How the agent decides Needs reply

For agents

Guide: How the agent decides Needs reply

This page: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/ai-agents/how-the-agent-decides-needs-reply

Topic: AI agents

Time: about 2 minutes

Who can do it: Owner, Administrator or Manager

Author: https://anantgupta.xyz (Anant Gupta, founder of CommentWatchDog)

Start in the app: https://app.commentwatchdog.com/en/settings/agents

Result when done: You control what counts as a question worth answering on your page.

Context: On a page where an AI automation works, every comment is read once and judged: is this a question or request for the business? A yes puts the Needs reply chip on the comment, and with Any question it is what the agent answers. The judgement follows one short text on the agent, Which comments count as questions. AI writes it from what the agent knows and rewrites it when the knowledge changes; you can take it over in your own words.

Before you start

1. The chip appears on pages where a live AI automation answers comments. Reading a comment this way uses no AI credits.

2. It is also a filter in the inbox, so it decides what your team works on.

3. Change the text only if the agent answers comments it should leave alone, or skips ones it should answer.

Steps

Step 1 of 3: Open Advanced under How it replies.

Where: Settings, AI agents, the agent. At the bottom of the How it replies card, press Advanced. Closed, the row already says who wrote the text: Written by AI, Custom, or Default.

Link: https://app.commentwatchdog.com/en/settings/agents (Open AI agents)

Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/agent-intent.en.webp (Advanced, at the bottom of How it replies.)

Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/agent-intent-phone.en.webp (The same on a phone.)

You should see: Which comments count as questions, with the text in a box and a line under it saying who wrote it.

Step 2 of 3: Read it, and make it yours only if you need to.

Where: The box under Which comments count as questions. To use your own wording, type in it: a comment asking about price, delivery, stock or a problem counts; praise and emoji do not. From then on AI leaves it as it is. Let AI write it again hands it back.

Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/agent-intent.en.webp (The text that decides which comments are questions.)

Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/agent-intent-phone.en.webp (The same on a phone.)

You should see: The line under the box changes to Your own wording. AI leaves it as it is.

Step 3 of 3: Work from the filter.

Where: In the inbox, filter to Needs reply. That list is the judgement at work, and reading it for a day tells you whether the text is right.

Link: https://app.commentwatchdog.com/en/inbox (Open the inbox)

Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/inbox.en.webp (Needs reply, on the rows that asked something.)

Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/inbox-phone.en.webp (The same on a phone.)

You should see: A working list for your team, and a way to check the text against reality.

If something is off

Problem: No comment carries Needs reply

Fix: No live AI automation answers comments on that page. Place the agent there with Use this agent, Comments, and switch the automation on.

Problem: Everything is marked Needs reply

Fix: Your own wording is too broad. Name what does not count as well as what does, or press Let AI write it again.

Problem: Real questions are missed

Fix: Add the kind of question that was missed to the text, in the words the customer used.

Problem: The chip disappeared

Fix: It goes when the comment is answered. Filter by Replied to find it.

Common questions

Question: Who writes the text that decides what needs a reply?

Answer: AI, from what the agent knows, and it rewrites it when the knowledge changes. Type in the box and it becomes your own wording, which AI then leaves alone; Let AI write it again hands it back.

Question: Where is the text that decides what needs a reply?

Answer: On the agent, in Settings, AI agents: the How it replies card, Advanced, Which comments count as questions.

Question: Does it also control what the agent answers by itself?

Answer: Yes, where the automation is set to Any question: the same judgement decides which comments the agent answers or drafts. Keywords and topics do their own matching.

Question: Can my team see only the comments that need a reply?

Answer: Yes. Needs reply is a filter in the inbox. A comment the agent could not answer also stays there, waiting for a person.

Related guides

Who gets a reply, and who never does: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/ai-agents/who-gets-a-reply-and-who-never-does

What the chips on a comment mean: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/inbox/what-the-chips-on-a-comment-mean

Drafts first, or replies by itself: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/ai-agents/draft-mode-or-auto-mode

Plain text of this guide: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/ai-agents/how-the-agent-decides-needs-reply.md

All guides for assistants: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/llms.txt