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Intents

Define the intents a customer message can be read as, so flows can start on them and AI agents can be limited to some.

Intents are the kinds of thing your customers write to you about, such as order_status, refund or opening_hours. When AI is switched on, every incoming customer message is read and labelled with one of your intents, or "unknown". You can then:

Note: Every role except Billing Administrator can see intents. Owners, Admins, Supervisors and Marketing Managers can add, edit and delete them.

Add an intent

  1. Go to Automation › AI agents › Intents.
  2. Click New intent.
  3. Enter a Key: lower-case letters, digits and underscores, starting with a letter (up to 64). The key can't be changed later, and "unknown" is reserved.
  4. Enter a Description: what the classifier reads to recognise the intent (up to 500 characters).
  5. Under Examples, add up to 10 messages a customer might send, one per line, each under 200 characters.
  6. Click Create.

You can have up to 50 intents. "unknown" is always present and is used when a message fits none of them.

Tip: Write descriptions and examples the way your customers really write, including short and misspelt messages. Keep intents distinct from each other, so a message clearly fits one.

The list

The Intents page shows each intent's Key, Description, Examples (how many) and Updated. From a row you can edit or delete it.

  • Edit: change the description and examples. The key stays the same.
  • Delete: messages already labelled keep the key as text. Deleting is refused while a published agent lists the intent or a published flow starts on it; publish them without it first.

How intents start flows

The Intent detected trigger starts a run when a customer message is read as one of the intents you list in the trigger (or any intent, if you list none). Some rules keep it predictable:

  • "unknown" never starts a flow.
  • A message sent by a flow never starts it.
  • If the conversation is already labelled with the same intent, a repeat of it doesn't start the flow again.
  • A reply to a flow's buttons, list or question belongs to that flow, so it doesn't also start an Intent detected flow.
  • Like other message triggers, you can limit it to some of your WhatsApp numbers. See Flows and WhatsApp numbers.

The trigger sets {{intent}} (the key) and {{message_text}} for the flow's steps.

Note: Messages are labelled only while AI is switched on for your workspace. If AI is off, the Intent detected trigger never fires.

Still need help?

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