About actions in AI agents

Actions let your AI agents perform specified tasks during conversations
with customers. In the
AI agent workspace,
there are four types of actions:



Configured actions: Actions that can
be used to enrich the conversation
experience, retrieve or send conversation details to your CRM platform,
or improve
your understanding of your customer conversations overall.


API integrations: Connections to an
API or other data source that are created
in the integration builder, a powerful no-code tool that enables
you to create API
integrations without extended technical or programming skills.


Action flows: User-defined automated
sequences of steps that perform actions
in Zendesk and external systems based on a defined event that initiates
or triggers
the workflow.


Custom actions: Actions that allow
you to update data outside of Zendesk
using an API you specify.


This article contains the following topics:


Accessing actions in an AI agent


About configured actions in AI agents


About API integrations in AI agents


About action flows in AI agents


About custom actions in AI agents




Accessing actions in an AI agent

You can access an AI agent's actions in the sidebar.

To access actions in an AI agent



In the AI agents workspace, select the AI agent you want to work
with.


Click
Actions
in the sidebar.




From here, you can create a
configured action,
API integration,
action flow,
or
custom
action.






About configured actions in AI agents


Configured actions can be used to enrich the conversation experience,
retrieve or
send conversation details to your CRM platform, or improve your understanding
of
your customer conversations overall. Configured actions can be applied
at different
points in the conversation journey, giving you flexibility to manage
conversations,
personalize responses, and interact efficiently with your CRM system.


When to use configured actions in an AI agent:




Use configured actions to update the parameters in the AI
agent
session, or else add labels to conversations for conversation
design or
reporting.




Where configured actions can be added:




Configured actions can be added at the AI agent level, the
use case
level, and the dialogue block level or in a procedure.




How to create a configured action:




Creating a configured action




How to add a configured action in an AI agent:




Adding a configured action at the AI
agent level




Adding a configured action at the use
case level




Adding a configured action at the block
level



For more information, see the following resources:


About configured actions for AI
agents


Reviewing and managing configured actions for
AI agents





About API integrations in AI agents


Previously, API integrations in AI agents were created through the
integration builder,
which provided a way to connect an
AI agent to any API or data source without extended technical or
programming skills.


When to use API integrations in the integration builder in an AI agent:



Going forward, you should create API integrations through
custom actions
instead, as
these serve the same function as API integrations created through
the
integration builder. However, the API integrations menu option
remains available
in the AI agents workspace for customers who need to maintain
API integrations
they've already created.





About action flows in AI agents


Action flows are user-defined automated sequences of steps that perform
actions in
Zendesk and external systems based on a defined event that initiates
or triggers the
workflow.


When to use action flows in an AI agent:




Use action flows when you need to integrate with an external
system
and multiple steps are necessary either
due to data
transformation needs or because multiple external systems
are involved.




Where action flows can be added in an AI agent:




Action flows can be added at the dialogue block level or
in a
procedure.




How to create an action flow:




Creating action flows to automate
processes across Zendesk and external systems


When creating an action flow for an AI agent, keep the following
in
mind:



Unlike actions flows you may create in other contexts,
action
flows in AI agents do not consume
action credits.


Outputs of an action flow aren't available to test in
the
dialogue builder.


If you create an action flow with branching conditions,
you
must pass a parameter at the end of the flow so the AI
agent knows what
to do with the flow's output (because it has only Success
and Fallback
scenarios).







How to add an action flow in an AI agent:




Add an Integration or action flow
block in the
dialogue builder,
or
insert a reference to the custom action in the
procedure builder.







Note:
Standard actions
are not directly
available in an AI agent yet, though they are available as part
of an
action flow.
However, note that the
number of action flows you can create is limited. As an alternative,
use a
configured action instead of a standard action as part of an
action flow.


For more information, see the following resources:


Understanding the action builder and action
flows


Editing and managing action flows





About custom actions in AI agents


Custom actions allow you to update data outside of Zendesk using
an API you
specify.




When to use custom actions in an AI agent:




Use custom actions as the default way of integrating
with
an external system, if they don't already exist as
standard actions
in action flows. Simple requests that fetch or update
data through a
single endpoint should use a custom action.




Where custom actions can be added in an AI agent:




Custom actions can be added at the dialogue block
level or
in a procedure.




How to create a custom action:




Creating custom actions for auto
assist, AI agents, and action flows




How to add a custom action in an AI agent:



Add an Integration or action flow
block in the
dialogue builder,
or insert a
reference to the custom action in the
procedure builder.




For more information, see the following resources:


About actions for auto assist and action
flows


Managing custom actions for automated
tasks





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