> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vocode.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Action Triggers

> Activate actions with function calls or specific phrases

## What are function calls?

[Function calls](https://platform.openai.com/docs/guides/function-calling) allow modern Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT to perform tasks outside of text generation.
For example, if I create a math assistant with ChatGPT, I might make a "multiply" function that ChatGPT can call to multiply two numbers together.

If you add an action to a vocode agent, its corresponding function calling schema is added to each ChatGPT query. If the function call is outputted by ChatGPT, the corresponding action is triggered automatically.

***Note:*** *In vocode agents, ChatGPT can return a text response alongside a function call. In this scenario, the text is synthesized and played first, then the action is run.*

## What are phrase triggers?

Phrase triggers are text phrases that activate an action when produced by an agent. Phrase triggers are useful in production use-cases where consistency and reliability are important, since text outputs are easier to control in comparison to function calls.

## Configuring action triggers

Each vocode action config contains an `action_trigger` field  to specify how the action is triggered. The default trigger is function calling. The examples below demonstrate how to set action triggers for an `EndConversation` action config:

**Function calls:**

```python theme={null}
from vocode.streaming.action.end_conversation import EndConversationVocodeActionConfig
from vocode.streaming.models.actions import FunctionCallActionTrigger

EndConversationVocodeActionConfig(
    type="action_end_conversation",
    action_trigger=FunctionCallActionTrigger(
        type="action_trigger_function_call"
    )
)
```

***Note:*** *You can also leave `action_trigger` field empty and vocode will default to function calls.*

**Phrase triggers:**

```python theme={null}
from vocode.streaming.action.end_conversation import EndConversationVocodeActionConfig
from vocode.streaming.models.actions import PhraseBasedActionTrigger, PhraseBasedActionTriggerConfig, PhraseTrigger

EndConversationVocodeActionConfig(
    type="action_end_conversation",
    action_trigger=PhraseBasedActionTrigger(
        type = "action_trigger_phrase_based",
        config: PhraseBasedActionTriggerConfig(
            phrase_triggers = [
                PhraseTrigger(
                    phrase="Ending conversation now",
                    condition="phrase_condition_type_contains"
                ),
                # Additional phrase triggers can be listed here
            ]
        )
    )
)
```

For the code above, if the agent says 'Ending conversation now', the end conversation action will automatically be taken.
You can add multiple phrase triggers for an action by passing a list of `PhraseTrigger` instances.

The `phrase_condition_type_contains` condition configures the agent to run the action if its output *contains* the phrase. So, the action will also be run if the agent
says 'I am ending conversation now'.

## Example Scenario

Let's assume we have an action called `TurnOnLight` that turns on your bedroom light when activated. Take the following conversation:

```plaintext theme={null}
Human: Hello
AI: How can I assist you today?
Human: Please turn on the lights.
```

If the action is triggered via a function call, the bot may respond with:

```plaintext theme={null}
AI: Sure!
BOT_ACTION_START: Running `action_turn_on_light`
```

or it may run the action without saying anything.

If we use a phrase trigger instead, we may do the following:

1. In our prompt, write "If the human asks to turn on the lights, say 'I will turn on the lights now' verbatim"
2. Configure `TurnOnLight` with "I will turn on the lights now" as its phrase trigger

Then, the bot will respond with:

```
AI: I will turn on the lights now.
BOT_ACTION_START: Running `action_turn_on_light`
```