- Qualifier agent: asks key questions to understand the contact and gather information before passing them along.
- Sales agent: shares product and service information: options, prices, availability, features.
- FAQ agent: answers frequent questions from your business information: hours, prices, processes, policies.
- Appointment agent: coordinates appointments and bookings against your calendar availability.
- Support agent: handles questions and problems from existing customers.
- Billing agent: answers about payments, charges, invoices, receipts, and payment methods.
How a message finds its agent
1
Every message is routed
For each message, Ciarem reads every active agent’s type and its When should this agent step into the conversation? text, together with the conversation so far, and picks one agent with a confidence score. That text is the whole job description the router sees, so write it for the router.
2
The current agent keeps the thread
The agent that handled the previous message keeps short, ambiguous, or follow-up messages (“and the annual one?”, “send them one by one”). The conversation only moves to another agent on a clearly new topic that belongs to it.
3
Capabilities weigh in
Only agents with catalog access can send product photos or files. Only a sales agent with checkout on can register an order. When a message asks for information that one agent’s knowledge base covers, the router strongly prefers that agent. An agent cannot use what is not switched on for it.
What you configure on every agent
- Name and icon: how the agent appears in the inbox and reports.
- When should this agent step in: a plain-language description of the moment it should act, the way you would brief a new hire: “Interest in plans, prices, or signing up for our services.” Keep it specific; this is what routing reads.
- Knowledge: toggle which knowledge bases this agent can consult to answer.
- Follow-ups: “Follow up when the customer goes quiet”. Pick nudges at 15 minutes, 1 hour, and/or 2 hours. See Proactive follow-ups.
- On/off switch: each agent can be activated or deactivated individually from its card.
Type-specific configuration
- Qualifier agents get Questions the agent will ask. Each question carries the question text, an optional “Save the answer” property (a built-in contact field such as name, email, phone, or city, or any custom property you have defined), and “When to ask”: Only if there’s no information (skip it once the property is filled) or Always ask. Drag questions to set the order. Answers land on the contact automatically, so qualification fills your CRM as the conversation happens.
- Sales agents get a link to continue the purchase, sent when the agent detects buying, booking, or quoting intent, plus catalog access (below).
- Qualifier, Sales, and FAQ agents can be granted catalogs: toggle each catalog the agent may consult, and optionally allow it to Add content or Edit content. For example, a sales agent can register a new order record while a FAQ agent stays read-only. Agents without access to a catalog cannot see it.

Common mistakes
Two agents that claim the same moment
Two agents that claim the same moment
Sales: “questions about our services”. FAQ: “questions about the business”. The router has nothing to separate them, so the conversation flips between two agents with different knowledge and different styles.
Describing behavior instead of the moment
Describing behavior instead of the moment
“Be friendly, answer quickly and always try to close the sale” is a briefing, not a trigger. No customer message matches it. It is the same confusion as writing instructions into the knowledge base: behavior lives in Basic configuration and in corrections. This field is the when.
One agent for everything, or too many on day one
One agent for everything, or too many on day one
A single all-purpose agent cannot ask qualifier questions and sell from a catalog and book appointments. The type unlocks the tools. Six agents with one-line descriptions and no knowledge attached do not help either: the router has more options and the customer gets the same answers. Start with two or three that each have a real job, a knowledge base, and the catalogs they need. Add another when the inbox shows a distinct need.
Nothing switched on for the agent
Nothing switched on for the agent
The agent was created and the knowledge base exists, but the Knowledge switch for that agent was never turned on, or the catalog was never granted. Every specific question gets “I don’t have that detail”.
Too many qualifier questions
Too many qualifier questions
Ten questions before the customer gets any help reads like a form, and people leave. Ask only what changes what you do next, save each answer to a contact property, and use Only if there’s no information so returning contacts are not asked again.
The wrong type for the job
The wrong type for the job
A Support agent asked to sell has no catalog to sell from: catalogs can only be granted to qualifier, sales, and FAQ agents. A FAQ agent asked to book has no calendar: booking comes with the Appointment agent and a connected calendar. Pick the type by what the agent must do. The type decides which tools it can have.
When something looks wrong
The other tab on this screen, Transfer rules, decides when an agent should stop and hand the conversation to a person. See Human handoff and transfer rules.