diff --git a/livekit.yaml b/livekit.yaml
index a3e1f01..76a6d7d 100644
--- a/livekit.yaml
+++ b/livekit.yaml
@@ -6,3 +6,10 @@ rtc:
 
 keys:
   devkey: devsecret
+
+# Keep rooms alive for 24h — the agent stays resident so reconnections
+# don't require a fresh dispatch. Without this, LiveKit destroys the room
+# after empty_timeout (default 300s), kills the agent job, and the next
+# join finds no worker registered ("assistant not ready retry").
+room:
+  empty_timeout: 86400