> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.voxhealth.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Assistants

> Your voice agents. What they say, how they sound, and what they are allowed to do.

An **assistant** is one configured voice agent. It has a greeting, a voice, a set of [capabilities](/agents/capabilities), and a [knowledge base](/agents/knowledge-base) attached to it. A [phone number](/channels/phone-numbers) points at exactly one assistant.

Most practices run a single assistant on their main line. You need more than one when a line should behave differently: a Spanish-language line, a separate number for a specialty clinic, or a billing line that should never book appointments.

**Settings → Assistants.**

## What you configure

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Identity and greeting" icon="comment">
    The name the agent gives, and the first thing a caller hears. Keep the greeting short. Callers start talking over anything longer than a sentence or two.

    Say the practice name and offer help. Do not list options; the agent is not a phone tree, and listing options teaches callers to wait for a menu.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Voice and speaking style" icon="waveform">
    Voice, speaking rate, and how the agent handles interruptions. A caller can also ask the agent directly to slow down or speak up mid-call, and it will.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Capabilities" icon="sliders">
    The toggles that decide what the agent can actually do: book, cancel, quote a balance, register a new patient, transfer. Each one is described in [Capabilities](/agents/capabilities).

    A capability that is off is not merely discouraged: the agent has no tool for it, so it cannot do it by accident.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Knowledge base" icon="database">
    Which [knowledge bases](/agents/knowledge-base) this assistant can search when a caller asks a question about your practice.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Language" icon="language">
    The language the agent opens in. Callers can switch mid-call on a multilingual line.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Changing an assistant

Changes take effect on the next call. There is no redeploy and no window where the number stops answering.

<Warning>
  Changing an assistant changes what happens on live calls immediately. If you are making a substantial change to the greeting or to capabilities, do it outside your busiest hours and place a test call afterwards.
</Warning>

## Running more than one

When you add a second assistant, decide what makes it different before you copy the first one. Two assistants that differ only in name are a maintenance problem. A knowledge base update to one silently leaves the other stale.

Good reasons for a second assistant:

* **A different language.** Different greeting, different voice.
* **A different scope.** A billing line with scheduling off, or an after-hours line that only takes messages.
* **A different location** with materially different policies.

Not a good reason: a different phone number. Several numbers can point at the same assistant.