- Language selection — “Press 1 for English, press 2 for Hindi”
- Consent gates — “Press 1 to continue, press 2 to opt out”
- Department routing — “Press 1 for Sales, press 2 for Support”
- Fixed announcements — play a message and hang up, or play and continue
- Pre-qualification — collect a simple choice before the AI conversation starts
IVR nodes run before any AI or speech recognition. The caller hears a pre-written message and presses a number key. No transcript is created during the IVR phase.
How it works
- The call connects and the IVR phase starts on the first node (the starting node).
- The agent speaks the message for that node.
- The caller presses a key (or does nothing).
- The call routes to the next node based on the key pressed — which can be another IVR node or the start of the AI conversation.
- Once the call reaches the first AI (LLM) node, the normal voice-agent conversation begins.
Setting up an IVR node
On the Pathway canvas, add a new node and set its Node Type to IVR. The configuration panel shows the IVR-specific fields described below.Message
The text the agent speaks when this node is entered. You can include call variables using{{variable_name}} — for example, Hello {{customer_name}}, press 1 to continue.
Timeout
How many seconds to wait for a key press after the message finishes. Default is 8 seconds. If the caller does not press anything within this time, it counts as “no input.”Max Retries
How many times the message plays before the call routes to the No Input destination. For example, if Max Retries is set to 2, the message plays twice total before routing — once on first entry, once after the first timeout.No Input Destination
Where the call goes when the caller does not press any key after all retries are exhausted. This can be the same IVR node (to repeat), a different IVR node, or an AI conversation node.Invalid Key Destination
Where the call goes when the caller presses a key that is not in your menu options. You can re-route to the same node to replay the menu, or send them somewhere else.Key Options
The routing table — each entry maps one key to the next node:
You can use keys 0–9. Each key must map to an existing node in your pathway.
Special modes
Skip Input (announcement node)
Turn this on to speak the message and immediately move to the No Input Destination without waiting for a key press. Use this when you want to play a fixed announcement and continue automatically — for example, a legal disclaimer before the conversation.Hang Up After Message
Turn this on to speak the message and end the call immediately. Use this as a terminal node — for example, to play “You have opted out. Goodbye.” and disconnect.Message while switching
Like AI nodes, an IVR node can have a Message while switching — a short phrase spoken when the call first arrives at this node (not on retries). Use it to fill the brief pause between nodes: “Please wait while we connect you.” Set the type to Static and write your message. This message plays before the node’s main message on the first visit only.Conditions
After the agent finishes speaking, it can check conditions against the call’s pre-loaded variables before waiting for any key press. If a condition matches, the call routes to that node immediately — the caller does not need to press anything. This is useful when you already know something about the caller from the campaign data or CRM — for example, their preferred language or whether they previously opted out.Conditions are evaluated after the message and before any key-press wait. The first condition that matches wins. If no condition matches, the normal key-press menu runs as usual.
What you can use in conditions
Only metadata variables — values loaded before the call starts (from the batch row, API trigger, or pre-call function). You cannot use variables captured during the call, because the AI has not started yet. Expression format (same as Pathway node conditions, expression type only):- Every comparison must be wrapped in
( ). - String values use single quotes:
'english' - Boolean values:
TrueorFalse(capital first letter) - Combine with
AND/OR(uppercase), wrapped in an extra( ):((metadata.a == 'x') AND (metadata.b == True)) - Operators:
==!=><>=<=
Conditions vs key options
Post-call variables
When a call ends while still in the IVR phase (the AI never started), there is no conversation for the AI to analyse. You can configure each IVR node to save static post-call values instead, so your analytics and workflows still receive meaningful data.Toggle behaviour
The values from whichever IVR node the call was on when it ended are the ones that get saved. If the caller hangs up at node A, node A’s values are used. If the caller pressed 1 and reached node B before dropping, node B’s values are used.
Setting values
When the toggle is on, you see a table with three columns: Variable name, Type, and Value. Two variables are pre-filled by default because they drive most analytics, workflows, and CRM updates:
You can add more variables to match any post-call variables defined on your agent.
Variable types:
Example: language selection menu
english_main — an AI capability node — and the normal voice conversation begins.