Bot settings
The Settings tab controls how a bot answers: its instructions, what it says when it does not know, how it cites sources and how it searches your knowledge.
Updated
On this page
General
#| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name | Shown in the dashboard and, unless you set a title, in the widget header |
| Description | An internal note for your team |
| Status | Active, or Disabled, which hides the widget without deleting anything |
| Language | Automatic replies in each visitor's own language and script; or pick one of the widget's 10 languages to fix both the answers and the widget |
Only workspace owners and admins can change bot settings. Whatever the setting, the assistant replies in the language and script of the visitor's latest message: romanised Hindi gets romanised Hindi, Devanagari gets Devanagari.
How it answers
#| Setting | What it does | Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Instructions | Tell the assistant who it is, its tone and rules, for example "You are the help desk of Asha Dental. Be brief and warm. Always suggest booking online." | Up to 8000 characters |
| Citations | Inline markers and a Sources list (default), a Sources list only, or Off (sources visible to your team only) | |
| Collect feedback | Thumbs up and down under answers | |
| Understand each message first | A quick first step that works out what the visitor wants, which improves follow-ups and routing. On by default | |
| What your knowledge covers | A short summary that helps the assistant tell related questions from off-topic ones. Leave empty to use the generated summary, or press Regenerate | Up to 1200 characters |
Tip: Instructions shape tone and behaviour; facts belong in knowledge. A price written only in the instructions cannot be cited and may be blocked by the promises check.
When the knowledge has no answer, choose what happens. Say so in its own words (default) explains, in the visitor's language, that it cannot find the answer and suggests what it can help with. Send my fallback message always sends your text exactly as written, for example with your phone number; it is not translated, and a bot with tools may still answer with them.
Messages: the welcome message, a privacy policy link and up to 6 suggested questions can be set here too, alongside the Appearance tab.
Retrieval
#Retrieval decides which parts of your knowledge the assistant reads before answering.
| Setting | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Chunks per answer (top k) | 8 | 1 to 20. More gives more context but longer, costlier prompts |
| Minimum similarity | 0.35 | 0 to 1. Higher is stricter: fewer, more relevant chunks |
| Weak and strong thresholds | Automatic | When retrieval counts as a weak or strong match. Leave automatic unless an evaluation says otherwise |
| Hybrid search | On | Combines meaning-based and keyword search; helps with product codes and names |
| Rerank | Off | Re-orders results for relevance |
Retrieval changes apply immediately and never re-index. If the bot has an evaluation set with at least 20 questions, Run eval first appears next to Save so you can check the change before saving.
Images
#The Images group at the end of the Retrieval card controls pictures from your knowledge in answers. See Images in answers in the Knowledge guide for where images come from.
| Setting | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Extract images from sources | On | Takes images from pages, PDFs, Word files, Markdown and FAQ answers on the next sync. Use Re-extract images on a source to redo it now |
| Show images in answers | On | The assistant places an image right after the sentence it illustrates, only when it helps |
| Max images per answer | 2 | 1 to 3 |
| Describe images with AI | Off | Writes a short description for images that have no alt text, caption or description, using this bot's own AI key |
- Describe images with AI needs a vision-capable chat model. If the bot's model can't read images, the settings page says “Your current chat model can't read images”; you can still save, but descriptions are skipped until you choose a model that can.
- Each description is one small call on your key (up to 2000 images per bot a month), listed as Image descriptions on the Usage page. Images that already have good alt text or captions are never sent.
- The model is told never to identify people, and text inside an image is treated as content, not as instructions.
Models
#The Model card picks the chat key and model (Fast, Balanced, Premium or a specific model) and the embedding key and model. Changing the embedding model re-indexes all knowledge in the background. See the Model providers guide.
Disable or delete a bot
#- To stop a bot temporarily, set Status to Disabled: the widget disappears from your site and nothing is lost.
- Deleting removes the bot from the dashboard and the widget immediately. It is kept for 30 days (support can restore it), then purged with its knowledge and conversations. You type the bot's name to confirm.
Worked examples
#Online shop
Instructions for a friendly store assistant
Short, helpful answers that nudge customers towards tracking and returns pages.
You are the shopping assistant of Brahmaputra Threads.
Be friendly and brief: two or three sentences.
For order questions, ask for the order number (starts with BT-).
Never guess delivery dates; use the order status tool.Images: keep Show images in answers on with Max images per answer 2, so a question about a product can show its photo and one colour variant. Turn on Describe images with AI if older product photos have no alt text.
Clinic or bookings
Never improvising for a clinic
Send patients to the front desk when information is missing.
When the knowledge has no answer: Send my fallback message, with "I don't have that information. Please call the front desk on 0361 400 0000 between 9 am and 8 pm." Citations: Sources list only, so patients see where answers come from.
Software company
Retrieval for a large documentation site
Better answers when the right article is found but ranked low.
Raise chunks per answer from 8 to 12 and keep hybrid search on, then compare with Run eval first before saving.
Coaching institute
Describing what the institute's knowledge covers
Answer related study questions but decline unrelated ones.
What your knowledge covers: "Courses, batches, fees, scholarships, admission process and test schedules of Vidya Coaching, Jorhat and Dibrugarh centres."