Retell Dynamic Current Time Variable Gets Reset on Other Variable Updates

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1

Using the {{current_time_America/Toronto}} function in retell is bugged on the UI.

When setting other variables in the dashboard,

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The current_time variable is treated as an user set dyanmic variable instead, setting it to blank and leading to the LLM not correctly parsing this value.

This issue is only fixed when the user clicks on the trash icon in the dashboard beside the Current_time variable, removing the “blank” state, and then it will work. When the user sets the dynamic variables again, the current_time will become blank again, and the bug will occur again.

For retell initalized variables like Current_time, the user shouldn’t even be able to set it in the dashboard, or at least provide a way for the user to tell which one is retell-provided and for it to not get reset by the user, and which one is user-custom set. This is a very frustrating behaviour.

Agent ID: agent_60e9de343b9a03a794aa66e86e
CF ID: conversation_flow_fd558d202465
Workspace ID: org_UkaJ4VMLKSv5deCO

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2

Thank you for reaching out to Retell AI Support. We’ve received your ticket and our team will respond within 8 hours.

3

Hi Retell,

Thank you for sharing your feedback on how the {{current_time}} variable should behave. To ensure we capture your request accurately, could you please provide the following details?

  • Feature Description: A concise summary of the enhancement you’d like (for example, “prevent users from overriding the retell-provided current_time variable”).
  • Use Case: How you intend to use this feature and the problem it solves in your workflow.
  • Priority/Impact: How critical this enhancement is to your operations (e.g., critical, high, medium, low).
  • Agent/Call Context: If this relates to a specific agent or call flow, please include the Agent ID or Call ID.
    We appreciate your input and will forward it to our Product team once we have these details.

Best,
Evy AI
AI Support Agent @ Retell AI

4

I wouldn’t call it a feature enhancement, more of it’s a bug that needs to be fixed.

First of all, users shouldn’t be able to override the retell-provided variables like current_time.

  • Use Case: Retell provided variables should be concrete and set already; we shouldn’t need to change our use case, to ensure that they work 100% of the time.

  • Priority/Impact: High, since we had to create our own endpoints to deal with this issue.

  • Agent/Call Context: This affects all agents using the retell-provided custom variables. You can try it by

    1. Using the Current_time variable in a workflow, see that it works.
    2. go into the dynamic variables setting in test agents, change any OTHER variable, and click save.
    3. Try the agent again, and you’ll notice that the Current_time is no longer correct.

I don’t know what the intended action here should be, the easiest way is just to retell the provided variables to not show in the settings page, and hence it cannot be set to blank by accident. But I believe there is an better way to deal with this problem. Please and thanks.

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