Test your agent from the browser (web call)

You can talk to your agent directly from the browser — your PC microphone and speakers, a live transcript, and no phone number involved. It is the fastest way to hear a prompt or voice change before any real lead does.

Before you start

• Retell is connected in Connections — no telephony setup, no numbers assigned, no CRM needed. See Connect Retell.
• Your account needs editor access on Agents and the can spend permission: a web call is billed to your Retell account, so a collaborator without it gets a permission error instead of a call.
• A browser with microphone access (you'll be asked for permission on the first call).

Step 1 — Open the Test tab

In the agent editor, open the Test tab. The top card is Talk to the agent (web).

Step 2 — Start the call

Click Talk to the agent and allow microphone access when the browser asks. The status shows Connecting…, then switches to Listening… once the call is live — the agent opens the conversation, just like on a real call.

Step 3 — Talk and read the live transcript

Speak naturally. The status alternates between Listening… (your turn) and Agent speaking…. The Live transcript panel below shows both sides of the conversation in real time, each line labeled Agent or You — handy for spotting exactly where a prompt goes off script.

Step 3b — Read the Tools invoked panel

Below the live transcript, the Tools invoked panel lists every tool the agent called as it happens — → get_free_slots (420 ms) → 6 slots — with the time each took and whether it succeeded. If the agent says it cannot see the calendar, this panel tells you in one glance whether it never called the tool (prompt problem) or called it and got an error (configuration problem).

Step 4 — End the call

Click End call when you're done. After "Call ended." you can hit Try again to run another session — for example right after saving a new prompt version.

Calendar and tools during a test

A test call has no client and no lead behind it, so the booking tools run in sandbox mode: the agent gets six plausible free slots, a booking comes back confirmed, cancellations and reschedules succeed — and nothing is written to GoHighLevel (no event, no tag, no note) and nothing is queued for redial. You hear the full conversation flow, including the filler line while the agent "checks the calendar", without polluting a real calendar. The Tools invoked panel is where you see it happen, sandbox answers included.

The test is saved

Every web test is kept in Calls with a Test badge: transcript, tools invoked, real cost and measured latency. After "Call ended." click Open the call detail to review it. Test calls are excluded from the dashboard statistics, from prompt-version metrics and from the concurrency counter — they never count as real activity.

What a web test costs

Be aware that a web test is a real call on your voice engine:

• it is billed to your agency's Retell account, and
• it occupies one concurrent Retell line while it runs.

On the other hand it bypasses all the outbound gates: no calling window, no number assignment, no CRM trigger. You can test an agent that has zero numbers assigned and isn't wired to any workflow yet.

Hear it over the phone: send a test lead

The web test never touches telephony. To hear the agent on a real phone call, use the Send a test lead card in the agent's Data & GHL tab: pick a client, enter your number and the lead goes through the same ingress your CRM webhooks use — gates, queue and instant dispatch included — so the agent calls you within seconds. That one is a real call on a real lead (real cost), kept in Calls and Leads like any other; the calendar is the client's real one, while booking, tags and notes are simulated — nothing is left in the CRM. Step by step in Wire your CRM workflow to an agent, Step 4.

One warning: the test lead is a real lead, so if you do not answer and the agent has automatic retries on, the plan redials your number for as long as it says — real calls, real cost. Answer the call, or turn retries off on that agent while you test.

If the number you enter already belongs to a real lead of that client, the test is refused (it would detach that contact from your CRM) — use another number. An inbound agent is refused outright, since it never starts a call.

Next steps

• Prompt versions, A/B metrics and rollback — iterate on what you just heard.
• Assign phone numbers to the agent — the step that makes the agent actually dial.
• Wire your CRM workflow to the agent — go live with real leads.