Set up and go live with AI AgentUpdated 9 days ago

AI Agent handles inbound conversations from shoppers — answering questions, completing tasks in your connected apps, and handing over to your team for conversations that need a human touch.

This article walks you through how to set it up and go live. You don't need everything perfectly configured before you start. Get the essentials in place, enable AI Agent, and refine it as you learn from real conversations.

In this article, you'll:

Add your brand's content — knowledge about your store, products, and policies
Create skills — define how AI Agent handles your most common conversations
Set up actions — tasks AI Agent can complete in your connected apps
Configure settings — tone of voice and handover behavior
Test and go live — preview responses and enable your channels
Monitor and improve — review tickets and refine your setup

Requirements

You must have an active AI Agent subscription
You must have a Shopify store connected to Gorgias
You must have Lead, Admin or Account Owner permissions

Allow AI Agent to use data from Shopify

If you connected Shopify to your helpdesk before subscribing to AI Agent, you may need to update your app permissions to give AI Agent access to the Shopify data it needs.

Add your brand's content

Adding your brand's content gives AI Agent the knowledge it needs to respond accurately to shoppers. Your content can include information from your store website, help center articles, documents, URLs, and custom guidance. If you're starting from scratch, guidance is the best first step.

AI Agent needs at least one source of knowledge before you can enable it. Learn more about adding content to AI Agent's knowledge. For how AI Agent uses each type of content when responding to shoppers, see knowledge explained.

Open the dropdown menu in the top-left corner, then select AI Agent, then click Knowledge.
- If you have more than one Shopify store connected to Gorgias, use the dropdown menu to select a store.
Click Create content.
Select a type of content to add to AI Agent.

Starting from scratch with guidance? Go to AI Agent > Knowledge > Guidance and use the pre-built templates as a starting point. Templates give AI Agent instructions for your most common scenarios, so you don't have to write them from scratch. Learn more about guidance.

Create your first skills

Skills are how you control which conversations AI Agent handles. Each skill gives AI Agent a set of instructions for a specific type of conversation, like a return, an order status question, or a cancellation. When AI Agent recognizes that a conversation matches one of your skills, it follows that skill's instructions to respond.

You don't have to cover everything at once. Start with a few skills for your highest-volume conversations, like returns, order status, and cancellations, then expand your coverage over time as you see how AI Agent performs.

Open the dropdown menu in the top-left corner, then select AI Agent, then click Skills.
Click Create skill.
Choose From template to start from a pre-built skill for a common conversation type, or From scratch to build your own.

AI Agent will perform well in conversations using the content in your knowledge, but adding skills will give you more precise control over the outcomes in particular scenarios. Each skill defines exactly what AI Agent does for a specific scenario, so responses are consistent and follow your process. See create a new skill for AI Agent for the full walkthrough, and skills explained for how skills work with your knowledge.

Set up actions

Actions let AI Agent complete tasks in your connected apps on behalf of shoppers — like canceling an order in Shopify, editing a shipping address, or managing a subscription. To use an action, add it to a skill's instructions. AI Agent can only run an action when it's included in a skill or guidance.

You don't need actions to go live. Many conversations can be handled with knowledge and skills alone, and in situations where AI Agent can't complete a shopper's request, the conversation will be handed over to a human. When you're ready to add them, see create an action for the full walkthrough.

Open the dropdown menu in the top-left corner, then select AI Agent, then click Support Actions.
Click Create action, then select from the available templates or build a custom action.

Configure AI Agent's settings

Tone of voice shapes how AI Agent sounds to shoppers. Handover instructions tell it when to pass a conversation to your team instead of resolving it. Take a few minutes to configure both before you go live — you can adjust them at any time after.

Set AI Agent's tone of voice to match your brand
Configure handover instructions — keep these minimal to start. Add a topic only when AI Agent genuinely can't resolve it, like a shopper reporting suspected fraud on their account
Automatically add tags and fill out ticket fields (optional)
Customize selling style and discount settings (requires Shopping Assistant)

Test how AI Agent responds to questions

Before going live, start a test conversation to see how AI Agent responds to questions and make sure it acts the way you'd expect for your brand. You can test AI Agent on email, chat, and SMS channels.

Test conversations help you identify and address gaps in AI Agent's knowledge and confirm your skills behave the way you intend. You are not billed for test conversations, and they don't affect any reporting or send real messages to shoppers.

Open the dropdown menu in the top-left corner, then select AI Agent.
- If you have more than one Shopify store connected to Gorgias, use the dropdown menu to select a store.
Click Test to start a test conversation.
Click Configure to adjust the channel and audience for your test.
Enter a message to ask AI Agent a question, then click Send.

Connect your channels and go live

To go live with AI Agent, connect it to the email, chat, or SMS channels where you want it to handle conversations.

Enable AI Agent on Email

When you connect AI Agent to an email address, it monitors the connected inbox for tickets and responds to shoppers from the same email address.

AI Agent also responds to email tickets that shoppers submit through Order Management and Flows, and contact forms linked to the same email address.

Open the dropdown menu in the top-left corner, then select AI Agent.
- If you have more than one Shopify store connected to Gorgias, use the dropdown menu to select a store.
Select Email under the Deploy section.
Use the dropdown menu to select one or more email addresses to connect to AI Agent.
Select the toggle Enable AI Agent on Email to go live.
Select Save Changes to finish.

Enable AI Agent on Chat

You can connect AI Agent to one or more chat widgets. You can have chat installed on your store's website, Help Center, and Shopify checkout page.

Open the dropdown menu in the top-left corner, then select AI Agent.
- If you have more than one Shopify store connected to Gorgias, use the dropdown menu to select a store.
Select Chat under the Deploy section.
Use the dropdown menu to select one or more chat widgets to connect to AI Agent.
- Set up handover instructions to customize how AI Agent escalates chat conversations to your human agents.
Select the toggle Enable AI Agent on Chat to go live.
Select Save Changes to finish.

Enable AI Agent on SMS

Note: you must subscribe to the SMS add-on to use AI Agent on this channel

You can connect AI Agent to one or more phone numbers that you use for SMS. Once enabled, AI Agent automatically picks up inbound text conversations to respond to shoppers.

Open the dropdown menu in the top-left corner, then select AI Agent.
- If you have more than one Shopify store connected to Gorgias, use the dropdown menu to select a store.
Under Deploy, click SMS.
Use the dropdown menu to select one or more SMS-enabled phone numbers to connect to AI Agent.
Click Enable AI Agent on SMS.
Click Save Changes to finish.

Monitor and improve AI Agent

When you start to use AI Agent, a new set of shared default ticket Views becomes available so that you and your team can monitor the conversations AI Agent is handling.

It's important to regularly monitor and give AI Agent feedback on the tickets it handles. Use this as an opportunity to add or update content, adjust your guidance or skills, or change your handover settings.

Select Inbox from the main dropdown menu.
Scroll down to find the section of Views for ✨ AI Agent.

The default Views cover tickets AI Agent is currently processing, tickets it closed, and tickets it handed over to your team. See AI Agent tags and ticket views for a full breakdown of each view and the tags AI Agent applies.

Your first week

In the first week, aim to review at least 10 tickets that AI Agent handled and give direct feedback on any that didn't meet your expectations. The feedback you give influences how AI Agent handles similar conversations — and helps you spot patterns, like a skill that needs tighter instructions, a gap in your knowledge, or a handover topic you didn't anticipate.

You're up and running when:

AI Agent is live on at least one channel
Your knowledge covers your main customer topics
Your team has reviewed 10 tickets and left feedback
Bonus: You have at least one action included in a skill — actions let AI Agent complete tasks in your connected apps (like processing a return or canceling an order) without handing off to your team

From there, review performance across your skills and knowledge to see what's driving automation and where there are gaps to address.

Ready to go deeper? How AI Agent improves over time covers how to expand your coverage and handle more conversations as you learn from real tickets.

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