Agent Chat for Service Assistant

Agent Chat Overview

Agent chat is a capability of Service Assistant that lets service reps talk directly with the agent from a chat box at the bottom of the component. Service reps can use agent chat to look up account and contact details, request a summary of record activity or the service plan, draft and send emails, launch Agentforce Actions, and look up knowledge information on demand, all without leaving the component.

Agent chat is available in both guidance and dynamic plans, but the role it plays in the rep experience differs by plan type.

• In dynamic plans, agent chat complements the active and proactive workflow driven by Service Assistant. The plan is generating and adapting steps in real time, and agent chat gives reps a way to go deeper on any step, run an action, or get context on demand alongside that live workflow. See Agent Chat in Dynamic Plans.
• In guidance plans, the plan is static and doesn't adapt on its own. Reps carry more of the research and decision-making themselves, which makes agent chat more central to how they work. Reps rely on it to fill in gaps the checklist doesn't cover, look up information, and complete tasks that the plan steps don't execute on their own. See Agent Chat in Guidance Plans.

Regardless of plan type, agent chat works within the same underlying framework.

Agent Chat Framework

Service Assistant has built-in conversational abilities that work the same way as other Agentforce agents. By default, Service Assistant can answer questions and respond to user requests grounded in the current plan context and the record the service rep is working on. For cases, this includes the fields and objects configured in Service AI Grounding. For messaging sessions, this includes the full messaging transcript. Reps can ask questions about the current step, request a plan summary, or get context about the record without any additional configuration.

To let reps go beyond the current plan and record context, such as looking up account or contact details, querying CRM data, drafting emails, or answering general knowledge questions, add at least one standard subagent. Standard subagents extend what Service Assistant can do outside the boundaries of the current plan. You can add one or both subagents to your agent.

Agent Chat in Dynamic Plans

In dynamic plans, agent chat supports the active workflow. As the plan generates steps in real time, reps can use the chat box at any point to ask questions, get clarification on a step, look up accounts or record details, or ask the agent to run an action.

Service Assistant is grounded on all interactions throughout the session, including the steps that have been generated, the actions that have been executed, the conversation history, and the record itself. For messaging sessions, record data includes the full messaging transcript. For cases, this includes the fields and objects set in your Service AI Grounding configuration.

Because Service Assistant continuously monitors the record, adapts steps in real time, suggests relevant actions, and is grounded in the component feed, service reps can use the chat to get a summary at any point, whether mid-resolution or when joining a record that already has history.

Unlike guidance plans, dynamic plans are proactive. Service Assistant actively states what to do next, surfaces relevant knowledge, and suggests or runs actions as the record and conversation evolve, without waiting for the rep to ask. Agent chat works alongside this live workflow. What a rep does in chat, such as running an action or gathering record details, becomes context that the next generated step adapts to.

Reps can also use the chat to steer which subagent guides the plan. As the customer's intent changes, Service Assistant can switch to a different subagent and then switch back when the new issue is resolved. When it doesn't switch back on its own, a rep redirects it through the chat, such as "Let's go back to the original issue." See Service Plan Record Processing.

Dynamic plans advance steps automatically. When a step is completed with an action, Service Assistant advances to the next step. For any step that isn't automated by an action, Service Assistant tells service reps which tasks to complete. After completing the tasks, service reps tell Service Assistant in the chat that the current step is done, such as by entering Step complete or Confirmed. For steps that aren't automated, Service Assistant uses language such as "Once confirmed, let me know so we can proceed" to prompt service reps to continue the workflow manually.

Agent Chat in Guidance Plans

In guidance plans, agent chat is optional and you turn it on manually from the Service Assistant Setup page. After you turn it on, the chat box shows at the bottom of the Service Assistant component.

As in dynamic plans, reps can use agent chat to ask questions, request knowledge on demand, run Agentforce Actions, or ask for a summary of activity. Because agent chat is integrated with the guidance plan checklist, Service Assistant is grounded in the rep's progress through the plan, including which steps are marked complete, the conversation history in agent chat, executed actions, and the case record fields and objects configured in Service AI Grounding.

When fields or objects set in your Service AI Grounding configuration are updated in the record, reps can reflect the latest data in the service plan by selecting Redraft Plan or by asking agent chat directly, "What are the latest updates for the record?"

Because guidance plans are static, Service Assistant isn't proactive and doesn't actively state what steps to take, surface knowledge information, or suggest actions. If reps want assistance with a specific step or want to complete tasks such as looking up knowledge information, querying records, or running an action, they use agent chat. To support these tasks, add the General CRM subagent to your agent.

Service reps can't use the chat to ask Service Assistant to mark steps as complete or redraft the plan. They complete these tasks manually.

Agent Chat and the Component Feed

Agent chat is available as soon as the rep opens the record. For both guidance and dynamic plans, plan generation is controlled by your eligibility criteria, and the Service Plan card can take up to a minute to show. Agent chat is always available once the record is opened, so reps can start using the chat right away, such as asking for account or contact details, before the Service Plan card shows in the component.

Every chat interaction is saved to the component feed, including questions asked, knowledge lookups, and requests to run agent actions. Service Assistant is grounded in every interaction in the component feed. How Service Assistant uses the feed depends on the plan type.

For dynamic plans, any chat that a rep enters before the Service Plan card shows in the component and before the rep selects Start Plan becomes a grounding source for the service plan. For example, if a rep asks how to get started resolving the record before the Service Plan card shows, and Service Assistant states what to do, that interaction is saved to Service Assistant's memory. When the rep selects Start Plan, the plan picks up from any steps the rep completed before the Service Plan card showed. For Service Assistant to skip those steps, the rep must confirm that they already completed the steps. Otherwise, the first step in the plan can repeat the step the rep already completed.

For guidance plans, Service Assistant doesn't generate the checklist steps from any work or interactions that took place before the Service Plan card shows in the component or before a service rep selects Draft Plan. Service Assistant uses the component feed only as context to summarize the work completed in the plan, such as the questions a rep asked to look up knowledge, the actions they ran, and any steps they checked off. The plan itself isn't generated from any work completed before the Service Plan card shows or a plan is drafted.

The feed persists after a rep finishes working the record. After the case is closed or the messaging session ends, the chat box is disabled, but the full feed history is saved and available to view.

Access, Activation, and Setup

Agent chat is available only with the Adaptive Experience Add-On license. If you have only the Service Planner Add-On license, contact your Salesforce account executive. Accessing and using agent chat requires no additional permissions beyond the standard Service Assistant permissions.

For dynamic plans, agent chat is turned on by default when you turn on dynamic plans for Case or Messaging Session from the Service Assistant Setup page.

For guidance plans, agent chat isn't turned on by default. To turn it on, go to the Service Assistant Setup page and turn on the feature from the Case tab. After it's turned on, the chat box shows in the component for all reps with access to Service Assistant.

By default, agent chat is grounded in the current plan and record. To let reps work beyond that context, such as looking up account and contact details, querying CRM data, drafting emails, and answering general knowledge questions, add the General CRM subagent, the General FAQ subagent, or both to your agent in Agentforce Builder.

Considerations

• Service Assistant isn't grounded on other Service Assistant capabilities. Agent chat doesn't have context from Case Catch-Up & Insights or Service Replies. Each capability operates independently in the Service Assistant component. The service plan steps aren't grounded on those capabilities, and reps can't use the chat box to ask about the content in the insights card or a service reply.
• When multiple service reps work the same record, all reps see the same agent chat thread. The conversation is tied to the record, not the individual rep. Any messages sent, actions executed, or responses generated in agent chat are visible to all reps working the record in real time.
• Translation of agent chat responses isn't supported in Service Assistant. Only English is supported. Dynamic plans also aren't translated. Guidance plans are translated. See Service Assistant Translation.
• Without at least one standard subagent, reps can interact with the agent only within the scope of the current plan and record context. Tasks such as looking up account details, querying records, or drafting emails require a standard subagent.
• In guidance plans, Agentforce Actions and Quick Actions serve different purposes. Quick Actions show as buttons directly in plan steps and are always visible to reps as part of the checklist. Agentforce Actions aren't surfaced in the guidance plan and are available only through agent chat by the service rep specifically asking to execute an action. Reps can't invoke Quick Actions from the agent chat box, but Service Assistant has context of any Quick Actions completed in the steps.