Before you start
- Decide what the agent should do. The instructions are required; Draft with agent can write them from a short description.
- If the agent should answer from your own information, create the knowledge bases and publish their articles first under Knowledge in the sidebar (see Knowledge overview).
- Recommend products, Take orders in chat and Track orders work through your connected store (see Integrations).
- Plan to publish right after creating the agent. A new agent has no published version, so a WhatsApp number you switch on for it starts answering only after you publish.
Create the agent
1
Open New agent
Click Agent in the sidebar, then New agent. The Create agent page opens. It has the same five tabs as an existing agent: Instructions, Knowledge, Actions, Handoff and Channels.
2
Name the agent
On the Instructions tab, under Profile, fill in Agent name. Creating the agent without one shows Give the agent a name.
3
Write the instructions
In Instructions, describe your store, how the agent should talk to customers and what it should never do, or click Draft with agent to have it write a first draft. Creating the agent without instructions shows Add instructions so the agent knows how to reply. See Writing instructions.
4
Choose knowledge
On the Knowledge tab, switch on each knowledge base the agent may answer from. New knowledge base takes you to Knowledge if you still need to create one.
5
Switch on what it can do
On the Actions tab, Selling and orders has Recommend products, Take orders in chat and Track orders; How it replies has Send images in chat, Share customer details with the agent, Split long replies, Delay replies and Check replies before sending; Follow-ups has Close resolved chats and Follow up when customers go quiet; Safety has Block spam and off-topic chats and Let customers opt out. Under Tools, switch on any custom tools the agent may call (Add tool and Open marketplace are there if you have none yet). Each setting is described in Capabilities.
6
Set up handing over
On the Handoff tab, switch on Hand over to your team if the agent should pass chats to a person, and choose how your team hears about it under Alerts. See Connect knowledge, tools, channels and notifications.
7
Create it
Click Create agent. You see Agent created and land on the new agent’s page. If something did not save you see Agent created, but some settings didn’t save, or Agent created, but these tools weren’t added with the tool names: the agent exists with everything else you chose, so check those settings on its page and click Save and review.
- Connecting a WhatsApp number: the Channels tab reads You can connect WhatsApp numbers after you create the agent. Switch numbers on from the agent’s page (see Connect knowledge, tools, channels and notifications).
- Slack alerts: under Handoff, switching on Slack alerts for handovers reads Create the agent first, then connect Slack on its page.
Default values on the form
Every switch starts off. Fields that appear when you switch something on start with these values:Publish the new agent
A new agent has no published version yet. Its header shows Not published yet and reads “Set up your agent, then save and publish it.” Until you publish, a WhatsApp number you switch on under Channels does not route to the agent, and the agent cannot be chosen with Set as default (the menu item reads Publish to set as default).1
Make the first save from the agent page
Change anything on the agent page, for example switch on a WhatsApp number under Channels, and click Save and review. The first save records the agent as it was when created as a published version with the note Initial published version, and your edits become a draft.
2
Publish
In the Publish changes? dialog, which says “Nothing is published yet, so this will be the first version.”, click Publish changes. See Test and publish.
3
Route conversations to it
Switch on a WhatsApp number under Channels and publish again, paste the Website chat widget embed code on your site, or choose Set as default from the agent’s row menu on the Agents page.
The agent onboarding created
The agent created during onboarding is named after your business (for example Noor Perfumes Assistant), already has a published version, and starts with a different setup than a blank New agent:- A standard instruction set that names your business, makes the agent a Sales Representative (store connected) or Support Representative (no store), tells it to search the knowledge base before answering, asks for replies under 50 words in the customer’s language with one question at a time, and includes the business facts captured from your website. Open the agent and edit Instructions to change it.
- The knowledge base built from your website pages already connected.
- Hand over to your team switched on.
- Send images in chat and Share customer details with the agent switched on.
- Close resolved chats switched on with a 24-hour window, and Follow up when customers go quiet switched on with one follow-up after 1 hour.
- Delay replies and Check replies before sending switched off.
- Recommend products, Take orders in chat and Track orders off at first. If you connected a store during setup, the second step switches all three on and publishes the change, with the version note “Store connected: the agent can now share products, take orders and track them.” Without a store they stay off.
Related
Writing instructions
What to put in Instructions and how Draft with agent works.
Capabilities
What each switch on the Actions and Handoff tabs does.
Connect knowledge, tools and channels
Attach knowledge, WhatsApp numbers, Website chat and handover alerts.
Test and publish
Drafts, the publish dialog and version history.