Customize Astra's greeting and tone
You set Astra's greeting and personality in the Identity section of the AI agent screen: type the greeting, pick a tone chip, then Save draft and Publish.
Step-by-step
Click the AI agent icon in the left sidebar, open your agent (click its card if you have several), then open the Identity section.
In the Greeting box, type what Astra says when it answers — for example, "Thanks for calling! This is the virtual assistant — how can I help you today?" Leave it blank to use a default greeting with your workspace name.
Under Personality & tone, click one of the chips: Friendly, Professional, Concise, or Warm.
Click Save draft in the top-right to store your changes.
Click Publish to push them to the live agent. Until you publish, callers keep hearing the previous version.
Preview the result in the Test call section — the greeting bubble at the top shows exactly what callers will hear first.
You can also edit the greeting and tone from the iOS app's AI agent screen.
Tips for a good greeting
- Say who the caller has reached ("Thanks for calling Cedar Park Dental!").
- Keep it to one or two sentences — callers want to get to their question.
- End with an invitation ("How can I help you today?") so the conversation starts naturally.
Troubleshooting
- Publish fails with a message about a "model" not being available — this comes from the voice engine behind Astra retiring the AI model it was using. Ody switches to the current recommended model on its own: click Publish once more and it goes through. If it still fails after a second try, contact support with the agent's name — nothing in your configuration is wrong.
- Changes don't apply on calls — make sure you clicked Publish, not only Save draft. The status bar's first chip reads Published when the live agent carries your latest edits.
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Frequently asked questions
What if I leave the greeting blank?
Astra uses a sensible default greeting that includes your workspace name, so callers always hear who they've reached.
When do greeting and tone changes go live?
After you click Publish. Save draft stores your edits; Publish pushes them to the live agent answering your calls.
Does the tone change what Astra says or just how it says it?
Tone shapes the personality of Astra's responses throughout the call — the facts still come from your jobs and knowledge base.