AI agents overview

An AI agent is the set of instructions, capabilities, knowledge and channels that answers your customers on WhatsApp and Website Chat. Most workspaces run one agent, created during onboarding and set as the default. Create more when different numbers or sites need different behaviour, for example a sales agent on one WhatsApp number and a support agent on another. Open Agents → Agents to see every agent in your workspace.

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The Agents list

Use Search agents… to filter by name. The list shows 10 agents per page. Click a row to open the agent. The ⋯ menu on each row has:

• Edit — opens the agent.
• Set as default — makes this agent the workspace default. It reads Publish to set as default and stays disabled until the agent has a published version. You need a role that can manage agents to see this option.
• Delete — removes the agent after you confirm in the Delete agent dialog. This cannot be undone. The option is disabled for the default agent.

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The default agent

Every workspace has one default agent. It handles:

• Every WhatsApp number that is not connected to a specific agent.
• Website Chat conversations whose embed code does not name an agent.
• Conversations on a number whose agent is disconnected. When you publish a change that disconnects a number, its active conversations move to the default agent immediately.

Onboarding creates your first agent and sets it as the default. To change the default later, publish the agent you want to use, then choose Set as default from its row menu. You cannot delete the default agent; set another agent as default first.

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How an agent picks up a conversation

1. A customer writes to one of your WhatsApp numbers or through Website Chat.
2. Popcorn routes the conversation to the agent connected to that number, or to the default agent if the number has no agent of its own. Website Chat conversations go to the agent named in the embed code you installed.
3. The conversation starts on the agent’s published version and stays on it until you publish a change and choose to apply it to open chats. Unpublished drafts never reach customers. (An agent that has never been saved on its own page has no published version yet; until then it answers with the settings it was created with.)
4. Each customer message the agent answers uses one credit, on WhatsApp, Website Chat and in Test Agent alike. Campaign messages are charged separately, through the campaign.

If the workspace runs out of credits, or no valid agent is configured, Popcorn hands the conversation over to your team rather than leaving the customer without an answer. The conversation moves to Needs Attention in the Inbox, and the agent’s handover notifications are sent if you enabled them. When the agent hands a conversation over, the conversation shows where the AI stopped and your team took over. See Inbox overview.

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What is on an agent’s page

The agent page is a single form. The header shows the agent’s name and its publishing state, with three buttons: Versions, Save & review (or Publish changes once a draft is saved), and Test Agent. Edits are saved as a draft. Customers keep talking to the published version until you click Publish changes (the Auto-close up and Auto-follow up schedules are the exception and apply on save; see Capabilities). See Test and publish.

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