What the AGENTDIRECT in-group does

When a DID (direct inward dialing) is routed directly to one Agent, the call does not ring their phone and immediately drop if they are mid-wrap-up. Instead it enters a holding area called AGENTDIRECT — a specialised Ingroup that keeps the call in queue and waits for that specific agent to become available, up to a configurable drop timeout.

What makes AGENTDIRECT different from a regular in-group

A standard in-group distributes calls to any available agent who has that group enabled. AGENTDIRECT is tied to a single user — only agent 6666 (or whichever user the DID points to) can pick up a call waiting there. Calls in a regular in-group compete across all logged-in agents; calls in AGENTDIRECT wait exclusively for their target. This is the mechanism that makes personal direct-dial numbers work in VICIdial.

Naming rules and multiple variants

The in-group name must start with AGENTDIRECT. The system checks for that prefix to know how to handle the call. Everything after the prefix is up to you — AGENTDIRECT, AGENTDIRECT2, AGENTDIRECTVIP, AGENTDIRECTA are all valid. You can create as many AGENTDIRECT in-groups as you need, each with its own drop timeout, hold music, and unavailable action. Use different variants when you want different wait-time policies for different teams or callers.

Each variant is a normal in-group record in VICIdial. Create one under IN-GROUPS → ADD NEW IN-GROUP, name it with the AGENTDIRECT prefix, and configure its drop timeout and User Unavailable Action just like any other in-group. The DID record then references that in-group name in its User Route Settings In-Group field.

What the call experiences inside the queue

flowchart TD
  A["Call enters AGENTDIRECT queue"] --> B{"Target agent in READY or CLOSER?"}
  B -->|Yes| C["Call rings agent phone"]
  C --> D{"Agent answers?"}
  D -->|Yes| E["Call connected"]
  D -->|No - still ringing| B
  B -->|No - PAUSED or not logged in| F["Wait until drop timeout"]
  F --> G{"Drop timeout reached?"}
  G -->|No| B
  G -->|Yes| H["User Unavailable Action fires"]
  H --> I["Voicemail, alternate in-group, or extension"]

While in the AGENTDIRECT queue, the caller hears whatever hold music or message the in-group is configured to play. The dialer keeps checking whether the target agent is in READY or CLOSER status. A PAUSED agent will not receive the call even if they are logged in — the call continues to wait until either the agent moves out of pause or the drop timeout fires.

Agent-side requirements

For the AGENTDIRECT in-group to deliver calls, the agent's Campaign must have Allow Inbound and Blended set to Y, and the specific AGENTDIRECT in-group must be listed as an allowable in-group for that campaign. When the agent logs into the campaign, they select the AGENTDIRECT in-group to activate receiving those calls. Without this, the call waits in queue and the agent never receives it — eventually the drop timeout fires regardless.

For the full DID setup that feeds calls into this in-group, read how to point a DID at a specific logged-in agent. The remote agents and mobile guide explains how direct-to-agent routing fits alongside other inbound routing options. If you want a managed VICIdial server where this is all pre-configured, see our plans — a running dialer in under 40 seconds.