Inbounds

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An inbound deployment connects an agent to your phone numbers so it can answer incoming calls. This is the receive side of telephony: someone dials your number, and the deployment routes that call to the right agent.

Open Deploy → Inbounds.

Inbound vs. outbound. Inbound deployments handle calls that come to you (like a support line). To have your agent dial out to a list of people, use Campaigns instead. They live in separate places because the setup is different: an inbound deployment just routes incoming numbers to an agent, while a campaign needs a contact list and a dialing schedule.

Before you start

1

Connect telephony

Add a telephony connection: bring your own provider or rent a number from Sarvam. This is where your phone numbers come from.

2

Have an agent ready

Build and test an agent first. You’ll select it (and a committed version) while creating the deployment.

Create an inbound deployment

From Deploy → Inbounds, click Create Inbound. The wizard has three steps.

1

Agent

Choose what answers the call and where it comes in:

  • Agent - the agent and version to serve. The agent is locked once the deployment exists (you can only change it while paused, or by creating a new deployment).
  • Connections - add one or more telephony connections. Use Add connection to attach more than one.
  • Phone numbers - assign the incoming numbers. Switch between By number and By group to pick individual numbers or a whole group.
  • Name - a clear deployment name (and an optional description).
2

Availability

Set when the agent accepts calls:

  • Timezone - defaults to Asia/Kolkata (IST).
  • Allowed days - the days of the week the deployment is active.
  • Calls allowed between - the daily window (defaults to 09:0018:00). Calls outside this window aren’t answered by the agent.
3

Review & Deploy

Tick each section once you’ve reviewed it - Deploy unlocks when every section is checked. Create the deployment to go live.

After going live, place a real call to the assigned number. test agent catches logic issues, but a phone call surfaces carrier audio, latency, and interruption behavior you can’t see otherwise.

There’s no cohort step in this wizard - inbound callers can’t be enumerated ahead of time, so there’s nothing to upload yet. You can still add a known-caller list once the deployment exists; see Known callers under What’s on a deployment.

What’s on a deployment

Open a deployment from the list to see its detail view.

SectionWhat it shows
Deployment detailsName, deployment ID, status, who created it, created date, and the assigned phone numbers
Agent detailsAgent ID, name, version, channel type, model, initial language, and speaker
Schedule detailsThe allowed time window, timezone, and allowed days
Known callersAny known-caller lists attached for personalization (or an empty state if none)

Known callers (optional)

Optionally upload a contact list so the agent can personalize responses for known callers. This isn’t part of the create wizard - add it any time after the deployment exists, from the deployment detail page.

  • Upload a CSV of contacts and give the list a name.
  • Map CSV columns to the agent’s input variables.
  • Download the sample CSV if you need the expected format.

Unlike an outbound campaign, this list is not a dial list - the deployment never calls these contacts. It only helps the agent recognize and personalize for a caller whose number is already on file.

Manage a deployment

Pause a deployment to stop routing new incoming calls to the agent; resume to start again. Calls already in progress finish normally.

Editing is only available while the deployment is paused. Pause first, change the connections, phone numbers, or schedule, then resume.

The agent selection is locked after creation. To serve a different agent, create a new deployment.

Add a known-caller list at any time from the list row action (Add known callers) or the Known callers section on the detail page. Upload a CSV and map its columns to agent variables.

Delete a deployment to remove the number-to-agent routing entirely. Incoming calls on those numbers will no longer reach the agent.

Status reference

StatusMeaning
ActiveLive and routing incoming calls to the agent within the schedule window
PausedRouting is suspended; the deployment can be edited

Where to go next