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State editor with Thought tab in light mode

The Edit Thought panel — where every state's instruction lives

A Thought is the natural-language instruction attached to a state in a flow. It tells the AI agent what to do here: what to say, what data to collect, which functions to call, how to handle edge cases. Thoughts are the single biggest lever you have on agent behavior — well-written thoughts produce predictable, useful conversations; vague ones produce drift. This page is the field guide for writing thoughts that work.

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Anatomy of a thought

Every thought benefits from the same backbone:
  1. Context. One sentence on the agent’s role at this point in the conversation. “You are helping the customer book a meter exchange appointment.”
  2. Objective. What the agent must accomplish before this state can transition. “Confirm the customer’s service address.”
  3. Trigger. When this thought applies, if it’s not just “always”. “If the customer provides an address that matches multiple accounts…”
  4. Conversation moves. Specific things to say. Quoted phrases when wording matters. “Say: ‘I’ve found your account. Would you like to schedule the earliest available appointment?’”
  5. Function calls. Which functions to call and what parameters they need. Reference functions by their exact name.
  6. Error handling. What to do when a function fails, the customer goes off-script, or there are multiple matches.
  7. Special cases. Anything unusual — emergency routing, accessibility accommodations, regulatory requirements.

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Voice and phrasing

Use strong directives. “Must” and “will” produce more reliable behavior than “should” and “can”. Avoid telling the agent what not to do. Negative instructions can backfire. Instead, describe the action you want.
❌ “Do not ask for the customer’s name again.” ✅ “After you’ve received the customer’s name, move to confirming their account.”
Quote exact phrasing in single quotes when the wording matters — for greetings, legally required disclosures, brand-specific language. The agent will say what’s inside the quotes verbatim. Use placeholder variables in brackets for values that should be filled in: [Customer Name], [Service Provider].

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Multi-channel branching

Voice and text conversations need different instructions. Be explicit:
For voice: spell numbers digit-by-digit, spell street names letter-by-letter, ask for confirmation. For text: trust what the customer typed and move on.

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Function references

Reference functions by their exact registered name and call out what they need:
“Call the Get Account By Address function. Before calling, confirm the street number, street name, and ZIP code with the customer.”
If a function emits events that drive transitions, you generally do not need to mention the events in the thought — the flow editor handles routing.

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Don’t do math in thoughts

LLMs are unreliable at arithmetic. Put any calculation in a function, call the function, then relay the result.
❌ “Add the installment amount to the current balance and tell the customer the total.” ✅ “Call Calculate Total Amount with InstallmentAmount and CurrentBalance, then relay the result to the customer.”

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Avoid embedded examples

Don’t put example values inside thoughts — the agent may treat them as real data.
❌ “Confirm the customer’s address (e.g., 123 Main Street, 90210).” ✅ “Confirm the customer’s street number, street name, and ZIP code.”

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Reference information block

When you need the agent to know facts that don’t justify a function call, list them as a reference block:
Keep these blocks short — the agent has a limited attention budget for general context.

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Error handling

Every state that calls a function should declare what happens when the function fails or the customer goes off-script. Be specific:
  • The statement or trigger that activates the fallback.
  • The exact response to give the customer.
  • The function to call (or “end the conversation politely”).
  • The escalation if the function itself fails.
Worked example:
Customer issue: Water leak. Response: “I understand there’s a water leak. I’ll connect you with our emergency support.” Function call: Transfer to Emergency. Escalation: If the transfer fails, say “It seems I couldn’t connect you. Please call our emergency line at [Emergency Number] directly.”

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Common pitfalls

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Thought template

A copy-paste skeleton for a typical initial state:

Functions and events

What functions can do and how to declare events.

Flow configuration

Settings that affect every state.

Testing flows

Validate your thoughts before publishing.