# SMS agents

> Ask your AI assistant to create, edit or delete the AI agents that reply to your leads' text messages.

- Section: Using the MCP (AI assistant) › Channels & integrations
- Web page: https://docs.biglysales.com/mcp/sms-agents
- Manual (in-app) equivalent: [SMS agents](https://docs.biglysales.com/manual/sms-agents.md)
- Video: placeholder — "Creating an SMS agent with your AI assistant" (not yet recorded)

An **SMS agent** is an AI that answers your leads' text messages for you. It replies in your company's voice, works out what the lead wants (to talk now, a callback later, a meeting, or to stop texting), and can book meetings if you allow it. Your **default** agent is the one that answers incoming texts.

These are the agents on **AI › SMS Agents** in the app. Your assistant can list them, read one in full, create new ones, edit them and delete them.

> **Example request to your AI assistant:** "List our SMS agents and tell me which one is the default."
> "Create an SMS agent called Sales Assistant that qualifies solar leads and offers a callback."
> "Let the Sales Assistant agent book meetings."
> "Make Sales Assistant active and set it as our default agent."

## Before you start

- [Connect your AI assistant](https://docs.biglysales.com/mcp/connect.md) to Bigly.
- You need permission to **read** SMS agents to see them, and permission to **update** SMS agents to create, change or delete one. Account owners and admins have both by default.
- SMS agents only answer texts on accounts with phone numbers. On a web-calling-only account they never receive a message.

## What the assistant reads

- **List**: every agent with its number (ID), name, status, model, and whether it's the default. The active default comes first, then other active agents, then drafts.
- **Read one**: every setting of a single agent.
- **Models**: the language models you can choose from.

## Create or change an agent

1. Describe the agent or the change. To edit, name the agent. Without a name, the assistant creates a new one.
2. The assistant shows a **preview**. It says whether this will **create** or **update** an agent and lists each field with its current value and its new value.
3. Confirm in the chat.

A new agent starts as a **Draft** unless you say otherwise. Drafts don't answer anyone, so you can try a new agent safely.

> [Screenshot placeholder: New SMS agent preview — A Claude conversation previewing a new Bigly SMS agent named Sales Assistant: status Draft, tone Professional, model gpt-4o, an opening greeting and an objective, with a request to confirm.]

## Settings explained

| Setting | On screen | Accepted values |
|---|---|---|
| Name (`name`) | **Agent Name** | Required for a new agent. Up to 255 characters. |
| Objective (`description`) | **Agent Objective** | What the agent is meant to achieve. |
| Opening greeting (`greeting`) | **Opening Greeting** | The agent's first message. Can include contact details in double braces, such as `{{FirstName}}`. |
| Follow-up instruction (`followup_instruction`) | **Follow-up Instruction** | How the agent writes a follow-up when a lead hasn't replied. Leave it empty to use Bigly's default. |
| System prompt (`raw_prompt`) | The prompt box on **Prompt & Model** | The agent's full instructions. |
| Model and provider (`model`, `provider`) | **Prompt & Model** | A model from the list the assistant reads. New agents use gpt-4o from OpenAI. |
| Temperature (`temperature`) | **Temperature** | 0 to 2. New agents use 0.7. |
| Max output tokens (`max_tokens`) | **Max Output Tokens** | 256 to 8,192. New agents use 1,024. |
| Top P (`top_p`) | **Top P** | 0 to 1. New agents use 1. |
| Book meetings (`can_book_meetings`) | **Book meetings** | On or off. Off for new agents. |
| Status (`status`) | **Active** / **Draft** | Active or draft |
| Default (`is_default`) | **Set Default** | On or off |
| Tone, company name and description (`tone`, `company_name`, `company_description`) | | Extra details for the prompt. New agents use the tone Professional. |

## Limits and rules

- Only an **active** agent can be the default.
- You can have only one default. Making an agent the default removes the default from the one before it.
- Setting an agent back to **Draft** also removes it as the default.
- Only the settings in the table can be changed. Anything else is rejected.

## Delete an agent

Ask the assistant to delete an agent by name. It asks you to confirm first. If you delete your default agent, make another active agent the default so incoming texts are still answered.

## What you can't change here

- **Test** chats with an agent are only in the app. Open the agent on **AI › SMS Agents** and use the **Test** tab. See [SMS agents in the app](https://docs.biglysales.com/manual/sms-agents.md).
- **Text messages themselves** can't be read or sent through the MCP. Use the [Inbox](https://docs.biglysales.com/manual/inbox.md).
- **SMS campaigns** and **10DLC registration** are app-only. See [SMS campaigns](https://docs.biglysales.com/manual/sms-campaigns.md) and [10DLC registration](https://docs.biglysales.com/manual/10dlc-registration.md).

## Related

- [SMS agents in the app](https://docs.biglysales.com/manual/sms-agents.md)
- [Guided workflows](https://docs.biglysales.com/mcp/guided-workflows.md), including *create an SMS agent*
- [Reference resources](https://docs.biglysales.com/mcp/reference-resources.md), including the model catalog

---

All documentation pages: https://docs.biglysales.com/llms.txt