Structured playbooks

Step types

Ask — collect something from the caller

The procedure waits here until it has an answer.

Field	What it does
Instruction	What to ask for.
Collect	How to hear the answer — the forms callers use, and what to tidy up.
Save as	A name for the answer, so later steps can use `{{var.your_name}}`.
Read it back	Confirms the value with the caller before moving on.

Collect is the field that earns its keep. Describe what people actually say:

Callers describe furniture rather than naming it — "the big wardrobe", "the
oak one". Match it against the items on the order.

They may read the reference in groups, or with dashes. Strip them.

Tell — say something in the assistant's own words

Give it the point to make and it phrases it, in the caller’s language and in keeping with the conversation so far.Use this for most of what the assistant says.

Say — speak exact words

What you type is what’s said, word for word.Use it for legal wording and for confirmations that must not be paraphrased. Remember it’s spoken in the language you wrote it, so a German caller hears English if that’s what you typed.

Tool — use one of your tools

Pick the tool and say what it’s for. The assistant fills in the arguments from the conversation.

Field	What it does
Tool	Which one to use.
Instruction	What the assistant is trying to achieve with it.
Retries	How many times to try again if it fails. Up to 3.
If it fails	What to say, and whether to stop the procedure or carry on.

To transfer the caller when something fails, set it to stop and make the next step a transfer.

If / else — take a different path

Give each branch a condition in plain language. The first one that matches runs, then the procedure rejoins the main list.

The damage happened in transit

Branches can nest up to three deep.

Sub-playbook — run another procedure

Runs another playbook, then carries on from the next step. Good for an identity check you need at the start of several procedures.Like a tool step, it can retry and has a fallback when the child doesn’t finish. Playbooks can nest three deep.

System — end the call or send keypad tones

Two actions: end the call, or send DTMF digits (for navigating a menu on another system).

A worked example

Taking a damage claim, from the demo workspace:

#	Step	What it does
1	Say	”I’m sorry that arrived damaged. Damage is handled by a colleague rather than by me, so I won’t promise a repair, replacement or refund on this call.”
2	Tool	Find the order from the caller’s number, or the order number if they give one.
3	Ask	Which item is damaged. Collect: callers describe furniture rather than naming it. → `{{var.damaged_item}}`
4	Ask	What the damage is and where. Collect: a sentence in their own words is what the damage team needs — don’t push for a category. → `{{var.damage_description}}`
5	Ask	When it was delivered, and whether the packaging looked damaged. → `{{var.delivery_and_packaging}}`
6	Ask	Whether they have photographs. Collect: yes or no is enough; don’t try to collect files. → `{{var.has_photographs}}`
7	Tool	Hand over to support with the item, the description and the photo answer.
8	Tell	Give them the ticket number and when to expect a reply.

Notice step 1. The expectation is set before anything is collected, so the caller isn’t waiting for an answer the assistant was never going to give.

Writing good steps

Set expectations early. If the procedure can’t resolve the caller’s problem, say so in the first step.

One thing per Ask. “What’s damaged and when did it arrive” gets you half an answer twice.

Use Collect, not a format rule. People say “O R D four four one seven” and “the fourteenth of March”. Describing what you’ll hear works; demanding a format gets you a caller repeating themselves.

Say for the words that matter, Tell for the rest. Over-using Say makes the assistant sound like a recording.

Keep it short. If a procedure needs twenty steps, there are probably two procedures.


Branch nesting	3 deep
Sub-playbooks	3 deep
Tool retries	Up to 3

Branch nesting

3 deep

Sub-playbooks

3 deep

Tool retries

Up to 3

Getting started

Platform

Structured playbooks

Step types

A worked example

Writing good steps

Limits

​Step types

​A worked example

​Writing good steps

​Limits

Step types

A worked example

Writing good steps

Limits