# Pulse (/docs/guides/campaign-toolkit/pulse)



What is Pulse? [#what-is-pulse]

Pulse is the omnichannel workflow builder for a campaign. It's where you lay out what happens, and when, from the first attempt to reach a customer through every follow-up. In one place you configure:

* Contact cadences (when and how often to reach out)
* Time delays and retry paths
* Calls, with pre-call SMS and voicemail options
* SMS messages and templates
* What happens after each call, based on its outcome

Calls produce **dispositions** (their outcomes), which can choose the next step:
wait and try again, send a text, or stop. System-managed stops and recovery paths
can take precedence over an authored branch.

Voice AI vs Agent Queue Workflows [#voice-ai-vs-agent-queue-workflows]

Pulses come in two flavors, matching your campaign type. They share the same building blocks (the same nodes, SMS, dispositions, and waits), and differ mainly in **who handles the call** and **how a disposition is set**.

<Tabs items="[&#x22;Voice AI pulse&#x22;, &#x22;Agent Queue pulse&#x22;]">
  <Tab value="Voice AI pulse">
    Calls are placed and handled by your **AI employee**.

    * A **Call node** schedules an outbound AI call. Incoming calls do not automatically become campaign Pulse steps.
    * The **disposition is determined automatically** at the end of each call from what happened on the line and in the conversation.
    * How the employee handles questions and escalates is controlled by &#x2A;*Configuration > [Scenarios & escalations](/docs/guides/campaign-toolkit/assistant-behaviors)**. Configured handled outcomes can end a journey before its retry branch.
  </Tab>

  <Tab value="Agent Queue pulse">
    Calls are handled by your **live agents** through the careCycle softphone.

    * For a normal outbound call, careCycle dials the customer first and runs answering-machine detection (AMD). A live-person result proceeds to agents; an uncertain or failed classifier can fall through to agents rather than discard a possible person.
    * Dialing is paced to live agent availability. If no agent is ready before a call starts, the customer stays queued without consuming an attempt.
    * If a live customer has been confirmed but no agent accepts, careCycle plays the required abandonment message, records **Abandoned**, and returns the customer to the queue without advancing Pulse.
    * Requested callbacks are the exception: careCycle rings an agent first and dials the customer only after the agent accepts.
    * The **disposition is set by the agent at wrap-up** (for example, Sale, No Sale, Callback Scheduled). Deterministic system outcomes such as No Answer and Voicemail are set automatically.
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

The rest of this section (nodes, SMS, dispositions, and error handling) applies to both types. Where the two differ, the page says so.

Both Inbound and Outbound Agent Queues use the human executor for normal Pulse
calls. Incoming handling does not switch that executor to AI. Read
[Campaign Types and Configuration](/docs/guides/campaign-toolkit/campaigns)
for setup differences and the special Receptionist boundary. Pulse **Save
draft**, **Publish**, campaign activation, and enrollment are separate actions.

In this section [#in-this-section]

Watching a Live Pulse [#watching-a-live-pulse]

Once a campaign is running, the Pulse builder has a live view (the Live
toggle, or `?view=live` on the URL) that overlays how many customers are
sitting at each step right now. It is the quickest way to see where a cohort
is bunching up, for example a wait step holding everyone until tomorrow's
window.

<Cards>
  <Card title="Nodes and Configuration" href="/docs/guides/campaign-toolkit/pulse/nodes-and-configuration">
    The node types that make up a Pulse, how to configure a call node, and sending SMS (templates, pre-call SMS, personalization).
  </Card>

  <Card title="Dispositions and Routing" href="/docs/guides/campaign-toolkit/pulse/dispositions-and-routing">
    How call outcomes are grouped and routed to the next step.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Error Handling and Retries" href="/docs/guides/campaign-toolkit/pulse/error-handling-and-retries">
    What the platform retries for you, and how retries interact with business hours and TCPA.
  </Card>
</Cards>