AskHandle

AI Agents

How to use the AI Answer node

Updated October 7, 2026

The AI Answer node is where you define how your AI agent should respond and which capabilities it can use during a conversation.

In addition to answering questions, the AI Answer node can use skills such as:

  • Live web browsing
  • Sending emails
  • Booking appointments
  • Calculations
  • Product cards
  • Images and photo albums

This lets one AI Answer node handle both information requests and actions when the right intent is detected.

What the AI Answer node does

The AI Answer node can:

  • Define the AI agent's role, tone, and behavior
  • Provide instructions and business-specific knowledge
  • Answer using general knowledge when allowed
  • Search the live web for current information
  • Limit web browsing to specific websites
  • Send emails when a matching request is detected
  • Check calendar availability and book appointments
  • Ask for inputs and calculate a result using your formula
  • Show relevant product or service cards
  • Respond with relevant images or photo albums

You can enable only the skills that are useful for that particular AI Answer node.

Configure the AI Answer briefing

Open the AI Answer node to edit its settings.

The main briefing area tells the AI who it should be and how it should respond.

You can write the briefing yourself or use Draft with AI to create a starting point that you can edit.

A good briefing can include:

  • The AI's role
  • Tone and response style
  • What it should help with
  • What it should avoid
  • Business rules or limitations
  • Product, service, policy, or support information
  • When it should use a particular skill

For example:

text
1You are a helpful real estate assistant. Help visitors discover available properties, compare options, understand pricing and amenities, and find the property that best fits their needs. Keep responses clear and concise.

The opening greeting is configured on the Start node, not in the AI Answer briefing.

Add links to responses

You can use Insert link when you want the AI to include a clickable link in its responses.

This is useful for links such as:

  • Product pages
  • Booking pages
  • Help articles
  • Application forms
  • Pricing pages
  • Other relevant resources

Live web browsing

Enable Live web browsing when the AI needs current information that may change over time.

For example, the AI can look up:

  • Current weather
  • Recent news
  • Current dates or events
  • Publicly available real-time information
  • Information from external websites

Search the broader web

If Limit to specific websites is turned off, the AI can search broadly across the web when live information is needed.

Limit browsing to specific websites

Turn on Limit to specific websites when you only want the AI to browse approved sources.

This is useful when you want answers based on a defined set of websites rather than the broader internet.

For example, you may want the AI to search only:

  • Your own website
  • A partner website
  • A government or regulatory website
  • A specific booking or information source

Use this when the AI needs current information but you still want to control where that information comes from.

Send email

Enable Send email when you want the AI to send information to the user when a specific intent is detected.

For example, you can configure the AI to send an email when the visitor asks for:

  • A brochure
  • Pricing information
  • A product sheet
  • A proposal
  • More information about a service
  • A file or document

Define when the email should be sent

In When to send, describe the type of request that should trigger the email.

For example:

text
1Send this email when the visitor asks for our brochure, pricing PDF, or product sheet.

If AskHandle already has the user's email from the Messenger welcome-screen pre-chat form or from the conversation, the AI can use it.

If the intent matches but an email address is not available, the AI asks the user for one first.

Choose how the email is written

You can choose between:

  • I'll write it — use the same subject, message, and optional file every time
  • Let AI write it — let the AI draft the subject and message from the conversation when the intent matches

For a fixed email, you can configure:

  • Email subject
  • Email message
  • Optional file attachment
  • CC address
  • Reply-to address

On Messenger, you can also use {name} in the email message to insert the visitor's first name when it was collected through the welcome-screen pre-chat form.

Book appointments

Enable Book appointments when you want the AI to check real availability and schedule meetings directly from the conversation.

The booking skill uses an AskHandle Calendar.

In your calendar settings, you can configure details such as:

  • Availability
  • Meeting length
  • Blackout dates
  • Notifications
  • Other scheduling preferences

Then select that calendar inside the AI Answer node.

Define when booking should happen

In When to book, describe the requests that should trigger appointment scheduling.

For example:

text
1Book an appointment when the visitor asks for a demo, consultation, appointment, or site visit.

The AI checks actual open times from the selected calendar before offering availability.

Choose how times are suggested

You can let the AI decide how to present available times, or configure the opening scheduling question and how many time options should be shown.

With Let AI decide, the AI chooses a natural question and how many real available times to show first.

Choose which contact details to collect

After the user chooses a time, you can choose which details the AI should collect:

  • Name
  • Email
  • Phone

Only the fields you select are requested.

After the required details are collected, the AI can complete the booking using the selected calendar.

Calculate

Enable Calculate when the AI needs to collect inputs and return a result based on a defined formula.

This is useful for:

  • Price estimates
  • Quotes
  • Insurance estimates
  • Fees
  • Rates
  • Totals
  • Eligibility calculations
  • Other formula-based results

Define when calculation should run

In When to calculate, describe the intent that should activate the calculation.

For example:

text
1The visitor wants a price, quote, estimate, or total.

Add calculation questions

Add the inputs the calculation requires.

The AI asks for the required values one question at a time.

Question types can include:

  • Number
  • Yes or no
  • Choice
  • Lookup table

The AI extracts the user's answers and passes the values to the calculation.

Define the formula

Use question references such as Q1, Q2, and Q3 to build the formula.

You can use operators such as:

  • +
  • -
  • *
  • /
  • Parentheses

For example:

text
1(Q1 + Q2) * Q3

The calculation is executed by the system using the formula you define. The AI does not estimate or improvise the math.

You can also configure how the result should be presented and add optional text that appears after the result.

Show products

Enable Show products when you want the AI to display product or service cards during the conversation.

You can create and manage items in your product catalog with information such as:

  • Product or service name
  • Description
  • Price
  • Images
  • Variants or options
  • Other relevant details

When the visitor asks about something that matches an item in the catalog, the AI can show the relevant product card.

For example, the AI could show a product card when someone asks:

  • "Do you have this in blue?"
  • "What packages do you offer?"
  • "How much is the weekend package?"
  • "Show me your available services."

The AI should surface the relevant product or service rather than displaying the entire catalog when it is not needed.

Show album photos

Enable Show album photos when the AI should answer with images or groups of images that are not product cards.

This is useful for:

  • Rooms
  • Properties
  • Amenities
  • Venues
  • Destinations
  • Before-and-after photos
  • Instructions or how-to images
  • Other visual examples

Choose the album you want the AI Answer node to use.

When the visitor asks for something that matches the photos in that album, the AI can include the relevant image or set of images in the response.

For example, a hotel AI agent could show room photos when a guest asks what a particular room type looks like.

Use Manage photos to maintain the images available to the album.

Combining multiple skills in one AI Answer node

You can enable more than one skill in the same AI Answer node.

For example, one node could:

  1. Answer questions about a service.
  2. Search the live web when current information is needed.
  3. Show relevant product cards.
  4. Send a brochure when the visitor asks for it.
  5. Offer available appointment times when the visitor wants to speak with someone.
  6. Calculate a quote when the visitor asks for a price estimate.

The AI uses the briefing and each skill's trigger instructions to decide when the capability is relevant.

This is why the When to send, When to book, When to calculate, and similar intent descriptions should be clear and specific.

AI Answer and knowledge

The AI Answer node can still be used as a knowledge and response node even when no additional skills are enabled.

You can place shorter business information directly in the briefing, such as:

  • FAQs
  • Policies
  • Product information
  • Service details
  • Pricing rules
  • Support guidance

If you want the AI to rely only on the information you provide, say so clearly in the briefing.

If you allow broader knowledge or live web browsing, the AI can use those sources where appropriate.

When to use Document Search instead

Use Document Search when the AI needs to search a larger knowledge source, such as:

  • Long policy documents
  • Manuals
  • Technical documentation
  • Multiple files
  • Large knowledge bases
  • Extensive help center content

Use AI Answer for instructions, behavior, smaller amounts of direct knowledge, and the skills described above.

Document Search is better when the main task is finding information inside a larger body of uploaded content.

Best practices

  • Keep the briefing clear and specific.
  • Enable only the skills that the node actually needs.
  • Write precise trigger instructions for each enabled skill.
  • Use approved websites when you want to restrict live web browsing.
  • Test email triggers before relying on automatic sends.
  • Check calendar availability and meeting settings before enabling booking.
  • Test calculation formulas with several sample inputs.
  • Keep product cards and photo albums current.
  • Use clear product names, descriptions, and images so the AI can match requests correctly.
  • Test the AI Answer node from the user's perspective before publishing changes.

The AI Answer node can act as both the conversational response layer and the action layer of your AI agent, allowing it to answer, search, send, schedule, calculate, and show relevant content from one configurable node.

← Back to Help Center