AI Skills: What Your Agent Can Do
Skills are actions your AI Agent can take during a conversation. Instead of just answering questions from your knowledge base, skills let the agent look up real-time information from your Shopify store and take action on behalf of customers.
Go to AI Agent → Skills to manage which skills are enabled.
Available Skills
1. Track Order
Looks up order status, tracking numbers, and estimated delivery dates using real-time data from your Shopify store. When a customer asks "Where's my order?", the agent finds the order, checks its fulfillment status, and provides tracking details.
What customers can do with it:
Ask for order status by order number
Get tracking numbers and carrier information
Get estimated delivery dates
Enabled by default: Yes
2. Search Products
Searches your Shopify product catalog by name, category, or attributes. When a customer asks "Do you have any running shoes?", the agent searches your catalog and shares relevant results.
What customers can do with it:
Search for products by name or description
Browse by category or product type
Ask about specific product features or attributes
Enabled by default: Yes
3. Check Inventory
Checks real-time stock availability for specific products and variants. When a customer asks "Is the blue hoodie available in medium?", the agent checks your current inventory and responds.
What customers can do with it:
Check if a specific product is in stock
Ask about availability for specific sizes, colors, or variants
Confirm stock before purchasing
Note: The agent tells customers whether an item is available or not, but does not share exact inventory counts.
Enabled by default: Yes
4. Upsell Recommendations
Suggests related products based on what's in the customer's cart, their purchase history, or the conversation context. When a customer is browsing or considering a purchase, the agent can naturally recommend complementary items.
What customers can do with it:
Get personalized product recommendations
See "frequently bought together" suggestions
Discover complementary or upgraded products
You can configure upsell bundles to control what gets recommended and when. See Configuring Upsell & Cross-Sell Recommendations for details.
Enabled by default: Yes
5. Cancel Order
Allows customers to cancel unfulfilled orders via SMS. The agent verifies the order belongs to the customer, confirms the cancellation, and processes it through Shopify.
What customers can do with it:
Request cancellation of an unfulfilled order
The agent asks for confirmation before proceeding
Important: Only unfulfilled orders can be cancelled. If an order has already shipped, the agent lets the customer know and suggests alternatives (like initiating a return).
Enabled by default: No (requires opt-in)
6. Initiate Return
Starts the return or exchange process for a customer. The agent collects the relevant details and then escalates to your team to complete the process. Returns and exchanges require human handling for refund processing, so this skill always involves a handoff.
What customers can do with it:
Start a return request
Start an exchange request
The agent gathers order details, then connects them with your team
Enabled by default: No (requires opt-in)
7. Escalate to Human
Routes the conversation to your team when the AI can't help or the situation requires a human. This skill is always on and cannot be disabled. It's the safety net that ensures customers always have a path to human support.
When the agent escalates:
The customer explicitly asks to speak to a person
The customer has a complaint about a damaged, defective, or wrong item
The customer needs a refund or return processed
The customer is frustrated after multiple failed attempts to get help
The question can't be answered with the available knowledge base
A billing dispute or sensitive situation arises
See When and Why the AI Escalates to Your Team for the full list of escalation scenarios.
Always enabled: Yes (cannot be disabled)
Choosing Which Skills to Enable
The defaults (Track Order, Search Products, Check Inventory, Upsell Recommendations, and Escalate to Human) are a good starting point for most stores. They let the agent answer questions and make recommendations without taking any destructive actions.
When to enable Cancel Order:
You're comfortable with customers cancelling unfulfilled orders via SMS
Your fulfillment workflow can handle cancellations cleanly
You want to reduce the number of cancellation requests your support team handles manually
When to enable Initiate Return:
You want customers to be able to start a return via SMS instead of email or a web form
Your team is set up to receive and process return escalations
You want to streamline the first step of the return process while keeping human oversight on the actual refund
When to leave them disabled:
Your order flow is complex and cancellations need manual review
You prefer all cancellations and returns go through your existing support channels
You're just getting started and want to keep things simple
You can always enable them later as you get comfortable with how the agent handles conversations.
How Skills Work in Practice
When a customer sends a message, the AI decides whether a skill is needed based on the conversation. You don't need to configure triggers or conditions. The agent uses skills naturally when they're relevant.
Example conversation with Track Order enabled:
Customer: Hey, where's my order?
AI: Hi! I'd love to help you track that down. Could you share your order number? Customer: It's #1042
AI: Found it! Your order shipped on Monday via USPS. Your tracking number is 9400111899223456789012. It's estimated to arrive by Thursday. Let me know if you need anything else!
Example conversation with Search Products and Upsell Recommendations enabled:
Customer: Do you have any moisturizers for dry skin?
AI: Yes! We have a few great options. Our Hydra Boost Daily Moisturizer is our best seller for dry skin, and the Deep Repair Night Cream is perfect if you're looking for something more intensive. Would you like more details on either? Customer: The Hydra Boost sounds good
AI: Great choice! A lot of customers pair it with our Hyaluronic Acid Serum for extra hydration. Want me to share a link?
Skills and Billing
Skills contribute to resolution billing. When the agent uses a skill to successfully resolve a customer's request (for example, looking up an order and providing tracking info), that counts as a resolved session.
See How AI Resolution Billing Works for details on what counts as a resolution.
💡Tip:
Still have questions?
Please feel free to reach out to our wonderful Support team at support@txtcart.ai or via Live Chat.