Skip to main content

AI Agents 2.0

The Unified Agent brings every step of building a Salesmsg texting agent into one connected experience.

A
Written by Aaron Sundukovskiy

The Unified Agent brings every step of building a Salesmsg texting agent into one connected experience. Instead of jumping between disconnected setup screens, you start with a single message describing what you want your agent to do, then chat, configure, test, and activate it all from one page.


How It Works

Building an agent with the Unified Agent follows a simple path:

  • Describe your agent in one message, or pick a starting point

  • Chat with the Creator Agent to fill in the details

  • Fine-tune everything in the Configure tab

  • Test your agent live before it reaches a real contact

  • Activate once your setup passes a quick check

Your existing agents keep working exactly as they do now. Nothing changes for them unless you choose to edit them.


Starting a New Agent

  1. Go to AI & Automation in the left menu and click New AI Agent

  2. Type a message describing what you want your agent to do, or select a template chip such as Booking, Lead Qualification, Customer Support, or FAQ to prefill a starting point

  3. Edit the prefilled text if you selected a template, then continue

You land in the unified setup view, with the Chat tab open by default for new agents.


Setting Up Your Agent by Chatting

The Chat tab guides you through setup without asking you to write a prompt from scratch.

  1. Answer the Creator Agent's questions as they come up, covering things like booking settings, what data to collect, and follow up timing

  2. Watch your prompt build in real time as you answer

  3. Keep chatting anytime to adjust tone, add details, or change how your agent responds


Triggers

Every agent needs to know when to start a conversation and where to send it from.

  • How the agent gets triggered: Choose Manually, or add Automatically alongside it. Manual triggering is always available and can't be turned off.

  • Which inbox to use: Select the inbox and number your agent should send messages from. You can only select one.

  • How contacts get enrolled: This step is optional, so you can skip it if you'd rather not set enrollment criteria yet. If you do set it up, you'll see your enrollment criteria summarized once you've made your selections.

  • Re-enrollment: Decide whether contacts can go through the agent again after they've already completed it. This is turned on by default.

If you're setting this up through the Chat tab, the Creator Agent asks you these questions in order. Answering the inbox question is required, but you can skip the enrollment criteria step entirely if you're not ready to define it yet.


Managing Settings in the Configure Tab

The Configure tab holds every setting for your agent in one place. Both merge fields and actions are optional, so you only add what your agent actually needs.

Adding Merge Fields or Actions With a Slash

Type / anywhere in your prompt to open a dropdown with two options: Merge Fields and Actions.

Merge fields:

  1. Select Merge Fields from the dropdown

  2. Choose a source: Salesmsg (always available), Calendly, or HubSpot. If Calendly or HubSpot isn't connected, you'll see a Reconnect option

  3. Pick one or more fields from the list for your selected source

  4. Your selected fields appear as highlighted chips right in your prompt text, and your final prompt updates immediately to reflect them

Actions:

  1. Select Actions from the dropdown

  2. Choose an action type from the modal (see the full list below)

  3. Configure the action's details

  4. The action appears as a highlighted chip in your prompt

You can click any existing merge field or action chip to edit it, or remove it from your prompt entirely.

Available Actions

Action

How it works

Add tag

Select one or more tags from your organization's tag list, or search for one by name. If the tag you want doesn't exist, you can create it right from the search. A selection is required to add the action.

Remove tag

Same tag-selection experience as Add tag, but removes the selected tags instead. If no matching tag is found, you'll see a no results message.

Send SMS

Type the message your agent should send in the text box, with formatting and attachment options available below it. You can also turn on AI-generated messaging so the SMS is written dynamically based on the conversation instead of using fixed text. A message is required to save the action.

Add contact note

Type the note your agent should add to the contact, plus an option to add emoji. Like Send SMS, you can turn on AI-generated notes so the note reflects the actual conversation instead of static text. A note is required to save the action.

Stop conversation

Ends your agent's conversation with the contact. After this point in your prompt, no further AI conversation happens, only actions can run. This action isn't editable after it's added.

If you close any action's setup modal without finishing it, the action isn't added to your prompt.

Setting Conditions on Actions

Actions are conditional. Alongside each action, you can add the condition that should trigger it, so your agent only performs the action when the situation actually calls for it, rather than every time.


Knowledge Base

Adding knowledge base files helps your agent give more accurate answers by referencing your own documentation.

  1. Decide if your agent should use knowledge base files: Choose Yes or No. If you choose No, this step ends there and your agent won't reference any files.

  2. Choose which files to use: If you choose Yes, select the files your agent should pull from. All available files are selected by default, but you can narrow it down to specific ones. You can also search by file name if you have a lot of files to look through.

  3. At least one file needs to be selected to save this step. If your knowledge base is empty, you'll see a message letting you add files before continuing.

You can save your agent even if a file is still processing, so you don't have to wait for every file to finish before moving on.


Booking

If your agent handles scheduling, the booking setup connects your agent to your calendar and defines how it books meetings.

  1. Choose your scheduling app: Calendly is available now and is preselected by default. If you haven't connected Calendly yet, you'll see a Connect option that takes you through the connection flow. HubSpot is marked Coming soon.

  2. Select the event to use: Pick which Calendly event your agent should offer. You can search through your connected events by name or link if you have several.

  3. Choose how customers book: Decide whether your agent should Chat to book a time with the contact directly, or simply Share booking link and let the contact pick a time themselves. Chatting to book a time is the default.

  4. Decide how reminders and changes are handled: Choose whether your agent should automatically handle reminders, cancellations, and reschedules on its own. This is turned on by default.

Once you've answered all four, your selections are saved to your agent's settings and reflected in your prompt.


Testing Your Agent

Before your agent goes live, test it right from the setup page.

  1. Click Start Testing

  2. Send a message in the live phone preview and watch your agent respond in real time, using your actual prompt, actions, and merge fields

  3. Restart the test as many times as you need

Testing never uses credits and never reaches a real contact.


Activating Your Agent

When you're ready to go live, click Activate. Salesmsg checks your setup first:

  • Required fields like your agent name, prompt, and inbox must be filled in

  • If you've enabled a knowledge base or booking integration, those are checked too

  • Your prompt is also reviewed for accuracy. If something needs attention, you'll see an alert before your agent can go live

If anything is missing, you're taken back to the Configure tab with the fields that need attention highlighted. Once everything checks out, your agent's status updates to Active.


Editing an Existing Agent

Click Edit on any agent from your agents list to open its setup page.

  • Agents built in the Unified Agent open with the Configure tab active by default, with all your saved settings already filled in

  • You can switch to the Chat tab anytime to continue setup by chatting instead

  • Agents built in the older setup flow continue to open in that same flow when you edit them

  • If you duplicate an agent built in the older flow, the duplicate is also created in the older flow

  • If you duplicate a Unified Agent, the duplicate opens in the new setup, with the Configure tab active


Reviewing Agent Details

Click into any agent to see its details in a read-only view, organized into a few sections:

  • Trigger: how contacts are enrolled, how many are currently enrolled, your enrollment criteria, re-enrollment setting, and which inbox or number the agent sends from

  • Instructions: your full prompt, with merge fields and actions shown as highlighted chips, plus your knowledge base status and linked files

  • Settings: your booking setup if enabled, including the connected app, event, booking method, and smart meeting setting

  • Auto Follow-Up: your follow up window and frequency, if enabled

  • End Session: the condition that ends the agent's conversation

This view always reflects your agent's last saved or published setup.


Tracking Agent Performance

Your agent's statistics page shows how contacts are progressing:

  • Total: everyone ever enrolled in the agent

  • In Progress: contacts currently in an active conversation

  • Skipped: contacts the agent didn't start a conversation with

  • Completed: contacts who finished their conversation with the agent

  • Stopped by User: contacts removed manually, either unenrolled or claimed by a teammate

If you have booking enabled, you'll also see Booked contacts, and if smart meeting is turned on, Canceled and Rescheduled counts. If your agent uses the escalate action, you'll see a Handed-off/Escalated count as well.


Frequently Asked Quesitons

Will my existing agents change?
No. Existing agents keep working as configured. They open in the same setup flow you're used to unless you build a new agent with the Unified Agent.

Does testing my agent use up credits?
No. You can test as many times as you need without using any credits.

What happens if I try to activate an agent that's missing something?
You'll see what's missing, and you're taken back to the Configure tab with those fields highlighted so you can fix them before activating.

What's the difference between a static and AI-generated SMS or note action?
A static message sends the exact text you typed every time. An AI-generated one is written dynamically by your agent based on the conversation, so the wording can change depending on context.


Still Need Help? ✋

Contact us on live chat or send an email to [email protected].

Did this answer your question?