Create AI Employees

How to create, configure, test, and activate AI Employees (agents) in your workspace.

What is an AI Employee?

An AI Employee is a multi-channel agent bound to your organization. It has:

A preset id + version (prompt and defaults pinned at create time)
Editable system prompt and greeting
Channel flags: chat embed, email out, SMS, voice, Telegram
Default tool ids the runtime may call
Optional Knolo knowledge packs for grounded answers
Status lifecycle: typically draft → active → optional archived

Create from a preset

Open Dashboard → Employees → Create.
Choose a preset from the catalog (Customer Support, Virtual Receptionist, Sales Outreach, or a scaffold role).
Name the employee, set business name / timezone if prompted, review the system prompt.
Create. Scaffold presets may open as draft only until you finish configuration.

Full catalog and roadmap: Agent catalog. Machine-readable list: GET /api/presets.

Configure

Prompt & personality

Edit the system prompt on the employee detail page. Presets use placeholders like {{business_name}} and {{timezone}} filled from config.

Knowledge

Attach one or more Knolo packs so answers cite your docs instead of inventing product details. Rebuild packs after large document updates.

Tools

Enable tool connections at the org level (Tools page), then ensure the employee's default tools include the adapters you need (email alert, send SMS, book appointment, etc.).

Channels

Chat embed — website widget + public chat API
SMS — Twilio inbound/outbound when configured
Voice — Virtual Receptionist / Grok Voice path
Email / Telegram — outbound alerts and sends via tools

Test in the playground

Use the employee Playground tab to chat against the live runtime with your BYOK keys and attached knowledge — before exposing the widget. Confirm tool calls and escalation behavior with synthetic messages.

Activate for production

Set status to active (public embed and many channels require an active employee).
Create a publishable SDK key (optionally scoped to this employee).
Restrict allowed origins to your production domains.
Deploy the embed snippet or wire voice/SMS channels.

Security

Never put LLM provider secrets in the browser. Only publishable pk_live_… keys belong in the embed snippet. Provider keys stay encrypted server-side under Dashboard → API Keys.

Lifecycle tips

Draft — configure safely; public chat will reject inactive employees.
Active — live for embed/SMS/voice according to channels and feature flags.
Archived — hidden from default lists; stop new traffic before archiving.

Using agents day to day

Monitor conversations and soft usage under Dashboard → Activity
Update knowledge packs when product/policy changes
Revoke compromised publishable keys immediately
Use feature kill switches (platform env) if you need to pause embed / voice / SMS globally

Next: Embed SDK · Public API