Creating generative procedures for AI agents with agentic AI

Generative procedures are AI-generated procedures that help power the decision-making capabilities of AI agents with agentic AI. Instead of building scripted conversation flows in the dialogue builder, you can simply enter your business policies and let the AI agent generate a procedure to map out the best path to resolution.

This article contains the following topics:

About generative procedures

Creating generative procedures

Editing generative procedures

Testing generative procedures

Viewing and restoring previous versions of generative procedures

Related articles:

Best practices for creating generative procedures for AI agents with agentic AI

Examples of generative procedures for AI agents with agentic AI

About generative procedures

By leveraging agentic AI, generative procedures give AI agents the freedom to determine the best way to resolve a customer’s issue in line with your business policies. Generative procedures require less setup and maintenance from you than scripted dialogues do.

Each generative procedure is tied to a specific use case. When that use case is triggered during a conversation with a user, the AI agent follows the associated procedure to resolve the issue.

Also, generative procedures power multilingual AI agents. You can write a procedure once, in a single language, and it can serve all the languages your AI agent supports.

Creating generative procedures

Client admins and client editors can create a generative procedure from within a use case.

For helpful advice, see Best practices for creating generative procedures for AI agents with agentic AI.

Note: Generative procedures don’t currently support rich-text formatting, such as buttons or carousels.

To create a generative procedure

In AI agents - Advanced, use the AI agent drop-down field to select the AI agent you want to create a generative procedure for.

In the left sidebar, select Content > Use cases.

Click the use case you want to create a procedure for.

Under Reply method, make sure Use procedure when use case is triggered is selected.
Tip: For more information about this setting, see Configure whether a use case uses a dialogue or generative procedure.

On the Procedure tab, click Create procedure.

On the Create procedure screen, enter a free-text description of how the AI agent should solve a customer’s issue when this use case is triggered.
Within a procedure description, you can:

List the steps required to solve this task as you would with a human agent. For best results, list them in a logical, sequential order.

Instruct the AI agent to search a knowledge source to answer the user’s question. For example, “Search in the help center for…” You can even use natural language to reference specific search rules (for example, “Search only in the English help center”).

Add instructions on how to phrase an answer (for example, “Always include {{brandName}}”).

Type a forward slash (/) or click the plus icon (+) to insert actions, API integrations, parameters or search rules.

Click Create procedure.
An AI-generated procedure map appears, showing you exactly what logic the AI agent will follow and what steps it will take during a conversation to solve a customer’s issue for this use case.

If necessary, make adjustments to the text of the procedure and click Update draft.
Repeat as necessary until the procedure map looks the way you expect.
Note: You cannot edit the procedure map directly.

Click Publish procedure.

Editing generative procedures

You can edit a generative procedure at any time.

To edit a procedure

In AI agents - Advanced, use the AI agent drop-down field in the top-right corner to select the AI agent you want to edit a procedure for.

Click Content in the sidebar, then select Use cases.

Click the use case you want to edit the procedure for.

Under Reply method, make sure the Procedure tab is selected.

Click Edit procedure.

Make changes to the procedure text as necessary and click Generate procedure.
The timestamp in the upper-right corner is updated to show your username and how long ago you edited the procedure.

Review the AI-generated procedure map to ensure the logic the AI agent will follow is appropriate.

(Optional) Repeat the previous two steps until you’re satisfied with the procedure map.

If you want to make your edits live to customers, click Publish procedure.
If you want to discard your edits, restore a previous version of the procedure.

Testing generative procedures

After you create or update a generative procedure, you can test it before making it live for your AI agent.

Testing a procedure always tests the most recently made changes. For example, if you draft updates to a live procedure and test it before publishing the updates, the draft is tested, not the published version.

To test a generative procedure

Open a procedure for editing.

In the top-right, click Test procedure.

In the Session parameters dialog, do one of the following:

To test a conditional branch of the procedure, select a Parameter and enter a Value, then click Test.

To test the procedure as a whole, click Test without parameters.

Tip: To remember your selection for next time, unselect Ask me every time.

In the test widget that appears, test the procedure by sending messages to the AI agent.

Tip: To view test conversation data, filter the conversation logs by Display only test conversations.

Viewing and restoring previous versions of generative procedures

A version history is maintained for each procedure. This means you can quickly restore a previous version of a procedure if a newer version includes changes you don’t want to keep.

To view and restore a procedure to a previous version

Open a procedure for editing.

In the upper-right corner, click the options menu ( ) and select View version history.
The Version history panel appears. Versions are grouped by day. A green checkmark indicates the currently published version of the procedure.

Click to expand the day that includes the version you want to revert back to.
Each version shows the timestamp and user who saved or published it.

To view a previous version of the procedure, click its entry in the Version history panel.
That version of the procedure opens in a read-only state.
Tip: You can copy a direct link by clicking the options menu for that version and selecting Copy link to version. This is helpful if you need to share a specific version of the procedure with another user.

To restore the version, click Restore procedure in the upper right.
Alternatively, click the options menu ( ) for the version you want to restore and select Restore as draft.

The version is restored as the current draft, and the live AI agent is not affected.

To make the restored version live to customers interacting with the AI agent, click Publish procedure.

At any point, you can return to the currently published version of the procedure for comparison.

To return to the currently published version of the procedure

With the procedure open, click the options menu ( ) and select View published procedure.

The current version of the procedure appears.