Creating and adding actions for advanced AI agents

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Add-on

AI agents - Advanced

You can create actions to allow AI agents to perform certain tasks during conversations with end users. When you create an action, you can use it at the AI agent level, intent level, or block level.

This article contains the following topics:

• Creating an action
• Adding an action at the AI agent level
• Adding an action at the intent level
• Adding an action at the block level
• Reordering actions

Related articles:

• About actions for advanced AI agents
• Reviewing and managing actions for advanced AI agents
• About events for advanced AI agents

Creating an action

The actions you create are reusable across the AI agents - Advanced add-on. When you create an action, you can easily add it at the AI agent, intent, or block level.

Actions can be created from the Actions page, or from any place where actions can be added.

To create an action

1. In the AI agents - Advanced add-on, in the top-right corner, use the AI agent drop-down field to select the AI agent you want to add an action for.
2. In the main menu on the left, click Content > Actions.
3. Click Create action.
4. In the Create action dialog, fill out the following fields:
   • Name: Enter a descriptive name for the action.
   • Target: Select a target.
     • If you’re building a conversation action, select Conversation.
     • If you’re building a CRM action, select the specific CRM your AI agent is integrated with.
   • Task: Select which task the action should perform.
     • If you’re building a conversation action, see Available conversation actions for AI agents - Advanced for more information about the available options, including additional fields associated with each task.
     • If you’re building a CRM action, see the appropriate article below for more information about the available options, including additional fields associated with each task:
       • Available CRM actions for AI agents - Advanced and Zendesk Support
       • Available CRM actions for AI agents - Advanced and Zendesk Chat
       • Available CRM actions for AI agents - Advanced and Sunshine Conversations
       • Available CRM actions for AI agents - Advanced and Salesforce
       • Available CRM actions for AI agents - Advanced and Intercom
       • Available CRM actions for AI agents - Advanced and Freshdesk
       • Available CRM actions for AI agents - Advanced and Freshchat
5. Click Create.
   

Tip: You can’t create actions with duplicate configurations, even if the Name field is different.

Adding an action at the AI agent level

AI agent-level actions are executed in every conversation your AI agent engages in. They require an event and an associated action.

To add an action at the AI agent level

1. In the AI agents - Advanced add-on, in the top-right corner, use the AI agent drop-down field to select the AI agent you want to add an action for.
2. In the main menu on the left, click Settings > AI agent settings.
3. Select the Events and actions tab.
   This page shows all the events you’ve configured a AI agent-level action for.
4. Click Add action.
5. From the drop-down list, select the event that should trigger the action. For more information about each event, see About events for advanced AI agents.
   
6. From the next drop-down list, select an existing action or click Create action to create a new one.
   
   Tip: For help filling out the fields in the Create action dialog, see Creating an action.

Your action is added to the list under the event you associated it with.

Adding an action at the intent level

Intent-level actions are executed when a specific intent is triggered during a conversation. You select the action you want to execute when the intent is triggered. Intent-level actions are particularly useful if you want to apply actions to all replies within an intent.

To add an action at the intent level

1. In the AI agents - Advanced add-on, in the top-right corner, use the AI agent drop-down field to select the AI agent you want to add an action for.
2. In the main menu on the left, click Content > Intents.
3. Select the intent you want to associate an action with.
4. On the General tab, under Actions, click Add action.
5. From the drop-down list, select an existing action or click Create action to create a new one.
   
   Tip: For help filling out the fields in the Creation action dialog, see Creating an action.
   Your action is added under Actions.
6. Click Save.
   

Adding an action at the block level

Block-level actions are executed when a particular block within a conversation flow is reached.
These actions are useful for more granular control within your dialogues.

To add an action at the AI agent level

1. In the AI agents - Advanced add-on, in the top-right corner, use the AI agent drop-down field to select the AI agent you want to add an action for.
2. In the main menu on the left, click Content > Use cases (for zero-training AI agents) or Content > Intents (for expression-based AI agents).
3. Select the use case or intent that contains the dialogue you want to add an action to.
4. Select the Replies tab.
5. Select the reply that contains the dialogue you want to add an action to.
   The dialogue builder opens.
6. In the dialogue builder, select the block you want to add an action to.
7. In the Details pane on the right, under Actions, click Add action.
   
8. From the drop-down list, select an existing action or click Create action to create a new one.
   
   Tip: For help filling out the fields in the Create action dialog, see Creating an action.
   Your action is added under Actions.

Reordering actions

You can change the order of the actions you’ve added so that they’re performed in the correct order, regardless of the order you added them in.

To reorder an action

1. Open the actions you’ve added at the AI agent, use case, or block level.
2. Click the grabber icon () next to the action you want to reorder, then drag and drop it into another position.
   
   When you reorder actions at the AI agent level or the use case level for agentic AI agents, your changes are automatically saved. When you reorder actions at the block level or the use case level for zero-training or expression-based AI agents, you must manually save your changes.