Skip to main content
Onboarding already created your first agent and set it as the default. Create another agent when a WhatsApp number or website needs different behaviour, for example a support agent that only answers from your policies and a sales agent that recommends products and takes orders. Every agent has its own type (Popcorn’s rules with a Voice, or custom instructions), capabilities, knowledge, tools and channels.

​
Before you start

  • Decide the agent’s type, which cannot be changed later. An agent on Popcorn’s rules (recommended) needs no instructions: Popcorn decides how it sells, answers and hands over, and you set its Voice. An agent on Custom instructions runs on instructions you write, which are then required; Draft with agent can write them from a short description. See Popcorn’s rules and Voice.
  • 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

Choose the agent type

On the Instructions tab, under Agent type, keep Popcorn’s rules (Recommended) or choose Custom instructions. “You can’t change the type after the agent is created.”
3

Name the agent

Under Profile, fill in Agent name. Creating the agent without one shows Give the agent a name.
4

Write the instructions (custom instructions only)

For a custom agent, describe in Instructions 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 a custom agent without instructions shows Add instructions so the agent knows how to reply. See Writing custom instructions. An agent on Popcorn’s rules has no instructions field.
5

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.
6

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.
7

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.
8

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.
If a field needs fixing when you click Create agent, the tab that holds it shows a count of the fields to fix, and the page opens the first tab that has one. Some settings are not on the Create agent page and wait until the agent exists:
  • 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.
  • The Voice of an agent on Popcorn’s rules: it starts with the default Voice, which you change on the agent’s Instructions tab (see Popcorn’s rules and Voice).
  • Handover topics, on the agent’s Handoff tab (see Capabilities).

​
Default values on the form

Every switch starts off except Let customers opt out, which starts on. 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.
Use the test chat on the agent page to try the agent before connecting a live number: from 1280 pixels wide it sits beside the settings, and below that the Test agent button in the header opens it. Once the agent has a published version, the chat uses it. Test conversations appear in your Inbox and each AI reply uses one credit, like a real conversation.

​
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:
  • It runs on Popcorn’s rules with the default Voice. Open the agent to change the Voice on its Instructions tab (see Popcorn’s rules and Voice).
  • The knowledge base built from your website pages already connected.
  • Hand over to your team and Let customers opt out 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.
Open it from the Agents page to review these settings before you connect a live number.

Popcorn's rules and Voice

The two agent types, and how to set an agent’s Voice.

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.