Experience - rapida.ai documentation

Experience settings control how a deployment behaves during a live session: what the assistant says first, what happens when the user goes quiet, how long the session can run, and which starter prompts appear in supported channels. These settings are configured per deployment. The same assistant can use different experience settings for Phone Call, Web Widget, Web App / SDK, WhatsApp, and Debugger deployments.

Experience settings are separate from Listen and Speak settings. Use Listen for speech-to-text, VAD, noise cancellation, and end-of-speech configuration. Use Speak for text-to-speech, voice, pronunciation, and speech delivery.

Parameter reference

Dashboard label	SDK / API field	Type	Default	Range	Description
Greeting	`greeting`	`string`	None	Any text	First message sent when a session starts. In voice deployments, this is spoken. In text deployments, this is shown as the first assistant message.
Greeting interruptible	`greetingInterruptible`	`boolean`	`true`	`true` / `false`	Controls whether users can interrupt the opening greeting in audio sessions. Set to `false` when the full greeting must be heard before the user can speak.
Error message	`mistake`	`string`	None	Any text	Fallback message used when the assistant cannot understand the user input, cannot handle the request, or hits an unrecoverable runtime error.
Idle silence timeout	`idealTimeout`	`uint64` seconds	`30`	`15`-`120`	Time to wait for user input before sending the idle message.
Idle timeout backoff	`idealTimeoutBackoff`	`uint64`	`2`	`0`-`5`	Number of idle-timeout retries before the inactive session is allowed to end.
Idle message	`idealTimeoutMessage`	`string`	`Are you there?`	Any text	Message sent when the idle silence timeout expires without user input.
Maximum session duration	`maxSessionDuration`	`uint64` seconds	`300`	`180`-`600`	Hard cap on session length. The session ends when this limit is reached, even if the user is active.
Quickstart questions	`suggestion` / `suggestionList`	`string[]`	None	List of text prompts	Starter prompts shown as clickable options in the Web Widget home screen.

Generated SDK method names vary by language. For example, the JavaScript SDK uses setters such as setGreeting, setMistake, and setIdealtimeout. The logical field names above match the deployment API and SDK reference pages.

Runtime overrides

You can override experience settings for a single outbound phone call by passing experience options when creating the call. Runtime overrides do not update the saved Phone Call deployment; they only apply to the conversation being created. Use the options map on CreatePhoneCallRequest with experience.* keys:

{
  "assistant": {
    "assistantId": "2230142097179373568",
    "version": "latest"
  },
  "toNumber": "+14155550123",
  "fromNumber": "+14155550100",
  "args": {
    "name": "Jane"
  },
  "options": {
    "experience.greeting": "Hi {{name}}, this is Rapida calling about your appointment.",
    "experience.greeting_interruptible": false,
    "experience.mistake": "Sorry, I did not understand that.",
    "experience.ideal_timeout": 30,
    "experience.ideal_timeout_backoff": 2,
    "experience.ideal_timeout_message": "Are you still there?",
    "experience.max_session_duration": 300
  }
}

For bulk outbound calls, pass the same options object on each CreatePhoneCallRequest inside the bulk request. This lets each recipient receive a different greeting, timeout policy, or session duration.

Option key	Type	Overrides	Description
`experience.greeting`	`string`	`greeting`	Opening message for this call. Supports the same `{{variable}}` syntax as the saved deployment greeting.
`experience.greeting_interruptible`	`boolean`	`greetingInterruptible`	Controls whether the caller can interrupt the opening greeting.
`experience.mistake`	`string`	`mistake`	Error or fallback message for this call.
`experience.ideal_timeout`	`number` seconds	`idealTimeout`	Idle silence timeout for this call.
`experience.ideal_timeout_backoff`	`number`	`idealTimeoutBackoff`	Number of idle prompts before the inactive call can end.
`experience.ideal_timeout_message`	`string`	`idealTimeoutMessage`	Message sent when the idle timeout expires.
`experience.max_session_duration`	`number` seconds	`maxSessionDuration`	Hard session duration limit for this call.

Use args for values you want to interpolate into prompts, such as {{name}}. Use options for runtime experience overrides, such as experience.greeting or experience.max_session_duration.

Session lifecycle

Session starts

Rapida creates a session for the selected deployment and sends the configured greeting.

User becomes inactive

If no user input arrives within idealTimeout, Rapida sends idealTimeoutMessage.

Idle retries are exhausted

idealTimeoutBackoff controls how many idle prompts can be sent before the inactive session is allowed to end.

Session reaches its hard limit

maxSessionDuration ends the session regardless of idle state. Use this to prevent runaway calls, long browser sessions, or abandoned conversations.

Greeting variables

Use {{variable}} syntax in the greeting when the deployment receives runtime arguments. For Web App / SDK public URLs, query parameters are available to the greeting:

https://app.rapida.ai/preview/public/assistant/{ASSISTANT_ID}?token={KEY}&name=John

Hello {{name}}, how can I help you today?

For outbound phone calls, pass runtime values through call args and reference the matching variable names in the greeting.

Quickstart questions

Quickstart questions are only used by Web Widget deployments. They appear below the greeting as clickable prompts that help users start a conversation without typing. Good quickstart questions are short, specific, and action-oriented:

Good	Avoid
`Book a demo`	`How can I use this assistant?`
`Check my order status`	`Tell me more`
`Talk to support`	`Question`

Recommended defaults

Use these defaults for most deployments unless the channel needs different behavior.

Setting	Recommended value	Notes
Greeting	A short channel-specific opener	Voice greetings should be speakable in one sentence.
Greeting interruptible	`true`	Set to `false` only when callers must hear the full greeting before speaking.
Error message	`Sorry, I did not understand that.`	Keep it short and avoid exposing internal errors.
Idle silence timeout	`30`	Lower values feel faster; higher values give users more time to respond.
Idle timeout backoff	`2`	Gives the user two chances before ending an inactive session.
Idle message	`Are you still there?`	Use a neutral prompt that works across channels.
Maximum session duration	`300`	Five minutes is a good starting point for calls and live web sessions.

SDK / API shape

The same experience fields appear across deployment variants:

{
  "greeting": "Hi {{name}}, how can I help you today?",
  "greetingInterruptible": true,
  "mistake": "Sorry, I did not understand that.",
  "idealTimeout": 30,
  "idealTimeoutBackoff": 2,
  "idealTimeoutMessage": "Are you still there?",
  "maxSessionDuration": 300
}

Web Widget deployments can also include quickstart questions:

{
  "suggestion": ["Book a demo", "Talk to support", "Check my order status"]
}

Phone Call

Configure experience settings for inbound and outbound calls.

Web Widget

Add greeting text, quickstart questions, and widget behavior.

Listen

Configure speech-to-text, noise cancellation, VAD, and end-of-speech.

Speak

Configure text-to-speech, voices, pronunciation, and spoken output.

​Parameter reference

​Runtime overrides

​Session lifecycle

​Greeting variables

​Quickstart questions

​Recommended defaults

​SDK / API shape

​Related

Phone Call

Web Widget

Listen

Speak

Parameter reference

Runtime overrides

Session lifecycle

Greeting variables

Quickstart questions

Recommended defaults

SDK / API shape

Related