About bot builder (Legacy)

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">You can use bot builder to create answers for your AI agents for messaging, giving your customers the opportunity to self-serve their support issues before connecting with agents. This article introduces the bot builder UI and basic functionality. For information about working with bot builder, seeBuilding an AI agent for messaging using answers.</p>
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<span class="attentiontitle"></span> <span class="ph">This article describes functionality that moved into legacy
status on February 2, 2025. On December 10, 2026, this functionality will no longer
be available. For more information, see <a href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10487730059034" target="_blank">this announcement</a>.</span>
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<p class="p">You can use bot builder to create answers for your AI agents for messaging, giving your customers
the opportunity to self-serve their support issues before connecting with agents. This article
introduces the bot builder UI and basic functionality. For information about working with bot
builder, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4422584657434" target="_blank">Building
an AI agent for messaging using answers</a>.</p>
<p class="p">Bot builder is the tool you use to create answers for your AI agent for messaging. Bot
builder lets you control how the AI agent behaves in response to customer input.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_krt_qbl_gnb__image_pch_p1w_sbc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/bot_builder_ui_diagram.png" width="650"></p>
<p class="p">Each bot builder component plays an important role in building an answer:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_krt_qbl_gnb__ul_qch_p1w_sbc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Header</strong>, which appears at the top of the screen, above the flow. In the header,
you'll find breadcrumbs for the answer's AI agent as well as the Preview and Done
buttons.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Flow</strong>, your answer represented in a decision tree format. The flow is a series of
connected steps representing the interaction the AI agent can have with a customer. You
can select a step to configure the AI agent's responses, and add steps to the answer.
The navigation controls at the bottom of the flow allow you to zoom in and out of the
answer, or pan to areas in the answer. You can also pinch to zoom using a touchpad or
touch screen.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Configuration panel</strong>, where you can customize each step in your answer. The
appearance of this panel changes based on what type of AI agent step you're working
on.<ul class="ul" id="topic_krt_qbl_gnb__ul_rch_p1w_sbc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Answer builder</strong> (shown above), displayed when you initially create an
answer, and when you select the top step in the answer. Here, you can configure
your answer topic, and work with your question variations.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Configuration tab</strong>, which appears when you select a step to the answer,
or add a new step to an answer. Here, you can select the type of step you want
to add to your answer, add and edit automated messages, and build lists of
options for your customers to choose from. For detailed information on these
step types, including usage and configuration rules, visual examples of the
steps in the bot builder, and how each appears to your customers in a Web
Widget, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408836323738" target="_blank">Understanding AI agent step types</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Preview tab</strong>, for previewing the customer experience created by the
answer, before releasing it to your customers. Click the <strong class="ph b">Preview</strong> tab in
the Configuration panel to view.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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