Fast Response

What is Fast Response?

After the assistant speaks a line, it has to decide whether it has just asked the caller something. If it has, it waits for an answer, with the normal Silence Tolerance timing. If it hasn’t, the line is a statement and the assistant moves on after only a brief pause if the caller says nothing. That quick move-on is the “fast response”. By default the decision is read from the wording: a line with a question mark waits, and so does a direct request such as “please confirm your address” or “let me know when you’re ready”. Any other line moves on. That works for most lines, but not all of them:

A rhetorical or quoted question (“Any questions? No? Great, let’s keep going.”) should not wait.
A statement that hands the floor to the caller (“Take your time.”) should wait.
A shared closing step may need to move on in one call and wait in another.

Fast Response lets you pin the decision on the step instead of relying on the punctuation.

Where to set it

Scripts → (your script) → Script tab → step menu → Fast Response The tooltip reads: “Whether this step waits for a reply. Auto decides from the line itself — a ’?’ waits, no ’?’ walks on. Force always walks on, Disable always waits, and Variable lets an earlier step decide per call”.

Option	What the step does
Auto (default)	Decides from the line itself: a `?` (or a direct request like “please confirm…”) waits; anything else moves on.
Force	Always moves on, even if the line contains a question mark.
Disable	Always waits for a reply, even if the line has no question mark.
Variable	Reads the decision from a variable an earlier step has written, so it can change from call to call.

A step set to anything other than Auto shows a lightning badge with its setting. The setting applies to everything the assistant says while the step is running, including the follow-up lines it speaks while waiting on that step. Moving on is still bounded: a forced step whose Otherwise loops back to itself nudges the caller at most twice and then stops, so it can’t loop forever. For a step to move on by itself, its Otherwise must point at a different step.

Using a variable

Choose Variable and type a single variable reference into the box, for example {{custom.fast_response}} (the placeholder shown). The box accepts exactly one {{namespace.field}} reference and nothing else; any other text is flagged as invalid and isn’t saved. When the step speaks, the variable is read fresh:

Variable value	Behaves like
`force`	Force — moves on
`disable`	Disable — waits
anything else, including empty or unset	Auto — decided from the line

{{custom.fast_response}} is a string custom value, for example force. Write it from a Code Step (or any tool that writes variables) before the step that reads it:

def run():
    if {{custom.all_questions_done}} == "true":
        {{custom.fast_response}} = "force"
    else:
        {{custom.fast_response}} = ""
    return True

Because an unset or unrecognised value falls back to Auto, a variable can never pin a step by accident.

How it relates to other settings

Silence Tolerance sets how long the assistant waits once it is waiting for a reply. Fast Response decides whether it waits at all. A step on Force uses the short move-on pause instead of its Silence Tolerance timing.
Response Eagerness controls how quickly the assistant answers once the caller has spoken. It doesn’t change whether a step waits.

Best Practices

Leave Auto on most steps. Writing questions with a question mark and statements without one is usually enough.
Use Force for rhetorical or quoted questions. Otherwise the assistant waits for an answer nobody is going to give.
Use Disable for statements that hand over the floor. “Take your time” or “Go ahead whenever you’re ready” should wait.
Use Variable for shared steps. One closing step can move on for callers who are done and wait for everyone else.

Next Steps

Silence Tolerance — how long the assistant waits when it is waiting
Interruptions — whether the caller can talk over a step
Steps Overview — every setting on the step menu

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What is Fast Response?

Where to set it

Using a variable

How it relates to other settings

Best Practices

Next Steps

​What is Fast Response?

​Where to set it

​Using a variable

​How it relates to other settings

​Best Practices

​Next Steps

What is Fast Response?

Where to set it

Using a variable

How it relates to other settings

Best Practices

Next Steps