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Call queues

Call queues

Feb 18, 2026

Queues are the core call routing mechanism in UltraCart Calls. When a call arrives, it enters a queue where it waits until an available agent is assigned. Queues support custom greetings, hold music, configurable wrap-up periods, voicemail fallback, and AI coaching.

Overview

A queue represents a team or function in your organization -- "Sales," "Support," "Billing," and so on. You assign agents to a queue, and when a call enters that queue, the system automatically finds an available agent and connects them.

While waiting, callers hear a greeting followed by hold music. If no agents are available, the queue can fall back to voicemail so callers aren't left waiting indefinitely. After an agent finishes a call, they enter a configurable wrap-up period before receiving the next call.

Creating a new queue

  1. Navigate to Calls > Settings > Queues.

  2. Select Add Queue.

  3. Enter a descriptive name for the queue (e.g., "Sales Team" or "Technical Support").

  4. Configure the sections described below.

  5. Select Save.

Caller experience settings

These settings control what callers hear when they enter the queue.

Greeting

The greeting plays once when a caller first enters the queue. Choose between:

  • Audio file -- upload a pre-recorded greeting from the audio library.

  • Text-to-speech -- type a greeting message and select a male or female voice. The system generates the audio automatically.

A typical greeting might be: "Thank you for calling. Your call is important to us. Please hold while we connect you to the next available agent."

Hold music

Upload an audio file that plays on a loop while the caller waits. If no hold music is configured, callers hear silence while waiting.

Queue position announcements

Enable Announce Queue Position to periodically tell callers their place in the queue (e.g., "You are caller number 3 in the queue"). This helps callers decide whether to continue waiting or leave a voicemail.

Agent membership

Agents receive calls from a queue only if they are assigned as members. You can assign agents individually or by group.

Assigning individual agents

Under Queue members in the queue edit dialog, toggle each agent on or off. Both human agents and AI agents can be assigned to a queue. Human agents display a person icon; AI agents display an AI icon.

Assigning agent groups

If your organization uses agent groups, you can toggle an entire group on or off. This adds or removes all agents in that group at once.

AI agent settings

When a queue includes AI agents, additional settings appear:

  • AI Priority -- controls when AI agents handle calls:

    • Neutral -- AI agents are treated the same as human agents

    • First -- the AI agent answers first; if it can't resolve the call within the timeout, it routes to a human agent

    • Backup -- the AI agent only answers when no human agents are available

  • AI Timeout -- the number of seconds the AI agent has to handle the call before routing to a human (applies to First and Backup priority modes)

Timing and thresholds

Wrap-up time

After an agent finishes a call from this queue, they enter a Wrap-Up period. During wrap-up, the agent's status shows "Wrap-Up" with a countdown timer, and they don't receive new calls. This gives agents time to complete notes or other post-call tasks.

Set the wrap-up duration in seconds. A value of 0 disables wrap-up -- agents return to their previous status immediately after the call ends.

15-30 seconds is a common wrap-up duration for most support teams. Adjust based on how much post-call work your agents typically need.

Max hold time

The maximum number of seconds a caller waits in the queue before being redirected. When a caller's wait time exceeds this threshold, the call routes to the queue's voicemail fallback (if configured).

Wait warning and critical thresholds

These thresholds control the color coding in the queue monitoring dashboard:

  • Wait Warning -- when a caller's wait time exceeds this threshold (in seconds), their entry turns yellow in the dashboard

  • Wait Critical -- when wait time exceeds this threshold, their entry turns red

These are visual indicators only and don't affect call routing.

Recording

Enable Record Calls to automatically record all calls taken from this queue. When enabled, recording starts as soon as the agent connects with the caller. Agents can still pause and resume recording during the call.

For details on recording controls and storage, see Call recording.

AI coaching

Assign an AI Coach Agent to provide real-time guidance to human agents during calls from this queue. When AI coaching is active, the AI listens to the conversation and sends whisper suggestions that only the agent can see.

The AI Coach dropdown only shows AI agents. Selecting an AI coach applies to all calls in the queue -- individual agents don't need to enable it separately.

See AI voice agents for more on configuring AI coaching.

Voicemail fallback

When no agents are online or available for a queue, you can route callers to voicemail instead of leaving them on hold indefinitely.

Configure the No Agent Available setting to control what happens:

  • Audio file -- play a message (e.g., "All agents are currently offline. Please call back during business hours.") and disconnect

  • Text-to-speech -- generate an audio message with male or female voice

  • Voicemail mailbox -- route the caller to a shared voicemail mailbox where they can leave a message

When routed to a queue voicemail mailbox, all agents in the queue (and all admins) can see and manage the messages. See Voicemail for details on configuring shared mailboxes.

Callers can also opt out of waiting by pressing a key to go directly to voicemail. This is configured through the queue position announcement.

Copying and deleting queues

Copying a queue

To duplicate a queue's configuration, select Copy Queue from the queue's edit dialog. This creates a new queue with the same settings, greetings, and membership, with " - Copy" appended to the name. You can then rename it and adjust settings as needed.

Deleting a queue

To remove a queue, select Delete from the queue's edit dialog. Before deleting, verify that no phone numbers or time-based rules route to this queue. If other routing rules reference the queue, update them first.

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