Call timeout settings

Call timeout settings control when an assistant ends a silent or long-running call. Use them to close inactive calls and set a hard limit on total call duration.

How call timeouts work

Silence Timeout ends a call after the configured period of inactivity. Maximum Duration ends a call when its total duration reaches the configured limit, even if the conversation is active.

call.timeElapsed hooks can warn the user or begin wrapping up before Maximum Duration. The hooks do not replace or extend the hard duration limit.

Configure via Dashboard

Select an assistant

Open the Dashboard. Select Assistants, then select the assistant you want to configure.

Open Call Timeout Settings

Select the Advanced tab, then locate Call Timeout Settings.

Set the silence timeout

Set Silence Timeout from 5 to 3,600 seconds.

Set the maximum duration

Set Maximum Duration from 10 to 43,200 seconds.

Publish the assistant

Select publish in the unsaved-changes message to apply the update.

API fields

Use these fields when you create or update an assistant through the API:

Dashboard setting	API field	Behavior
Silence Timeout	`silenceTimeoutSeconds`	Ends the call after the configured number of seconds without activity.
Maximum Duration	`maxDurationSeconds`	Ends the call after the configured total number of seconds. The allowed range is 10–43,200 seconds. Default is 600 seconds.

This example ends a call after 30 seconds of inactivity or 10 minutes of total call time:

1 {
2   "silenceTimeoutSeconds": 30,
3   "maxDurationSeconds": 600
4 }

The current generated schema for regular assistants does not state a minimum or default for silenceTimeoutSeconds. The Dashboard accepts values from 5 to 3,600 seconds.

Troubleshoot call endings

Calls that end because of timeout settings are expected call endings, not call errors.

Ended reason	What happened	What to check
`silence-timed-out`	The call reached `silenceTimeoutSeconds` without activity.	Increase Silence Timeout if active calls end during normal pauses.
`exceeded-max-duration`	The call reached `maxDurationSeconds`.	Increase Maximum Duration, or use `call.timeElapsed` hooks to wrap up before the limit.

See call end reasons for the complete list of ended reasons. For additional diagnostic guidance, see Troubleshoot call errors.