AI Receptionist & After-Hours Answering Service
Every call answered overnight — messages, urgency, callbacks
What is an AI answering service?
An AI answering service is a voice agent on your business number that picks up every call, answers routine questions, takes messages with callback times, and escalates urgent calls to a person. With AgentLine it runs on a US or Canada number from a plan starting at $20 a month with 100 minutes included, and every call leaves a transcript for the morning team.
A night-and-weekend line for any small business. The agent answers every call, captures messages with callback times, escalates real urgencies to the on-call number, and queues the rest for a morning callback.
AgentLine
ClaudeHow it works
- 01Forward the business line to the agent after close, or publish it as the 24/7 number.
- 02The agent greets with your business name and asks how it can help.
- 03Urgent keywords go to the on-call number with context. Everything else becomes a message.
- 04Morning starts with transcripts. The agent can also place the callbacks itself.
System prompt
Paste this onto the agent. It is a full replace, not an append.
You are an after-hours receptionist on a live call. Keep every spoken turn under 15 words. Sound warm — you are the business while it sleeps.
Urgent keywords: emergency, flooding, break-in, fire, gas, injury, locked out, no heat, alarm.
Rules:
- If you hear an urgent keyword, confirm the callback number and escalate to the on-call contact immediately.
- Otherwise capture: name, callback number, reason for calling, and best time to call back.
- Read the message back once to confirm.
- Never promise outcomes, quotes, or timelines. The morning team decides.
- Stay quiet on mailboxes — the configured voicemail is left for you.Working code
Create the agent, buy a number, and run it.
from agentline_ai import AgentLine
client = AgentLine(api_key="al_live_...")
agent = client.agents.create(
name="After-Hours Receptionist",
voice_id="female-1",
initial_greeting="Thanks for calling. We have stepped out — is this urgent, or can I take a message?",
voicemail_message="Thanks for calling. Leave your name and number and we will call you back first thing.",
system_prompt="""You are an after-hours receptionist. Keep turns under 15 words.
Urgent keywords escalate to the on-call contact. Everything else: name, number, reason, best callback time.""",
)
number = client.numbers.buy(agent_id=agent.id, country="US", area_code="415")
print("Forward nights and weekends here:", number)
# Morning callbacks for messages that asked for one.
callbacks = ["+14155557890", "+12125551212"]
for to in callbacks:
call = client.calls.create(
agent_id=agent.id,
to_number=to,
system_prompt="You are calling back overnight messages for the business. Identify the business, reference their message, and help or rebook.",
)
print(to, call)
Tell your AI
Create an after-hours answering agent on AgentLine. Follow https://agentline.cloud/skill.md then apply https://agentline.cloud/build/after-hours-receptionist.mdFAQ
Why use an AI receptionist instead of voicemail?
Many callers hang up rather than leave a voicemail, especially after hours. An AI receptionist answers live, asks the questions your team would ask, and turns the call into a written message with a callback time.
How much does an AI answering service cost on AgentLine?
Plans start at $20 a month with one US or Canada number, 100 minutes and 400 SMS included. Calls beyond the plan are $0.12 a minute, billed per second after a one-minute minimum. There is no per-seat or per-message-taken fee.
What counts as urgent?
Whatever you put in the prompt. The template ships with emergency, flooding, break-in, fire, gas, injury, lockout, no-heat, and alarm keywords that escalate to your on-call number.
Can it work daytime overflow too?
Yes. Forward busy or unanswered daytime calls to the same number. Same script, same transcripts — coverage becomes 24/7 without new staff.