AI Agents
Lodgestory CRM › Settings › AI Agents
Write the instructions, attach the tools, and let AI handle the top half of your conversations in your own voice.
TL;DR
- What it is — the configuration page for every AI touchpoint in Lodgestory CRM. Each AI Agent carries a persona (a name, a description, a system prompt) and an optional set of tools it can use to look up bookings, check availability, create tickets, or call anything else your business exposes.
- Who it's for — Account Owners and Admins author AI Agents and tools. Users benefit from them through the inbox and bot journeys.
- Top outcome — one well-designed AI Agent per channel that handles around 60% of routine messages and hands over cleanly for the rest.
At a glance
| Plan tiers | All paid tiers. AI usage is part of your plan allowance. |
| Who can use it | Account Owners and Admins author agents. Users and the bot role consume them through the inbox and bot journeys. |
| Channels | Each AI Agent is scoped to one channel, so WhatsApp, Email, Instagram, and Web Chat can each have their own voice. |
| Integrations | Runs inside Bot Journeys, powers the AI Assistant drafts in Home / Unified Inbox, and validates free-text answers inside bot prompts. |
| Top limits | Persona name 2–255 characters. System prompt up to 10,000 characters. Tool timeout defaults to 5 minutes. No cap on agents per channel or tools per agent. |
| API | Yes — partner API for creating and updating AI Agents, tools, and tool attachments. |
How to find it
Sidebar: Settings → AI Agents.
Direct URL: https://lodgestory.com/crm/settings/ai-agents
[SCREENSHOT: ai-agents-landing.png — list of AI Agents grouped by channel]
What is AI Agents?
The problem it solves
AI shows up in three distinct places in your inbox, and each one needs the same underlying decisions — who's the agent, what tone do they use, what can they look up on your behalf.
- Inside a bot journey. A customer types; the AI Agent answers; it may decide to check your availability system, then reply with a quote.
- Drafting for a human agent. Your team member opens a complex chat and asks the AI Assistant for a starting draft they can edit and send.
- Validating free-text answers. A bot asks "What date are you arriving?" and needs to decide whether "Maybe next Tuesday" counts.
Without a shared configuration surface you'd end up copying prompts across three places, watching them drift, and forking tone per channel. AI Agents keeps all three in sync: one persona per channel, one shared library of tools, one place to update the prompt and have every consumer pick it up the next time it runs.
What you get
- Per-channel personas. Give WhatsApp a warm concierge voice, Email a measured operations tone, and Web Chat a fast, friendly greeter. Same underlying AI, different personas.
- System prompts with up to 10,000 characters. Write the rules your AI should follow — scope, escalation triggers, tone, what never to do — with room to be specific.
- A shared tools library. Define a tool once (check availability, look up a booking, fetch the weekend rate, open a support ticket), and attach it to any AI Agents that need it.
- Function-calling that actually works. Your tools are described with a standard schema the model understands. When a guest asks about a booking, the AI decides to call the tool, Lodgestory fetches the result, and the AI weaves the answer into its reply.
- Channel summary. At a glance, see which channels have an AI Agent configured and which don't.
- Bulk edit. Delete many agents or tools at once when you're tidying up.
How it's different
- Three runtimes, one configuration. Bot journeys, the AI Assistant in the inbox, and AI-based answer validation all read the same AI Agents you configure here. Edit once; every consumer picks the change up on the next run.
- Agents are per-channel; tools are organisation-wide. You can keep WhatsApp and Email on distinct personas without duplicating your tool library — the same
getBookingStatustool works for every channel that needs it. - Standards-based tool schema. Tool definitions follow the same function-calling format the major AI platforms use, so migrating tools in and out is straightforward.
Customer scenarios
- Villa concierge on WhatsApp. An Admin writes a system prompt: "You are the concierge for a luxury villa group. Answer questions about check-in, pool hours, and Wi-Fi. For availability or rates, call
checkAvailability. For booking details, callgetBookingStatus. If the guest asks for a human, say so and stop." Attaches both tools. Drops the AI Agent into a bot journey. Inbound WhatsApp now flows through. - Drafting a refund reply. A team member opens a complex refund chat. The AI Assistant panel shows a draft using the channel's configured agent — brand voice, booking context fetched via a tool — and the team member edits and sends.
- Validating dates. A bot prompt asks for an arrival date with AI-based validation. The AI looks at "next Tuesday" and decides it counts; the bot moves on. On "soon", the AI decides it doesn't and the bot re-asks.
How it fits with the rest of Lodgestory CRM
AI Agents is the configuration layer. Downstream:
- Bot Journeys — the AI Agent step references an agent by name; the Prompt step can use AI-based validation from the same agent.
- Home / Unified Inbox — the AI Assistant draft pulls the channel's configured agent.
- Connections — each AI Agent is scoped to a channel you've set up here.
Core concepts
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| AI Agent (persona) | A named voice with a system prompt, scoped to one channel. You can have multiple per channel if you want different personas for different flows. |
| System prompt | The behavioural instructions you write for the AI — scope, tone, rules, escalation triggers. |
| Tool | A named action the AI can invoke — look up a booking, check availability, create a ticket. Tools are organisation-wide and can be attached to any agent. |
| Tool parameters | A structured description of the arguments a tool accepts, so the AI knows what to send when it calls the tool. |
| Attachment | The link between an AI Agent and a tool. The same tool can be attached to many agents. |
Quick Start — your first AI Agent in 10 minutes
Step 1 — Open AI Agents
Sidebar: Settings → AI Agents.
[SCREENSHOT: ai-agents-qs-1-landing.png]
Step 2 — Create a tool
Open the Tools tab and click + New Tool. A tool needs:
- A name the AI will use — for example,
getBookingStatus. - A description that tells the AI when to call it — "Fetches the booking status given a booking reference."
- Parameters — a short description of the inputs the tool needs. For the example above, one required
bookingRefstring. - A URL where the tool call should be sent — for example,
https://ops.example.com/api/bookings/{bookingRef}/status. - The HTTP method and any headers your endpoint needs (including authentication).
Step 3 — Create the AI Agent
Go to the Agents tab and click + New Agent. Pick the channel (e.g. WhatsApp), then fill:
- Persona name — e.g. Support Bot.
- Description — a short internal note.
- System prompt — a paragraph or two describing personality, scope, escalation rules, and when to call which tool.
Save.
[SCREENSHOT: ai-agents-qs-3-create.png]
Step 4 — Attach the tool
On the agent's detail panel, click Attach tool and pick getBookingStatus. Save.
Step 5 — Use it in a bot journey
Open Bot Journeys. Drop an AI Agent step into a journey, pick the agent you just created, save, and deploy.
Step 6 — Test
Open the bot journey's test panel and send a message that mentions a booking reference. The AI should recognise the reference, call getBookingStatus, and reply using the result.
What's next
- Add more tools (weather, availability, ticket create).
- Iterate on the system prompt based on real chats.
- Configure a different persona for the Email channel if the tone should change.
How it works
When an AI Agent is invoked — inside a bot journey, as a draft in the inbox, or as a validator — Lodgestory loads the persona and the tools you've attached, builds the conversation context, and sends it to the AI. If the AI decides to call a tool, Lodgestory runs the call on your behalf, returns the result to the AI, and waits for the next response. This loop continues until the AI produces a final answer or reaches its safety limits.
All of this happens inside a single turn: the guest sees "typing…" and then a reply that already contains the tool's result. Tool calls time out at 5 minutes by default so a slow or broken endpoint can't hang the conversation, and there's a safety cap on how many loops a single turn can go through so an AI can't get stuck in a tool-call cycle.
The behavioural rules live in your system prompt. The tools live in your shared library. Swap the prompt, change every conversation's tone the next time they run. Update a tool's URL, and every agent that uses it picks up the new endpoint on its next call.
Features in depth
Agent list
Columns: persona name, description, channel, attached tool count, created date, actions. Filter by channel; search by name; filter to agents that have at least one tool attached.
Create and edit an agent
Fields: persona name (2–255 characters), description (up to 7,000), system prompt (10–10,000), and the channel the agent is scoped to. Markdown is supported in the system prompt, with a preview alongside the editor.
Tools library
Each tool has:
- A name and description (the AI reads these to decide when to call).
- Parameter definitions.
- A URL, HTTP method, and headers for the actual call.
- Flags for how arguments are passed at call time.
- A type — typically a URL-backed HTTP call.
Attach and detach
On the agent detail page, pick from the shared tool library and attach. The same tool can be attached to many agents.
Channel summary
A quick view of which channels have agents and how many. Useful for spotting gaps — "Instagram has zero agents" — before they surface as a service problem.
Bulk actions
Select many agents or many tools and delete them in one go.
Roles and permissions
| Action | Account Owner | Admin | User | Bot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| View agent and tool list | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Create, edit, or delete an agent | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Create, edit, or delete a tool | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Attach or detach a tool | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Use an agent at runtime | Yes | Yes | Yes (via inbox drafts) | Yes (via bot journeys) |
Cross-module workflows
A. AI triage, then human hand-off
A guest asks a complex question on WhatsApp. The bot journey hands to an AI Agent step. The AI attempts to answer using its tools. If the guest asks for a human, the AI says so and stops, and the journey hands off to the Sales team. Full trail stays in the conversation.
B. In-inbox drafts
A team member opens a slow-moving email conversation. The AI Assistant panel pulls the Email channel's agent, reads the thread, drafts a reply in your tone. The team member edits and sends.
C. Smart validation
A bot prompt asks "What dates are you looking at?" with AI-based validation. The AI accepts "the long weekend in May" as a valid answer and proceeds; on "soon", it asks again with a gentler re-prompt.
Limits a user will run into
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Persona name | 2–255 characters |
| Description | Up to 7,000 characters |
| System prompt | 10–10,000 characters |
| Tools per agent | No hard cap. Practical limit: 5–10. |
| Agents per channel | No hard cap. |
| Tool timeout | 5 minutes |
| AI turn loop cap | 50 tool calls before the AI is asked to give a final answer |
Errors and FAQ
Errors you might see
| Message | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Agent persona name already exists for this channel | Two agents on the same channel can't share a name. | Rename one. |
| System prompt must be 10–10,000 characters | The prompt is too short or too long. | Adjust. |
| Invalid tool parameter schema | The parameters block isn't well-formed. | Fix the schema. |
| Agent not found | The agent you're editing no longer exists. | Refresh the list. |
| Tool timed out | Your tool's endpoint took longer than 5 minutes. | Speed up the endpoint or shorten what the tool does. |
| AI kept calling tools without resolving | The AI hit the safety loop cap. | Tighten the exit conditions in your system prompt. |
FAQ
Can an AI Agent use a tool attached to a different agent?
Only if you explicitly attach the same tool to the other agent. There's no global attachment.
Can I have multiple agents on one channel?
Yes. Give them distinct persona names. Different bot journeys on the same channel can each pick a different agent.
Where are tool secrets (like API keys) stored?
Inside the tool's headers. Treat tool configuration as sensitive — only admins should edit it.
How does the AI Assistant draft work?
It loads the channel's agent, feeds it the recent conversation, and runs an inference pass. Any tool calls the agent makes run on your behalf. The final reply is the draft; the team member edits and sends.
Does the AI remember past conversations?
Out of the box, no. Each inference sees only the recent messages of the current conversation. If you want the AI to recall past history (like "this guest stayed with us last summer"), expose a tool that fetches it.
How do I stop the AI from looping?
Tighten your system prompt with explicit exit conditions — for example, "End your reply with 'FINISHED' once the guest's question is answered." You can also lower the loop cap on the individual bot journey step.
Can I roll back an agent change?
Not through the UI today. Keep a copy of the prior system prompt in your notes if you want to revert quickly.
API
A partner API is available for creating AI Agents, managing tools, and handling attachments. Contact your account team for access.
Changelog
- Apr 2026 — Initial public documentation.
Related modules and next steps
- Bot Journeys — the AI Agent step and AI-based prompt validation both read from here.
- Home / Unified Inbox — AI Assistant drafts use the channel's configured agent.
- Connections — the channels your agents are scoped to.
Updated about 4 hours ago