Build a Punjabi voice agent on Bolna

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Choose a Punjabi transcriber

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Choose a Punjabi voice

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Write the prompt for Punjabi

• Write in Gurmukhi, not romanized Punjabi. ਸਤ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਅਕਾਲ! ਤੁਸੀਂ ਕਿਵੇਂ ਹੋ? rather than Sat Sri Akal! Tusi kiven ho?. Native script gives more accurate pronunciation and stops the text being treated as English.
• Keep common English loanwords in Latin script. Callers say “order”, “OTP” and “support ticket” in English, so keep those words as they are inside Gurmukhi text instead of forcing a pure Punjabi translation.
• Set gender and politeness explicitly. These are often carried by verb forms, so name the forms you want for the agent’s persona rather than writing “be polite”.
• Read alphanumerics character by character, in English. For OTPs, registration numbers and order IDs, this avoids misheard and mispronounced digits.
• Leave language switching out of the prompt. Bolna switches languages itself.

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Create a Punjabi agent over the API

{
  "agent_config": {
    "agent_name": "Punjabi Support Agent",
    "agent_welcome_message": "ਸਤ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਅਕਾਲ! ਮੈਂ ਤੁਹਾਡੀ ਕੀ ਮਦਦ ਕਰ ਸਕਦੀ ਹਾਂ?",
    "tasks": [{
      "task_type": "conversation",
      "toolchain": { "execution": "sequential", "pipelines": [["transcriber", "llm", "synthesizer"]] },
      "tools_config": {
        "llm_agent": {
          "agent_type": "simple_llm_agent",
          "agent_flow_type": "streaming",
          "llm_config": { "provider": "openai", "model": "gpt-4.1-mini", "max_tokens": 150, "temperature": 0.2 }
        },
        "transcriber": {
          "provider": "sarvam",
          "model": "saaras:v4",
          "language": "pa",
          "stream": true,
          "endpointing": 500,
          "keywords": "Bolna, PhonePe, Flipkart",
          "context": "Inbound support line for an electronics retailer in India. Callers ask about order status and returns, and often read out order numbers."
        },
        "synthesizer": {
          "provider": "sarvam",
          "provider_config": {
            "voice": "Priya",
            "voice_id": "priya",
            "model": "bulbul:v3",
            "language": "pa",
            "speed": 1.0
          },
          "stream": true,
          "buffer_size": 150
        },
        "input": { "provider": "plivo", "format": "wav" },
        "output": { "provider": "plivo", "format": "wav" }
      },
      "task_config": { "call_terminate": 90, "hangup_after_silence": 10 }
    }]
  },
  "agent_prompts": {
    "task_1": {
      "system_prompt": "ਤੁਸੀਂ ਇੱਕ ਮਦਦਗਾਰ ਸਪੋਰਟ ਏਜੰਟ ਹੋ। ਸੰਖੇਪ ਵਿੱਚ ਜਵਾਬ ਦਿਓ।"
    }
  }
}

curl https://api.bolna.ai/v2/agent \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BOLNA_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d @agent.json

import os, urllib.request, json

with open("agent.json") as f:
    body = json.load(f)

req = urllib.request.Request(
    "https://api.bolna.ai/v2/agent",
    data=json.dumps(body).encode(),
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['BOLNA_API_KEY']}",
             "Content-Type": "application/json"},
)
print(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)))

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Improve recognition with keywords and context

• keywords: a comma-separated list of terms callers say.
• context: a sentence or two describing the call.

• Sarvam: keywords on Sarvam needs saaras:v4, and takes up to 50 terms of up to 64 characters each. context works on every Saaras model.
• Soniox: reads both. context can run to about 10,000 characters.

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Fix pronunciation of numbers and names

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Serve Punjabi and English on one agent

• Code-mixing within a sentence. Sarvam and Soniox transcribe callers who mix English into Punjabi; on Soniox, pick the multilingual option. A sentence with a few English words is still treated as Punjabi.
• A full language switch. Add both English and Punjabi to one agent with multilingual_config, each with its own transcriber, voice and prompt. Punjabi is one of the languages Bolna detects automatically, so with the default “requested or auto detected” trigger the agent follows a caller who moves into Punjabi. The multilingual quickstart shows the API shape.

• Start a call in Punjabi with "agent_data": { "language": "pa" } on POST /call, or an agent_language column set to pa in a batch CSV. Inbound calls can return agent_language from your caller data source.
• Let system messages such as the hangup and “are you still there?” checks follow the active language.
• Read How language switching works for what does and doesn’t trigger a switch.

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Phone numbers for Punjabi agents in India

• Buy an Indian number in the dashboard through Plivo or Vobiz.
• For commercial or telemarketing calls in India, read How to get 140 & 160-series phone numbers in India for the TRAI and DLT requirements.
• To use numbers from your own carrier, connect it with a SIP trunk.

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Next steps