Choosing When and Where Your Agent Responds
You can control whether your AI Agent responds to inbound messages at two levels: globally for your entire store, or per flow. This lets you turn the AI on for most conversations while disabling it for specific automations where you want manual control.
Global Setting
The global AI response setting applies to all inbound messages across your store.
Go to Settings → Messaging to find the AI Responses toggle:
Setting | What Happens |
Enabled | The AI Agent responds to inbound customer messages automatically. Conversations are recorded and the AI handles them based on your persona, skills, and knowledge base. |
Disabled | No automated responses are sent. Inbound messages are still recorded, but the AI does not reply. Messages appear in your Inbox for manual handling. |
By default, AI Responses is set to Enabled.
Per-Flow Override
Individual flows can override the global setting to disable AI for specific automations. This is useful when you want the AI active for most of your store but turned off for a particular flow.
To set the AI response mode for a flow:
Open the flow in the Flow Builder
Click Configure Agent in the flow header
Choose the AI response setting:
Setting | What Happens |
Inherit from Global Setting | Uses whatever the global setting is. This is the default. |
Enabled | AI responds to inbound messages for this flow. Only works if the global setting is also Enabled. |
Disabled | AI does not respond for this flow, even if the global setting is Enabled. |
Important: The global setting always takes priority. If the global setting is Disabled, you cannot enable AI for individual flows. The Flow Builder will show an error if you try. This means disabling AI globally turns it off everywhere, with no exceptions.
The per-flow override only works in one direction: you can disable AI for a specific flow while keeping the global setting Enabled. You cannot enable AI for a specific flow while the global setting is Disabled.
Common Configurations
AI on everywhere (default)
Global: Enabled
All flows: Inherit
Best for: Most stores. The AI handles inbound messages across all flows and conversations.
AI on everywhere except one flow
Global: Enabled
Most flows: Inherit
One specific flow: Disabled
Best for: When you have a flow (like a VIP outreach or a manual campaign follow-up) where you want full human control over the conversation.
AI off everywhere
Global: Disabled
Best for: Temporarily disabling the AI while you make major knowledge base changes, or if you're troubleshooting an issue.
When to Disable AI for a Flow
Manual outreach flows: If you're sending a personal message and want to handle replies yourself
Complex sales flows: If the flow targets high-value customers where you want a personal touch on every reply
Testing new flows: If you're testing a new automation and want to see customer replies before the AI handles them
Sensitive campaigns: If you're sending a message about a policy change, product recall, or other sensitive topic where you want human oversight on responses
Tips
Start with AI enabled globally. You can always disable it per flow where needed. This gives you the broadest coverage with targeted exceptions.
Don't disable the AI just because you want to monitor. AI conversations appear in your Inbox regardless. You can read every conversation and override when needed without disabling the AI entirely.
Use per-flow overrides instead of turning the AI off globally. Disabling globally means no conversations get AI responses and you can't make exceptions. Per-flow overrides let you be selective.
Remember to re-enable after troubleshooting. If you disabled the AI temporarily, set a reminder to turn it back on. Every hour without AI is conversations your team has to handle manually.
💡Tip:
Still have questions?
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