AI bot settings, field by field

An AI bot is the assistant that answers on one of your numbers. Its settings decide what it may use, how it talks, what it says when it can’t answer, and who it answers.

Go to Automation → AI Agents → AI bots. The page is titled AI Bots. Click Create AI Bot, or Create AI agent if you don’t have a bot yet. To change a bot, click its name or Edit: the form is then titled Edit AI Bot, and you save with Save Changes.

Before you create a bot, add some knowledge in Agent Knowledge. The bot answers only from it.

All fields at a glance

Section	Field	Starts as	Required
Basic Information	AI Bot Name	Empty	Yes
	Select Channel	Empty	Yes
	Department	Empty	Yes
Data Configuration	Select Documents	Nothing selected: all your knowledge	No
AI Behavior Configuration	Instructions (System Prompt)	Empty	Yes
	Behaviour	Empty	Yes
	Mode	Live	Yes
Fallback Configuration	Enable fallback message when agent cannot answer	On	No
	Fallback Message	Empty	No, but write one
Test Phone Numbers	Test Phone Number 1, 2…	Shown in Test mode only	At least one in Test mode
Switches	Default AI Bot	Off	No
	Enable Bot	On	No

Basic Information

AI Bot Name

• What it does: The name the bot goes by in chats. You also see it in your list of bots, and in the alert you get if the bot fails to reply.
• What to enter: A short, friendly name.
• Example: Maya
• Common mistake: An internal name such as Test bot 2. The bot may use its name when it talks to customers.

Select Channel

• What it does: The number the bot answers on. Your connected Instagram and Messenger accounts can be listed too. The bot only answers on this channel, and you can only pick documents of this channel in Data Configuration.
• What to enter: The number your customers write to.
• Common mistake: Creating the bot on one number and testing it on another. A workflow can also only hand chats to a bot on the same number as the chat.

Department

• What it does: The job the bot does. The bot takes on this role when it answers: Customer Support, Onboarding, Feedback Management, Marketing or Sales.
• What to enter: Customer Support suits most businesses. Choose Sales if the bot mostly helps people choose and buy.
• Example: A clinic’s bot that answers questions about visits: Customer Support. A clothes shop’s bot that suggests outfits: Sales.
• Common mistake: Choosing Marketing or Sales for a bot that mostly handles support questions. The role affects how the bot answers.

Data Configuration

• What it does: Limits which knowledge entries the bot may use. With nothing selected, the bot can use all the knowledge in your account.
• How: Choose the channel first, then click Select Documents (or Edit Selected Documents). The Select Documents for AI Agent window lists that number’s documents. Either:
  • tick the documents you want, then click Confirm Selection; or
  • click Select All … Documents to take every document that matches your filters, then untick the ones to leave out. Documents you add later are included automatically.
• When it applies: When the bot answers as the number’s Default AI Bot, and in Test bot. When a workflow hands a chat to the bot, it can use all your knowledge.
• What to enter: Nothing, if you have one number and one bot. Use it when you have several bots or numbers and want to keep their answers apart.
• Example: A clinic with a dental number and a physiotherapy number selects only the dental entries for the dental bot.
• Common mistakes:
  • Choosing something in Select Categories or Select Sources while you select. These filters are saved too, and the bot then searches only those categories or sources. Leave them empty unless that’s what you want.
  • Ticking specific documents, then adding new knowledge later. New entries aren’t included. Use Select All if you want them included.
  • Editing or syncing an entry after you selected it. Open the bot and select the entry again.

AI Behavior Configuration

Instructions (System Prompt)

• What it does: Tells the bot how to answer: who it helps, which topics to cover, how to sound, and what to do when it isn’t sure. (“System prompt” is the technical name for these instructions.) Wabot adds them to its own built-in rules, which already tell the bot to answer only from your knowledge.
• What to enter: A few short sentences about:
  • who your customers are and what the bot helps with;
  • the tone, if you want more than Behaviour gives you;
  • what to do when the answer isn’t in your knowledge;
  • what the bot must never do or promise.
• What not to enter: Facts such as prices, opening hours or policies. Put them in Agent Knowledge, where the bot looks for answers.
• Example: See Example instructions below.
• Common mistakes:
  • Pasting a price list or FAQ here instead of into the knowledge.
  • Asking the bot to answer anything, or to use general knowledge. It’s built to answer only from your knowledge.
  • Asking for things the bot can’t do, such as booking appointments, taking payments or passing the chat to a person. Tell it what to say instead, for example to share your booking link (which must be in your knowledge).
  • Asking for long answers, tables or bold text. Answers are plain text and kept under 1,000 characters.
  • Asking it to reply in another language. Replies are in English: see Language.

Behaviour

• What it does: Sets the bot’s tone.
• What to enter:
  • Friendly: warm and relaxed. Good for a bakery or a clothes shop.
  • Professional: polite and businesslike. Good for services.
  • Empathetic: patient and understanding. Good for a clinic, or for handling complaints.
  • Efficient and Results-Oriented: short and to the point.
  • Analytical: precise and detailed. Good for technical products.
• Common mistake: Choosing one tone here and the opposite in the instructions, such as Friendly with “be formal”. Keep them the same.

Mode

• What it does:
  • Test: the bot answers only the numbers you add under Test Phone Numbers.
  • Live: the bot answers every customer.
• New bots start in Live. Test bot on Settings → Meta Platforms works in both modes.
• What to enter: Test while you set up and try the bot. Live when you’re happy with its answers.
• Example: A bakery owner puts the bot in Test with her own and her manager’s numbers, chats with it for a day, then switches it to Live.
• Common mistakes:
  • Leaving a new bot in Live before you’ve tested it.
  • Testing from a phone whose number isn’t in Test Phone Numbers, and thinking the bot is broken.

Fallback Configuration

• What it does: The Fallback Message is what the customer gets when the bot can’t find the answer in your knowledge, or when the AI fails to reply. The switch Enable fallback message when agent cannot answer turns it on. It’s on for new bots.
• If it’s off: when nothing in your knowledge matches, the customer gets I don’t have information on that topic.
• What to enter: A short, honest message that tells the customer how to get help: who to contact, how, and when.
• Example: Sorry, I don’t have that information. Please email hello@example.com, or call us Monday to Saturday from 9am to 6pm, and our team will help.
• Common mistakes:
  • Leaving the switch on with the message empty. Write a message whenever the switch is on.
  • Promising something nobody does, such as “we’ll call you back in 10 minutes”. Only promise what your team will really do.

Tip

The fallback message is sent exactly as you write it. If your customers write in more than one language, you can write it in each of them.

Test Phone Numbers

• What it does: Shown when Mode is Test. These are the numbers the bot answers while it’s in Test mode.
• What to enter: Your own number and your teammates’ numbers, starting with + and the country code, for example +447700900123. Click Add Phone Number for another one. At least one is needed in Test mode.
• If you see Please enter a valid phone number with country code (e.g., +1234567890) or Phone number is too short, check the + and the country code.
• When you save the bot in Live mode, its test numbers are removed.
• Common mistake: Leaving out the country code.

Default AI Bot

• What it does: Makes this the bot that answers on its number. Each number has one default bot: turning it on here turns it off on the number’s other bots. Test bot also uses the default bot.
• If a number has no default bot that’s turned on, the number’s agent identity answers instead, without your instructions or fallback message.
• What to enter: Turn it on for your main bot. Leave it off for a bot that only takes chats from a workflow.
• Common mistake: Forgetting it. It’s off for new bots, so a new bot doesn’t answer until you turn it on, or until a workflow hands it a chat.

Enable Bot

• What it does: Turns the bot on or off. You can also use the switch in the Status column of the list, which asks Turn off “Maya”? before it turns a bot off.
• If you turn off the number’s default bot, the number’s agent identity answers instead. To stop AI replies on a number completely, turn off Bot Response on Settings → Meta Platforms.
• Common mistake: Turning a bot off while a workflow still hands chats to it. The workflow may still pass chats to it, so change the workflow’s Hand off to an AI bot action too.

Example instructions

Good instructions say who the bot helps, which topics it covers, how it should sound, what to do when it’s unsure, and what it must never promise. The facts themselves go in Agent Knowledge.

A bakery (Department Customer Support, Behaviour Friendly):

You help customers of Sweet Crumb Bakery with opening hours, delivery, cake orders, prices and ingredients.
Answer like a friendly shop assistant: short, warm and clear.
For custom cakes, explain how to order and how much notice we need.
If someone asks about allergies and the answer isn't in our information, say you can't confirm it and share our contact details. Never guess about allergens.
Don't promise delivery times, discounts or cake designs that aren't in our information.
If a customer is unhappy, apologise and share our contact details.

A clinic (Department Customer Support, Behaviour Empathetic):

You answer questions for Green Valley Dental Clinic about treatments, fees, opening hours and how to book.
Be calm, kind and clear. Many people who write to us are nervous or in pain.
Never give medical advice and never guess what is wrong. If someone describes pain, swelling or bleeding, suggest they book an appointment. In an emergency, tell them to call the clinic or go to the nearest emergency department.
You can't book, move or cancel appointments. Explain how to book, using our information.
Don't ask for medical details or talk about other patients.

A clothes shop (Department Sales, Behaviour Friendly):

You help customers of Urban Threads with sizes, fit, delivery, returns and exchanges.
Be friendly and brief.
For sizing questions, use our size guide and ask which size the customer usually wears.
If an item, size or colour isn't in our information, say so honestly.
Don't invent discounts, delivery dates or stock levels.
For a problem with an order, share our support email and ask the customer to include their order number.

Answers that show products from your store are written from the product details only, so your instructions don’t change them.

Manage your bots

• The AI Bots list shows each bot with its Status, Department, Behaviour and Instructions. Tags show which bot is the Default and which are in Test mode.
• If you have more than one number, choose one in the Channel filter to see its bots. You can also filter by Status (Active or Inactive) and Mode.
• To delete a bot, use Delete. Conversations it handled stay, but it stops replying, and you can’t undo it. If a workflow hands chats to the bot, change that workflow first.