OpenDialog Docs
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  • GETTING STARTED
    • Introduction
    • Getting ready
    • Billing and plans
    • Quick Start AI Agents
      • Quick Start AI Agent
      • The "Start from Scratch" AI Agent
        • Chat Management Conversation
        • Welcome Conversation
        • Topic Conversation
        • Global No Match Conversation
        • Supporting LLM Actions
        • Semantic Classifier: Query Classifier
      • A Process Handling AI Agent
  • STEP BY STEP GUIDES
    • AI Agent Creation Overview
    • Add a new topic of discussion
    • Use knowledge sources via RAG
    • Adding a structured conversation
    • Add a 3rd party integration
    • Test and tweak your AI Agent
    • Publish your AI Agent
  • CORE CONCEPTS
    • OpenDialog Approach
      • Designing Conversational AI Agents
    • OpenDialog Platform
      • Scenarios
        • Conversations
        • Scenes
        • Turns and intents
      • Language Services
      • OpenDialog Account Management
        • Creating and managing users
        • Deleting OpenDialog account
        • Account Security
    • OpenDialog Conversation Engine
    • Contexts and attributes
      • Contexts
      • Attributes
      • Attribute Management
      • Conditions and operators
      • Composite Attributes
  • CREATE AI APPLICATIONS
    • Designing your application
      • Conversation Design
        • Conversational Patterns
          • Introduction to conversational patterns
          • Building robust assistants
            • Contextual help
            • Restart
            • End chat
            • Contextual and Global No Match
            • Contextual FAQ
          • Openings
            • Anatomy of an opening
            • Transactional openings
            • Additional information
          • Authentication
            • Components
            • Example dialog
            • Using in OpenDialog
          • Information collection
            • Components
            • Example dialog
            • Using in OpenDialog
            • Additional information
          • Recommendations
            • Components
            • Example dialog
            • Additional information
          • Extended telling
            • Components
            • Example dialog
            • Additional information
          • Repair
            • Types of repair
            • User request not understood
            • Example dialog
            • Additional information
          • Transfer
            • Components
            • Example dialog
            • Additional information
          • Closing
            • Components
            • Example dialog
            • Using in OpenDialog
            • Additional information
        • Best practices
          • Use Case
          • Subject Matter Expertise
          • Business Goals
          • User needs
            • Primary research
            • Secondary research
            • Outcome: user profile
          • Assistant personality
          • Sample dialogs
          • Conversation structure
          • API Integration Capabilities
          • NLU modeling
          • Testing strategy
          • The team
            • What does a conversation designer do
          • Select resources
      • Message Design
        • Message editor
        • Constructing Messages
        • Message Conditions
        • Messages best practices
        • Subsequent Messages - Virtual Intents
        • Using Attributes in Messages
        • Using Markdown in messages
        • Message Types
          • Text Message
          • Image Message
          • Button Message
          • Date Picker Message
          • Audio Message
          • Form Message
          • Full Page Message
          • Conversation Handover message
          • Autocomplete Message
          • Address Autocomplete Message
          • List Message
          • Rich Message
          • Location Message
          • E-Sign Message
          • File Upload Message
          • Meta Messages
            • Progress Bar Message
          • Attribute Message
      • Webchat Interface design
        • Webchat Interface Settings
        • Webchat Controls
      • Accessibility
      • Inclusive design
    • Leveraging Generative AI
      • Language Services
        • Semantic Intent Classifier
          • OpenAI
          • Azure
          • Google Gemini
          • Output attributes
        • Retrieval Augmented Generation
        • Example-based intent classification [Deprecated]
      • Interpreters
        • Available interpreters
          • OpenDialog interpreter
          • Amazon Lex interpreter
          • Google Dialogflow
            • Google Dialogflow interpreter
            • Google Dialogflow Knowledge Base
          • OpenAI interpreter
        • Using a language service interpreter
        • Interpreter Orchestration
        • Troubleshooting interpreters
      • LLM Actions
        • OpenAI
        • Azure OpenAI
        • Output attributes
        • Using conversation history (memory) in LLM actions
        • LLM Action Analytics
    • 3rd party Integrations in your application
      • Webhook actions
      • Actions from library
        • Freshdesk Action
        • Send to Email Action
        • Set Attributes Action
      • Conversation Hand-off
        • Chatwoot
    • Previewing your application
    • Launching your application
    • Monitoring your application
    • Debugging your application
    • Translating your application
    • FAQ
    • Troubleshooting and Common Problems
  • Developing With OpenDialog
    • Integrating with OpenDialog
    • Actions
      • Webhook actions
      • LLM actions
    • WebChat
      • Chat API
      • WebChat authentication
      • User Tracking
      • Load Webchat within page Element
      • How to enable JavaScript in your browser
      • SDK
        • Methods
        • Events
        • Custom Components
    • External APIs
  • Release Notes
    • Version 3 Upgrade Guide
    • Release Notes
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On this page
  • Building blocks of an AI Agent
  • User Experience
  • Language Capabilities
  • Contextual Knowledge
  • What You Need Before You Build
  • The Purpose of the AI Agent
  • The Primary Topic Area
  • The Primary Knowledge Source:
  1. GETTING STARTED

Getting ready

Before jumping into the build process, you need to make sure you have a clear understanding of an AI agent’s key building blocks and the pieces of information you need to personalise yours.

PreviousIntroductionNextBilling and plans

Last updated 6 months ago

Building blocks of an AI Agent

Your AI agent is built from a few fundamental building blocks: the user experience, its language capabilities and contextual knowledge. So let's explore what you need to understand to get started.

This is all about how you want users to interact with your AI agent. You’ll need to decide when your AI agent will handle free-form conversations (where users can ask anything and the AI dynamically adapts) or process-driven conversations (which guide users step-by-step through structured workflows), or a mixture of both. For example, a free-form conversation might be used in customer support where users ask questions in an open-ended manner, while a process-driven conversation could be used for tasks like booking an appointment or completing a transaction. Knowing which interaction style best suits your use case is critical for delivering the right user experience. In OpenDialog, you can set up and tailor the user experience via our Scenario Management.

This refers to how well your AI Agent can understand and process user input, and respond to it. Semantic classification allows your AI agent to interpret the meaning and intent behind user queries, categorising them into relevant topics. In addition, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) helps the AI agent to dynamically fetch information from knowledge sources, ensuring users receive specific responses. These advanced language capabilities ensure your AI agent can deliver meaningful, relevant answers across a variety of topics. In OpenDialog, you can set up these advanced capabilities through our Language Services.

To make conversations personal and relevant, your AI agent can use contextual variables — details like the user’s name, preferences, or history. These variables allow the AI agent to tailor its responses, making the interaction more engaging and effective. The AI agent can also extract key information from the conversation itself (e.g., a user’s account number or order status) to refine its responses and keep the conversation flowing. In OpenDialog, you can create and manage these variables through Attribute Management.

What You Need Before You Build

Before diving into the powerful tools that will bring your AI agent to life, it’s essential to have a clear sense of a few key elements. Think of this as gathering your ingredients before starting a recipe—you’ll save time and make the process smoother by coming prepared.

The Purpose of the AI Agent

What problem is your AI agent solving? Is it helping users troubleshoot technical issues, assisting employees with internal processes, or providing quick access to product information? Having a clear mission for your agent will guide its development.

The Primary Topic Area

What is the main subject your AI agent will cover? Whether it’s customer service, product support, or employee training, identifying this focus area will help you structure the agent’s responses and capabilities.

The Primary Knowledge Source:

Where will the AI agent retrieve the majority of its information? It could be an FAQ website page, product documentation, or an internal database. Your AI agent will pull from these sources dynamically, ensuring it delivers answers based on the most relevant data.

With these details in hand, you’re ready to create a safe, responsive AI agent that delivers immediate value to your users.

Not quite sure about what you want to build?

You can use our example use case in the product: an AI Agent that answers questions about the moon.

Now, let's build something amazing!

User Experience
Language Capabilities
Contextual Knowledge