I’m creating the change management documentation for our IVR update process, and I’m getting conflicting information from our developers.
If we need to change an existing audio prompt (e.g., updating our holiday closure dates), some devs say we can just upload the new .wav file to the Prompts UI and it instantly goes live. Other devs insist we absolutely must open the Architect flow and click ‘Publish’ again, or the old audio will keep playing. Which one is true? I want to make sure our communications team has a streamlined process that doesn’t require risking a flow republish unless absolutely necessary.
I build flows for multiple clients, and this trips everyone up!
They are actually BOTH right, depending on how the prompt is configured. If you are using ‘User Prompts’ (the ones you create in the Prompts UI), updating the audio file there updates it instantly for all flows using it. No republish needed!
HOWEVER, if the developer used the text-to-speech (TTS) override inside the Play Audio block, or if they uploaded the .wav file directly into the specific Play Audio block (called an ‘Inline Prompt’), then that audio is baked into the flow version. In that case, you MUST republish the flow to change it.
To build on 's point, as an AWS architect, I always push my clients to use dynamic User Prompts for this exact reason.
If you hardcode inline prompts, your business users can’t easily update emergency messages without giving them full Architect edit permissions (which is a huge risk). Stick to User Prompts, and your Comms team can just swap the .wav file in the UI securely without ever touching the actual routing logic.
One tiny caveat that drove me crazy when I was building some real-time test dashboards:
Even if you update a User Prompt, active calls that are already executing that specific flow version might still hear the old audio if the prompt was cached on the Edge at the start of the call. It only guarantees the new audio for new inbound calls that arrive after the prompt update is saved. It’s usually not a big deal, but don’t panic if someone who called in 5 minutes ago hears the old message!