Pulse AI agents
Updated August 24, 2026
A Pulse AI agent answers incoming conversations on the channels you attach it to. It replies from the knowledge base content you assign to it, and reads live location details straight out of Pluspoint. It collects the contact details you ask it for, and passes the conversation to your team when it cannot help.
Before you start
- Full Messaging access, or account ownership.
- At least one incoming channel at Settings → Channels that is not already attached to another agent.
- At least one knowledge base item assigned to the agent — see Pulse AI knowledge base. Without it the agent has nothing to answer from and the playground stays locked.
- AI credits on the account. One credit is used for each conversation the agent picks up.
Where to find it
Messaging → Pulse AI → Agents, or go to https://app.pluspoint.io/messaging/pulse-ai/agents.
How a conversation reaches an agent
An incoming message that opens a new conversation is handed to Pulse only when all of these are true:
- An agent is attached to the channel the message arrived on.
- That agent is Active.
- The same contact has not had Pulse start 10 or more conversations in the last 7 days.
- The account has an AI credit available.
If any of them fails, the conversation arrives unassigned and your team handles it as usual.
A conversation leaves Pulse as soon as a person joins it or is assigned to it. It also leaves when the agent hands it over, when the abandoned-conversation rule unassigns or closes it, or when the agent is deleted.
Create an agent
- Go to Messaging → Pulse AI → Agents.
- Select Add agent.
- Fill in the sections below.
- Select Save changes.
General
| Field | Rules |
|---|---|
| Name | Required. Up to 256 characters. |
| Channels | Required, at least one. A channel already held by another agent cannot be selected. Disconnected channels are still listed, so you can see everything an agent is attached to. |
| Activate agent | Off by default. While it is off the agent exists but never answers anything. |
An agent belongs to the account and attaches to channels, not to a location or a brand. It has no schedule either — it is either on or off.
Contact details
Each of the three toggles reveals a Required checkbox once it is on:
| Toggle | Effect when on and Required |
|---|---|
| Contact email | If the contact has no email, the agent asks for it before it answers anything else |
| Contact phone | Same, for the phone number |
| Contact name | Same, for the name |
Whatever the customer supplies is written back onto the contact record.
Abandoned conversations
| Option | What happens |
|---|---|
| Close conversation | The conversation is resolved after the delay, recorded against the agent |
| Change to Unassigned | The agent — and any user — is removed, so the conversation returns to the Unassigned queue |
| Do nothing | The default. Nothing happens, however long the customer is silent |
Pick either of the first two and Time of client inactivity before action is applied: appears, with three selects: day(s) (0-30), hour(s) (0-23) and minute(s) in five-minute steps. At least one of the three must be above zero.
The action lands shortly after the delay elapses rather than to the second.
Conversation handoff
| Option | What happens |
|---|---|
| Change to Unassigned | The default. The agent releases the conversation into the Unassigned queue for your team, and the unanswered question is recorded |
| Don’t transfer conversation | The agent tells the customer it cannot help and asks them to rephrase. Nothing is escalated |
With Change to Unassigned selected, Expected response time is required. It sets what the agent promises the customer:
| Option | The customer is told |
|---|---|
| Disabled | Someone will get back to them, with no estimate |
| A few minutes | A few minutes |
| Within an hour | Within an hour |
| A few hours | A few hours |
| Within a day | Within a day |
| Within 2 days | Within two days |
If a person is already assigned to the conversation, the hand-over is skipped — the agent leaves the thread with its owner.
Custom instructions
Use Custom instructions (optional) for tone, escalation etiquette, things the agent must never promise, or how to greet people. It holds up to 1000 characters.
Instructions shape behaviour; they are not a substitute for knowledge. Facts belong in the knowledge base.
Test the agent in the playground
The right half of the agent editor is a live sandbox. It runs against the values currently in the form, including changes you have not saved yet.
- Open the agent for editing, or fill in a new one.
- Type into Type your message here on the right and send with Cmd/Ctrl + Enter.
- Read the reply, adjust the form, and try again.
- Select Reset to clear the transcript and start a fresh test conversation.
The playground stays locked until the agent has content to answer from.
A hand-over triggered in the playground does not really escalate — the agent replies with a marked test message instead.
Turn an agent on and off
Use the Activate agent toggle in the editor, or the pause and play icons on the agent card (Disable and Enable). A disabled agent is skipped entirely when a new conversation arrives, so the conversation lands unassigned for your team.
What the agent can do on its own
Beyond looking up your knowledge base, the agent can:
- Read a location’s details — name, description, address, contact details and map link — from the location record.
- Read a location’s opening hours, including special hours.
- Save the name, phone number or email the customer gives it onto the contact.
- Hand the conversation over to your team, or resolve it when hand-over is turned off.
- Block a conversation flagged as a scam. This check runs on Facebook and Instagram conversations only.
Note You do not need knowledge base entries for addresses, phone numbers or opening hours. The agent reads those live from the location record, so keeping locations and business hours accurate is what keeps those answers right.
Limits worth knowing
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Agents per channel | One. A channel can only be attached to a single agent |
| Name length | 256 characters |
| Custom instructions length | 1000 characters |
| Conversations Pulse will start for one contact | Fewer than 10 in any 7-day period |
| Agent replies in one conversation | After more than 50, the agent politely ends the thread — handing over to a human if hand-over is on, otherwise resolving it |
| Conversation history kept in full | 25 messages. Longer threads are summarised so the agent keeps its context small |
| AI credits | One per conversation the agent picks up, not per message |
The agent detects the customer’s language and answers in it.
AI credits
Each conversation an agent takes uses one AI credit. Credits come from your plan’s allowance first and then from any top-ups you have bought. Warning emails go out when the remaining balance reaches 5 and again at 1. When the balance hits zero, the agent stops picking up new conversations and everything new lands unassigned for your team. Conversations Pulse already holds carry on.
Plan credits are restored on your subscription renewal date. If automatic top-up is switched on, a purchase is triggered whenever the balance falls below the limit you set. Manage allowances and top-ups in Billing and plans.
Delete an agent
Select the bin icon on the agent card, or Delete inside the editor, then select Delete again in the Confirm deletion dialog. Conversations the agent was holding are released, and its channels become available for another agent.
An agent cannot be deleted while it is the only agent on a knowledge base item. Assign those items to another agent, or delete them, and try again.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Pulse AI is not in the sidebar | Pulse AI requires full Messaging access | Ask an admin to raise your messaging permission (Users and permissions) |
| A channel is disabled in the Channels picker | Another agent already holds it | Detach it from the other agent first, or attach this agent to a different channel |
| The playground shows a message instead of a chat box | The agent has no knowledge base content assigned, or has not been saved yet | Save the agent, then assign items to it from Pulse AI knowledge base |
| New conversations are not being picked up | The agent is Disabled, no agent is attached to that channel, the account is out of AI credits, or Pulse has already started 10 conversations with that contact in the last 7 days | Enable the agent, check its Channels, and check your credit balance in Billing and plans |
| The agent answers but never hands over | Handoff is set to Don’t transfer conversation | Switch to Change to Unassigned and pick an Expected response time |
| The agent hands over questions it should know | Nothing in the knowledge base matched the question closely enough | Add a knowledge base item phrased the way customers actually ask, and assign it to this agent |
| Conversations stay with Pulse forever | Abandoned conversations is set to Do nothing | Choose Change to Unassigned or Close conversation and set an inactivity delay |
| Deleting an agent is refused | Knowledge base content is assigned to this agent and to no other | Assign those items to another agent, or delete them, then delete the agent |