to the longest legitimate call you expect, not the maximum.
:::

![The Reminders card.](/media/build/reminders-card.webp)

## Configuring it

1. Open the agent and choose **Advanced** under **Build**.
2. In **Reminders**, set the four values.
3. **Save**.

## Reference

| Field | Default | Unit | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Reminder delay (s)** | 60 | s | 20 to 300, step 1 | How long to wait before the first reminder |
| **Max reminders** | 2 | count | 1 to 5, step 1 | Maximum reminders before giving up |
| **Max silence** | 120 | s | 10 to 600, step 1 | Hangs up after this many seconds of total silence |
| **Max call duration** | 60 | min | 1 to 60, step 1 | Hard cut-off in minutes |

## How the timers play out

With the defaults: the caller stops answering. After 60 s of silence the agent says
a reminder, in its own words, such as asking whether the caller is still there.
It repeats up to 3 times, pacing the reminders across the silence. At 120 s of
total silence it ends the call. Separately, at 60 min from the start, the call is
cut whatever is happening.

- **Reminder delay** is measured from the last speech. Set it shorter than
  **Max silence**, or no reminder is ever spoken.
- **Max silence** is total silence in the call, not since the last reminder. With
  a short **Max silence** and a long **Reminder delay**, the call ends without a
  reminder.
- **Max call duration** is a hard limit, mid-sentence if need be. It is the
  ceiling on what one call can cost.

## Choosing values

| Line | Reminder delay | Max reminders | Max silence | Max call duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inbound reception | 30 s | 2 | 60 s | 15 min |
| Outbound campaign | 20 s | 1 | 30 s | 10 min |
| Long intake or survey | 60 s | 3 | 120 s | 30 min |

## Behaviour and limits

- Silence is what [voice activity detection](/build/speech-pipeline/voice-activity-detection)
  did not classify as speech. Hold music or line noise may count as silence or as
  speech depending on **Activation threshold**.
- A reminder is a normal agent turn: it is in the transcript and follows the
  prompt's style.
- A call ended by **Max silence** or **Max call duration** shows the reason under
  **Call Logs**, in the outcome card's **Disconnect reason**.
- The browser **Call** test obeys the same timers.

## Verify

Set **Reminder delay** to 20 s and **Max silence** to 40 s, start a call under
**Testing**, **Call**, and stay quiet. The agent prompts you at 20 s and hangs up at
40 s. Restore the values afterwards.

## Troubleshooting

- **No reminder is spoken.** **Reminder delay** is longer than **Max silence**.
- **Calls end while the caller is on hold.** Raise **Max silence**, or write the
  prompt so the agent keeps talking during holds.
- **A call was cut mid-conversation.** It hit **Max call duration**. Check the
  duration under **Call Logs** and raise the limit.

## Related

- [Voice activity detection](/build/speech-pipeline/voice-activity-detection)
- [Turn detection](/build/speech-pipeline/turn-detection)
- [First message and conversation](/build/prompting/first-message-and-conversation)
- [Call logs](/operate/call-logs)
- [Billing](/account/billing)