> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.meetalto.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.meetalto.ai/using-meet-alto/agents.md).

# Set up an AI agent

Give a DM agent one clear goal, prepare its knowledge, and control when it goes live.

An AI agent handles a conversation, asks useful questions, and follows a playbook toward a goal. A scripted campaign follows configured messages. Choose the behavior that fits the job.

You need a connected messaging account and access to the AI features required by your workspace. A comments-only channel is not an agent account.

### Prepare before enabling

1. Open the AI agent for the intended account from **Campaigns**. If starting from **Settings → AI Rules**, use the link to let an AI agent handle full DM conversations.
2. Confirm the selected account. Set a concrete objective, such as answering product questions or qualifying an enquiry.
3. Review [Brand Identity](https://docs.meetalto.ai/using-meet-alto/brand-voice) and [Knowledge Sources](https://docs.meetalto.ai/using-meet-alto/knowledge). Resolve missing or processing knowledge.
4. Edit the [playbook](https://docs.meetalto.ai/using-meet-alto/agents/playbook). Review any links, lists, integrations, and success actions it uses.
5. Select the intended [audience](https://docs.meetalto.ai/using-meet-alto/agents/audience).
6. Choose **Create agent** (**Save** once it exists) and review the readiness checklist. Then use [Preview and Test](https://docs.meetalto.ai/using-meet-alto/agents/testing) before enabling **Live**.

Saving and going live are different actions. Check the **Live** switch and readiness messages instead of assuming a saved change is already handling customers.

If you leave from inside the editor (**Campaigns**, the account picker or a link in the editor) with unsaved changes, Meet Alto asks first: choose **Save** (**Create agent** for a new one), **Keep editing**, or **Discard**. Leaving through the app's sidebar or the browser's Back button doesn't ask, so save first.

### Several agents on one account

An account can have up to 10 AI agents. To add one, choose **Campaigns → Create automation → AI Agent** and, if you have more than one account, the account it is for; or choose **Duplicate** in an agent's row menu. A new agent shows **New** until you choose **Create agent**, and starts with **Live** off.

Each campaign picks which agent replies, and so can a teammate handing a conversation to the AI in the Inbox; everything else goes to the agent marked **Main**. In a campaign's **AI handles replies** card, choose **Main** or another agent under **Pick your AI Agent**. If the chosen agent is off, replies to that campaign wait in the Inbox. Someone a campaign reached stays with it however long they take to reply, until another campaign or sequence reaches them. A reply after a day or more of silence follows the campaign's current AI setting and agent. The main agent also answers direct messages that don't come from a campaign. To change it, choose **Make main** in another agent's row menu. Conversations already in progress keep the agent they started with.

Someone already talking to one agent moves to another when their whole message is the keyword of a campaign that picks it, and that agent is Live. A keyword inside a longer message, and every other trigger, leaves them with their current agent. See [DM keywords](https://docs.meetalto.ai/using-meet-alto/campaigns/dm-keywords#when-someone-is-already-talking-to-an-agent) for the full rule. A reply to a sequence message goes back to whoever started the sequence. A campaign's **AI handles replies** card shows the agent it picks.

**Who the AI replies to**, auto-resume and reply timing belong to the account and apply to every agent. You change them under **Account settings** in the main agent's editor; another agent's editor doesn't show them. **Training wheels** and **Follow up when they go quiet** belong to each agent: while an agent's Training wheels is on, its follow-ups are paused.

You can delete an agent from its row menu, which ends the conversations it is handling. The main agent can't be deleted: make another agent the main one first. An agent that a campaign picks can't be deleted until those campaigns pick another agent.

### Start with review

**Training wheels** requires approval of AI replies in the Inbox. It is useful while you learn how the agent responds. An agent with Training wheels on doesn't send the check-in from **Follow up when they go quiet**.

After enabling, review early conversations for accuracy, tone, completion, and handoffs. If an account is not ready or a control is unavailable, resolve the displayed reason before widening access.

Next: [write a clear playbook](https://docs.meetalto.ai/using-meet-alto/agents/playbook), or [prepare the launch checklist](https://docs.meetalto.ai/using-meet-alto/playbooks/launch-checklist).