Pre-call tool

Learn how Pre-call Tools automatically retrieve caller background information from DoubleTick and external systems to deliver contextualized, personalized AI voice interactions.

What’s covered

• Overview & core benefits

• Key prerequisites

• How to create a pre-call tool

• Practical setup example

What is a pre-call tool

Think of your DoubleTick AI voice agent like a phone receptionist. Normally, when a customer calls, the receptionist does not know anything about them until the caller explains who they are and what they need.

A pre-call tool changes that. It is a quick background action that runs the moment a call starts, right before your AI agent speaks its first word. It quietly looks up customer information from your external system (like your CRM, order database, or account portal) and hands that data to the AI agent. This means your agent already knows who is calling and their account context from the very first second.

Core benefits

• No repeated questions: Your AI agent already knows basic customer details, so callers do not have to repeat themselves.

• Faster conversations: Details are fetched instantly in the background, eliminating awkward pauses during the call.

• Built specifically for voice: Works exclusively with phone calls, where getting instant context matters most.

• Runs on autopilot: Set it up once, and it will automatically run before every incoming or outgoing call without any manual effort.

Key prerequisites

Before you create a pre-call tool, make sure you have:

• An active DoubleTick AI voice agent.

• A working external API endpoint that can look up customer data using a phone number or customer ID.

• Any required API authentication details (like an API key or bearer token).

How to create a pre-call tool

Follow these steps to set up a new pre-call tool for your AI voice agent.

1. Open your AI agent: Go to AI Agent and open the AI agent where you want to add the pre-call tool.

2. Go to tools: Click Tools from the top navigation.

3. Add a pre-call tool: Click Add pre-call tool.

4. Enter the tool details: Add a name and description for the tool. The description should clearly explain what the tool does and what information it returns.

5. Select the tool type: Under Type, select API.

6. Choose where the tool is available: Under Available for, select Voice only. Pre-call tools run before an AI voice call starts and provide the response to the AI as context.

7. Add parameters: Under Parameters, click Add parameter and enter the details required by your API.

   For example:

   • Name: customerPhone

   • Type: String

   • Description: Add a short description explaining what the parameter is used for.

   • Sample value: Enter an example phone number.

   • Turn on Required parameter if the API needs this value for every request.

   You can also use Import from cURL if you already have a cURL request for your API.

8. Set up the API request: Select the required Method, such as GET or POST, and enter the URL of your API.

9. Add the required headers: Under Headers, click Add header and enter the headers required by your API, such as Authorization or Accept.

10. Use customer details in the request: You can use {{customerId}} and {{customerPhone}} in the API URL or request body. DoubleTick automatically fills these values from the customer details when the call starts.

11. Test the API: Click Test API to check whether the request is working correctly. Review the response to make sure the API is returning the information your AI agent needs.

12. Create the tool: Once the API test is successful, click Create to save the pre-call tool.

Note: A pre-call tool runs before the AI voice call starts. Its response is passed to the AI agent as context, so the agent can use the information from the start of the conversation. The tool cannot be called during the call.

Practical setup example: looking up customer details

Let’s say you want your AI voice agent to know a customer’s details before the call starts.

You can create a pre-call tool that sends the customer’s phone number to your API and gets the customer’s information before the call connects.

Example setup:

• Tool name: get customer details

• Description: Add a short description explaining that the tool fetches customer details before the call.

• Type: Select API.

• Available for: Select Voice only.

• Parameter: Add the customer phone number as a parameter.

• Method: Select GET.

• URL: Enter your customer details API and pass the phone number as a parameter.

• Headers: Add the required API headers, such as Authorization and Accept.

For example, your API request can use the customer’s phone number to fetch their details. You can use {{customerPhone}} in the URL so DoubleTick automatically fills in the phone number of the customer being called.

Once the API is configured, click Test API to check the response. If the API returns the expected customer details, click Create to save the pre-call tool.

The next time the AI voice agent makes a call, the tool runs before the call starts and gives the agent the customer information as context.

Suggested articles How to create a voice AI agent in DoubleTick How to create an API tool How to create a Bot tool How to test your voice AI agent