Turn Astra on or off

You turn Astra on or off with the Live / Off badge next to the "AI agent" title on the AI agent screen — the change applies to the very next call, no republish needed.

Before you start

• Astra must be published and connected to a number before "on" means it actually answers. A draft agent, or one with no connected number, never receives calls.
• You need admin access in the workspace to change agent settings.

Step-by-step

1. Click the AI agent icon in the left sidebar. If you run several agents, click the card of the one you want under Your AI agents — each agent has its own switch, and the card's badge (Live / Off / Draft) shows its state.

2. In the header next to the agent's name, click the Live / Off switch — it reads Live when the agent is on and Off when it isn't.

3. A toast confirms "Agent turned on" or "Agent turned off". The first chip of the status bar reflects the state (Published, Draft — not published or Turned off).

   • Turning on with no number connected? The toast says so: "on, but no number is connected yet", and the status bar's Calls and Texts chips stay amber. Link a line in the Schedule section (calls) or the Texting section (texts) — until then the agent is live but nothing reaches it.
   • Turning off while numbers are still connected? A short dialog lists the numbers wired to this agent for calls and for texts and asks what you want: Turn off and disconnect the numbers (calls go to your team, AI texting stops on those lines) or Turn off, keep numbers linked (the lines stay wired and pick up again the moment you turn the agent back on). Nothing is disconnected silently.

The same enable/disable control is available in the iOS app's AI agent screen.

Turning Astra off for one number only

1. Go to Settings → Numbers and click the number's cube to open its settings.
2. Under How calls answer, turn AI receptionist off. Calls to that number then ring your team in the app, with voicemail as the fallback.
3. Reconnect it anytime — routing changes always apply from the next call.

Calls and texts are linked separately. Turning AI receptionist off for a number only changes who answers its calls; if the number also texts with an AI agent, that stays on until you set How texts answer to Off in the same panel. See Let your AI agent answer texts.

Troubleshooting

• Astra is "Live" but doesn't answer — check three things: the agent is published (not "Draft"), a number is connected in Settings → Numbers, and the call is arriving within the hours you set in the Schedule section. The status bar inside the agent shows all three at a glance.
• You turned Astra off but want after-hours coverage — instead of turning it off entirely, set business hours and let the schedule flip between your team and the AI automatically. See When Astra answers vs. your team.

Related articles

• When Astra answers vs. your team
• Test Astra with a test call
• Meet Astra, your AI receptionist
• Let your AI agent answer texts