Workflows

Create step-by-step procedures your chatbot follows during conversations. The chatbot executes one step at a time and waits for the visitor's reply before moving on.

How to get there: Go to Setup > Chatbot in the top menu, click your chatbot, then Behavior > Workflows in the sidebar.

Overview

Workflows let you define a numbered sequence of steps. When a workflow is active, the chatbot:

  • Sees only the current step (it cannot skip ahead)
  • Asks one question per step, then waits for the visitor to reply
  • Advances to the next step only after the visitor answers
  • Cannot end the workflow early until all steps are done

This is useful whenever you need the chatbot to follow a specific order rather than answering freely.

When to use workflows

  • Troubleshooting -- Guide visitors through a diagnostic sequence (check A, then B, then C)
  • Lead qualification -- Ask qualifying questions in a specific order before routing
  • Onboarding -- Walk new users through setup step by step
  • Intake forms -- Collect required information before helping (name, email, company)

Creating a workflow

  1. Click New Workflow.
  2. Step 1 (Basics): Give it a title and a short description. The description helps the AI know when to load this workflow.
  3. Step 2 (Instructions): Write your procedure as numbered steps. For example:

You are a technical support agent. Respond in the visitor's language.

1. Ask the customer for their product brand and model. Wait for answer.
2. Ask them to describe the problem. Wait.
3. Look up the solution in the knowledge base based on brand and problem.
4. If the problem is not resolved, offer to schedule a callback.

  1. Step 3 (Activation): Choose when the workflow activates:
    • AI loads when needed -- The AI decides mid-conversation whether to load this workflow. Requires "Run AI Actions" to be enabled.
    • Auto-trigger -- Fires automatically when a message matches your channel, sender, or keyword conditions.
  2. Step 4 (Approval & Advanced): Set optional approval gates, priority, and max turns.
  3. Click Create.

After saving, the system parses your instructions into individual steps. You will see a Parsed steps panel showing each step with its exit condition.

Parsed steps and exit conditions

When you save a workflow with numbered steps, the system automatically breaks them into a step-by-step structure. Each step gets:

  • Instruction -- What the chatbot should do at this step (from your text).
  • Exit condition -- What must happen before the chatbot moves to the next step (auto-generated, editable).

The exit condition controls when the step is considered "done." For example, if the step asks for a brand and model, the exit condition might be "User provides any information about their product."

You can edit exit conditions directly in the Parsed steps panel. If a step advances too quickly, make the exit condition more specific. If visitors get stuck on a step, make it more lenient.

Tips for writing good workflows

  • Use numbered steps (1. 2. 3.) so the system can parse them clearly.
  • Add "Wait for answer." after each question step to make the intent clear.
  • Put general context (persona, language rules) before the numbered steps. This becomes the "preamble" that applies to every step.
  • Keep each step focused on one thing: one question, or one action.
  • Exit conditions work best when they are lenient. "User provides any product information" is better than "User provides exact brand AND model number."

Activation: lazy vs auto-trigger

AI loads when needed (lazy): The chatbot sees the workflow listed as an option and decides whether to load it based on the visitor's message. This requires "Run AI Actions" (agent mode) to be enabled. If agent mode is off, lazy workflows will not activate.

Auto-trigger: The workflow fires automatically when the message matches your conditions (channel, sender, subject, or body keywords). This is deterministic and does not depend on AI judgment.

Both modes get the same step-by-step enforcement once the workflow is active.

Managing workflows with the Copilot

You can also create and edit workflows through the Copilot tab. Ask things like:

  • "Create a troubleshooting workflow for Wi-Fi issues"
  • "Show me my workflows"
  • "Edit the exit condition on step 3 of the wifi diagnostic"

The Copilot can create workflows from a natural language description, and the system will auto-parse them into enforced steps.

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