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

# Unfinished Sentences

> Before the agent replies, Bananaflow checks whether the caller has really finished. If they stopped mid-sentence or asked for a moment, the agent waits instead of cutting in.

## Overview

Callers pause in the middle of things. They stop to find a card, read out a number in pieces, or say "one minute" while they check something. Without a check, the agent hears the pause as the end of the turn and replies too soon.

With **Wait for unfinished sentences** on, Bananaflow checks, each time the caller pauses, whether they actually finished before the agent replies. If they did not, the agent waits.

This adds a short check before each reply. If the check does not answer in time, the agent replies as it would without it, so a slow check never holds up the call.

## The three answers

The check always gives one of three answers. The answers are fixed and cannot be changed.

| Answer | Example | What the agent does |
| - | - | - |
| **Done** | "I'd like to book a table for two." | Replies now. |
| **Cut off** | "My number is 98…" | Waits the [wait after a cut-off sentence](#the-two-waits), then replies if the caller has not gone on. |
| **Needs time** | "One minute, let me check." | Waits the [wait when the caller asks for time](#the-two-waits), then replies if the caller has not gone on. |

If the caller starts speaking again during a wait, the wait ends and the agent keeps listening. The next pause is checked again, on everything the caller has said in that turn.

## Turning it on

1. Open the agent and go to **Settings**, then **Voice & conversation**.
2. Under **Turn detection**, turn on **Wait for unfinished sentences**.
3. Save, then publish the agent for the change to reach live calls.

New agents on Bananaflow-managed voices start with it on. Agents created before this setting existed keep it off until you turn it on.

The check only runs when Bananaflow itself decides that the caller has paused. The page greys the setting out, and says why, when:

* the agent's voice decides by itself when the caller has finished, because its speech recognition marks the end of each turn, or
* the agent uses a realtime voice, which handles turn-taking itself.

## The two waits

Both waits are in seconds. The wait when the caller asks for time must be at least as long as the wait after a cut-off sentence, and the page shows an error until it is.

| Wait | Used when | Default | Range |
| - | - | - | - |
| **Wait after a cut-off sentence** | The caller stopped mid-sentence. | 3 seconds | 2 to 10 seconds |
| **Wait when the caller asks for time** | The caller asked for a moment. | 10 seconds | 5 to 20 seconds |

## The prompt for the check

The check follows a prompt, and you can read and change all of it. Nothing is hidden from you. It is under **Prompt for the check**, below the two waits.

The answer is always done, cut off or needs time. The prompt only changes how the check decides. No prompt can change the answers.

### Default and custom

| Label | What it means |
| - | - |
| **Default · v…** | The agent uses Bananaflow's default prompt, shown in the box with its version. When the default improves, the agent gets the new version without you doing anything. |
| **Custom** | You changed the prompt. The agent uses your text exactly, and no longer follows updates to the default. |

The box starts filled with the default prompt. Edit it in place to make it your own. For example, add a line about your callers:

```text theme={null}
Phone numbers here have 10 digits. If the caller has said fewer, they are still speaking.
```

With that line, a caller who says "my number is 98450" and pauses is treated as cut off, so the agent waits for the rest of the number.

The prompt can be up to 12,000 characters, and a counter below the box shows how many you have used.

### Going back to the default

**Reset to default** puts the default prompt back in the box. It is only active when the prompt is custom.

You never save a copy of the default by accident. If your text is the same as the default once spaces at the start and end are ignored, or the box is empty, the agent is saved as using the default, and keeps getting updates to it.

### If the default prompt cannot be loaded

The page says so. If the agent has a custom prompt, you can still see and edit it. If the agent uses the default, the box is not shown until the default loads again. Reload the page to try again.

> [!NOTE]
>
> As with any settings change, save and then publish the agent for a new prompt to reach live calls.


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