Lifecycle
Request Lifecycle
Trace the complete journey of a call through the SignalWire Agents SDK, from incoming call to conversation end.
The Complete Call Flow
Understanding the request lifecycle helps you debug issues and optimize your agents. Here’s the complete flow:

Phase 1: Call Setup
When a call arrives at SignalWire:

Key points:
- SignalWire knows which agent to contact based on phone number configuration
- The request includes Basic Auth credentials
- POST is the default; GET requests are also supported for SWML retrieval
Phase 2: SWML Generation
Your agent builds and returns the SWML document:
Phase 3: AI Conversation
Once SignalWire has the SWML, it executes the instructions:

AI Parameters that control this loop:
Phase 4: Function Calls
When the AI needs to call a function:

Phase 5: Call End
When the call ends, the post-prompt summary is sent:

Handling Post-Prompt
Configure post-prompt handling in your agent:
Request/Response Headers
SWML Request (GET or POST /)
SWML Response
SWAIG Request (POST /swaig)
SWAIG Response
Debugging the Lifecycle
View SWML Output
Test Function Calls
Monitor Live Traffic
Error Handling
SWML Errors
If your agent can’t generate SWML:
SWAIG Errors
If a function fails:
Next Steps
Now that you understand the complete lifecycle, let’s look at how security works throughout this flow.