Build your first agent

This guide covers the new Bland dashboard at v2.app.bland.ai. It walks you from a fresh account to a live phone call with your first agent in three steps, then covers two optional additions you can make afterwards. No code required. When you finish the first three, you’ll dial a number you just set up and your agent will answer on your own phone.

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Prerequisites

• A Bland account
• A phone you can dial out from

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Step 1: Create an agent

Sign in to the Bland dashboard. A new account has no agents yet, so the dashboard opens on a “No agents yet” screen with two options. Pick Try a demo agent. Bland adds Marco, a working restaurant-reservation agent, to your account and drops you into the agent builder with a guided tour of the editor. Marco already holds a conversation on its own, so you have a real agent to shape or call as-is. Prefer to start empty? Start from scratch creates a blank agent instead. The rest of this guide applies to either.

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Step 2: Buy and attach a phone number

Open Phone numbers from the left sidebar, under Dispatch. Your first US or Canadian number is free, with no payment method required. The page shows a “You have a free phone number available” banner at the top: pick a country, optionally an area code, and activate. The number is added to your account right away. Attach the number by clicking Configure on its row, then picking your agent from the Assignment dropdown at the top of the detail sheet. The number now routes calls to that agent.

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Step 3: Call the number

From your own phone, dial the number you just set up. The agent answers and holds a conversation. That’s the golden path. The next two steps are optional additions you can make now or later.

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Step 4: Optionally add tools

Tools let your agent take actions during a call, like looking up a customer record, checking a calendar, or transferring the call to someone else. From the left sidebar, under Build, open Tools. A new agent has no tools yet, so the page prompts you to create one. Add whichever tools your agent should be able to call.

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Step 5: Optionally add knowledge

Knowledge lets your agent answer questions from a document, FAQ, or link without you spelling every answer out in the instructions. From the left sidebar, under Build, open Knowledge. Add or attach the sources you want the agent to retrieve from on every call.

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Next steps