Global Settings

Global Settings apply to your entire flow agent. Access them from the left sidebar icons in the Flow Builder.

Accessing Global Settings

In the Flow Builder, the left sidebar contains icons for:

Icon	Setting
Prompt	System prompt and agent instructions
Voice	Voice settings and TTS configuration
KB	Knowledge base attachment
Environment	Background sounds and ambience

System Prompt (Global Instructions)

The system prompt defines your agent’s core personality and behavior across all conversation nodes.

System Prompt: |
  You are Alex, a friendly customer service agent for Acme Corp.

  Core behaviors:
  - Always be helpful, patient, and professional
  - Use the customer's name when you know it
  - Keep responses concise (under 30 words when possible)
  - Never make promises you can't keep

  You represent Acme Corp, a technology company specializing
  in smart home devices. Our products include:
  - SmartHub (central controller)
  - SmartSensor (motion/temperature)
  - SmartLock (keyless entry)

  Business hours: Monday-Friday, 9 AM - 5 PM Eastern

Node-specific prompts extend (don’t replace) the global system prompt.

Voice Settings

Configure how your agent sounds:

Voice Selection

Setting	Description
Provider	Cartesia or ElevenLabs
Voice	Specific voice to use
Speed	Playback rate (0.5 - 2.0, default: 1.0)
Volume	Output volume (0 - 100)

Responsiveness

Control how quickly the agent responds:

Responsiveness: 7  # Scale of 1-10

Higher values = faster responses but may interrupt callers.

Back-channeling

Natural acknowledgment sounds during conversation:

Back-channeling:
  Enabled: true
  Frequency: 5  # How often (0-10)
  Words: ["mm-hmm", "I see", "right", "okay", "got it"]

Emotion (Cartesia Sonic 3)

Control emotional tone:

Emotion:
  Type: "friendly"  # neutral, excited, content, sympathetic, curious, confident
  Intensity: "medium"  # low, medium, high

Pre-response Phrases

Filler phrases before responding:

Pre-response:
  Enabled: true
  Phrases:
    - "Let me check that for you..."
    - "One moment please..."
    - "Good question..."

Pronunciation Overrides

Custom pronunciations for specific words:

Pronunciations:
  "Acme": "ACK-mee"
  "API": "A P I"
  "SQL": "sequel"

See Voice Settings for detailed configuration.

Knowledge Base

Attach a default knowledge base for the entire agent:

Knowledge Base:
  Folder: /Company-FAQ
  Top-K: 5
  Reranking: true

Folder: Which KB folder to use
Top-K: Number of results to retrieve
Reranking: Enable for better accuracy

Individual nodes can override the global KB with node-specific folders.

See Knowledge Base for setup instructions.

Environment

Ambient sounds and effects:

Background Ambience

Background:
  Enabled: true
  Sound: "office"  # office, cafe, call-center, quiet
  Volume: 30

Thinking Sound

Audio feedback while AI processes:

Thinking Sound:
  Enabled: true
  Sound: "subtle-click"
  Volume: 20

See Environment for all options.

Agent Metadata

Basic agent information:

Field	Description
Name	Display name for the agent
Description	Internal notes about purpose
Language	Primary language (en-US, en-UK, etc.)
Timezone	Default timezone for scheduling

Settings Inheritance

Settings cascade from global to node-specific:

Global Settings
    │
    ├── Node Settings (extend/override)
    │       │
    │       └── Transition Settings
    │
    └── All other nodes inherit global

Example:

Global KB: /Company-FAQ
Billing Node KB: /Billing-FAQ (overrides for this node)
Support Node: Uses /Company-FAQ (inherits global)

Best Practices

Set Defaults Early

Configure global settings before building your flow. Nodes inherit these defaults.

Use Consistent Voice

Choose one voice and stick with it. Changing mid-conversation is jarring.

Test Voice Settings

Use Test Call to verify voice, speed, and pronunciation sound natural.

Document System Prompt

Keep your system prompt organized with clear sections for different behaviors.

System Prompt

Detailed prompt configuration

Voice Settings

Voice and speech configuration

Knowledge Base

Document and content management

Environment

Ambient sounds and effects

Getting Started

Agent Builder

Agent Configuration

Test Agent

Publish

Accessing Global Settings

System Prompt (Global Instructions)

Voice Settings

Voice Selection

Responsiveness

Back-channeling

Emotion (Cartesia Sonic 3)

Pre-response Phrases

Pronunciation Overrides

Knowledge Base

Environment

Background Ambience

Thinking Sound

Agent Metadata

Settings Inheritance

Best Practices

Set Defaults Early

Use Consistent Voice

Test Voice Settings

Document System Prompt

System Prompt

Voice Settings

Knowledge Base

Environment

​Accessing Global Settings

​System Prompt (Global Instructions)

​Voice Settings

​Voice Selection

​Responsiveness

​Back-channeling

​Emotion (Cartesia Sonic 3)

​Pre-response Phrases

​Pronunciation Overrides

​Knowledge Base

​Environment

​Background Ambience

​Thinking Sound

​Agent Metadata

​Settings Inheritance

​Best Practices

Set Defaults Early

Use Consistent Voice

Test Voice Settings

Document System Prompt

​Related

System Prompt

Voice Settings

Knowledge Base

Environment

Accessing Global Settings

System Prompt (Global Instructions)

Voice Settings

Voice Selection

Responsiveness

Back-channeling

Emotion (Cartesia Sonic 3)

Pre-response Phrases

Pronunciation Overrides

Knowledge Base

Environment

Background Ambience

Thinking Sound

Agent Metadata

Settings Inheritance

Best Practices

Related