Instructions, Triggers, and Actions

eesel agents first need to be triggered > then follow their instructions to reply and take actions.

Below we'll walk you through exactly how to select the right triggers and actions, and how best to prompt them in the instructions.

Triggers

The first step for deploying your AI agent is to select your trigger. For helpdesks, this will be one of the following:

Triggers tell your agent when to activate. Without a trigger, your agent only works in the test chat - it won't respond to real tickets or messages on its own.

How triggers work

 ┌──────────┐     ┌──────────┐     ┌──────────┐     ┌──────────┐
 │  Event    │────▶│  Trigger │────▶│  Agent   │────▶│  Action  │
 │  happens  │     │  fires   │     │  runs    │     │  taken   │
 └──────────┘     └──────────┘     └──────────┘     └──────────┘

 Example:
 Customer      "Any Customer    Agent reads     Replies to
 sends a  ───▶  Message"    ───▶ ticket and ───▶ customer
 ticket        trigger fires    finds answer

When an event matches your trigger condition, your agent activates, processes the input, and takes the configured actions.

Setting up triggers

Triggers can be selected inside the specific integration you want eesel to be triggered within. For example:

1

Click your integration

On the left sidebar, once you've installed an integration, simply click the integration you want to setup a trigger for.

2

Select the triggers you want to enable

Once you click enable on the trigger, the bot will then be active live. We recommend starting with the @eesel trigger while you test, before moving to the more automated triggers.

3

Ensure the right actions are enabled and prompted

When your eesel agent is triggered, it will be able to take the actions you enable. You should enable the draft reply action to start with, and add additional actions as you build your agent.

Use the Instructions tab to explain how and when each action should occur.

Some platforms have platform specific triggers, but the basic triggers are:

Trigger	When to use
@eesel mention (in an internal note, or in Slack/Teams)	When you want eesel to be 'on demand', rather than automatic.
Any customer message	When you want to automate eesel activating for all incoming messages on new and existing tickets.
First customer message	When you just want eesel as the initial first response, but not to respond on subsequent responses

Please see the specific integration to learn more about specific triggers.

You can add multiple triggers to the same agent. For example:

• Any Customer Message - Agent responds to all tickets

• Agent Requests AI Help - Team can also ask the agent for help directly

Tips

Start with "Agent Requests AI Help" if you're nervous about automation. This lets your team control when the AI activates by @mentioning it.

Use "First Customer Message" for triage. It fires before any agent replies, making it ideal for categorization and routing.

Disable triggers to pause. You can disable a trigger without deleting it — useful for maintenance or testing. This will pause the agent from responding at all.

Instructions

Instructions are how you tell your agent what to do. Think of them as the onboarding document you'd give a new team member - they define your agent's personality, rules, and behavior.

The eesel sidebar chat is your best friend when it comes to knowledge and instructions - you can chat with it to update its own instructions and knowledge.

Good instructions include:

• Who the agent is - "You are a friendly support agent for Acme Corp"

• How to respond - "Keep answers concise. Use bullet points for steps."

• What to do in specific situations - "If the customer asks about billing, check their order status first"

• When to escalate - "If you can't answer confidently, assign to the Support team"

They work in tandem with your triggers and actions. When you enable a trigger > your agent uses its instruction to > take actions that you've enabled.

Once you have enabled some actions, you should specify in the instructions how and when to take those actions.

For example, add the 'add tag' action. In your instructions, explain: "Every time a query comes through, apply one tag from the following options: Billing, Bugs, Setup, Troubleshooting.

Actions

Actions are the things your agent can do - reply to customers, tag tickets, assign to team members, look up information, and more. You configure which actions are available, and your agent uses them when appropriate based on its instructions.

How actions work

Your agent doesn't blindly execute actions. It reads the incoming message, considers its instructions and knowledge, and decides which actions to take:

 ┌────────────┐     ┌──────────────────────────┐     ┌──────────────┐
 │ Incoming    │     │      Agent decides:       │     │   Results:   │
 │ ticket:     │────▶│                           │────▶│              │
 │ "Where's    │     │  1. Search order status   │     │  Reply sent  │
 │  my order?" │     │  2. Reply with tracking   │     │  to customer │
 │             │     │  3. Tag as "order-status"  │     │              │
 └────────────┘     └──────────────────────────┘     └──────────────┘

Setting up actions

1

Click your integration

On the left sidebar, once you've installed an integration, simply click the integration you want to setup a trigger for.

2

Select the actions you want to enable

Once you click enable on the trigger, the bot will then be active live. We recommend starting with the @eesel trigger and selecting the draft reply action.

3

Update the instructions

Use the Instructions tab on the left sidebar of the dash to explain how and when each action should occur. You can use the test chat on the right to ask the agent how best to implement its actions, and get it to update its instructions for you.

Available actions by integration

Helpdesk actions

These actions are available when you connect a helpdesk integration (Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom, Gorgias, Jira):

Responding to customers

Action	Description	Available on
Leave Public Reply	Send a response the customer sees	Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom, Gorgias
Leave Draft Reply	Create a draft for your team to review	Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom, Gorgias
Leave Internal Note	Add a note only your team sees	Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom, Gorgias
Comment on Issue	Add a comment to a Jira issue	Jira

Ticket management

Action	Description	Available on
Tag Ticket	Add tags for categorization	Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom, Gorgias
Assign Ticket	Route to a specific team member	Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom, Gorgias, Jira
Assign to Group	Route to a team queue	Zendesk, Freshdesk
Close Ticket	Mark as resolved	Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom, Gorgias
Create Ticket	Open a new ticket	Zendesk, Freshdesk, Gorgias
Update Ticket	Change status, priority, or custom fields	Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom
Label Issue	Add labels to a Jira issue	Jira

Information lookup

Action	Description	Available on
Read Ticket	Read full ticket with conversation history	Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom
Search Tickets	Search past tickets	Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom, Jira
List Tickets	List tickets with filters	Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom
Get User by Email	Look up user details	Zendesk, Intercom
Get Organization	Retrieve organization info	Zendesk
Get Ticket Fields	Read custom field values	Zendesk, Intercom

Shopify actions

Action	Description
Get Order History	Look up a customer's orders by email
Get Order by ID	Get detailed order info
Get Customer by Email	Look up customer profile
Search Products	Search the product catalog
Get Products	Retrieve product details
Get Product Variants	Get size, color, SKU, price, inventory
Get Order Fulfillment	Check shipping and tracking status
Create Return	Initiate a product return
Refund Order	Process a refund
Cancel Order	Cancel an unfulfilled order
Generate Product Carousel	Create a visual product display in chat

Slack actions

Action	Description
Send Message	Send a message to a Slack channel

Gmail actions

Action	Description
Search Emails	Search emails using Gmail syntax
Read Email	Read a full email by ID
Send Email	Send an email with optional CC/BCC
Get Email from URL	Extract an email thread from a Gmail URL

Zendesk Messenger actions

Action	Description
Send Messenger Reply	Reply in the Zendesk Messaging Widget
Transfer to Human Agent	Hand off a Messenger conversation to a human

Tips for configuring actions

Start with fewer actions. Give your agent only the actions it needs. Too many options can lead to confusion.

Match actions to instructions. If you give your agent a "Close Ticket" action, make sure your instructions explain when to use it.

Use draft replies first. When starting out, use "Leave Draft Reply" instead of "Leave Public Reply" until you trust the agent's judgment.

Enable HITL for sensitive actions. Turn on human in the loop (settings button next to each action) for actions with significant impact (refunds, ticket closure, public replies).

Describe actions in your instructions. Explicitly tell your agent when to use each action. For example: "After resolving a simple how-to question, tag the ticket and close it."