# Chatbots (SyBox)

Where: Settings > AI and automation > Chatbots

What it is for: Menus of buttons and lists that answer without AI. Each choice leads to the next step, and can add a label, a department, assign an agent or hand over to an AI agent. An automation starts them.

Who can open it: Users with the "Manage organization settings" permission.

### How to make a chatbot

1. Go to Settings > AI and automation > Chatbots and click "New chatbot".
2. Type its "Name", and set "Wait for an answer (minutes)" (60 by default).
3. Each step is a card ("Step 1 · starts here", "Step 2" and so on). Choose its "Kind": "Buttons (up to 3)", "List (up to 10)", "Question" or "Last message", and type its "Message". A list also has its "List button (20 letters)".
   ![A chatbot step: its kind, its message and its choices](https://www.smartsybox.com/res/sybox/help/make-a-chatbot-3.webp?v=d2bb63c0)
4. For each choice, type the "Choice" (and an optional "Description (optional)" in a list), and in "Then" choose "End" or the next step. A choice can also "Add label", "Add to department", "Assign to agent", "Reply with AI" or add an "Internal note". "Add a choice" and "Add a step" add more.
5. A "Question" step asks the customer to type an answer; choose where to keep it in "Save the answer in" (a contact field).
6. Switch it "On" and click Save.
7. In Settings > AI and automation > Automations, add the action "Start a chatbot" to the automation that should start it (for example a "Keyword" or "New contact" rule).

How it runs:

- On WhatsApp the customer gets real buttons and lists. On Messenger, Instagram, Telegram and Live Chat they get a numbered menu and answer with the number.

- A wrong answer gets the menu once more; a second one ends the chatbot. Words such as "agent", "stop" or "0" end it too, and so does a team member answering.

- While a chatbot waits for an answer, no automation or AI agent answers the customer.

If a chatbot is not complete, saving says "This chatbot cannot run as written: check every step has its message, every button its words, and every 'next' a step."

Source: https://www.smartsybox.com/help/chatbots