Overview
Bolt Agent Settings is where you can create and manage your Bolt Agents. From here, you can customize their settings according to your institution’s specific needs and operational preferences. With Bolt Agents, you can fine-tune the performance of your AI chatbot to enhance the student experience.
Whether you’re setting it up for the first time or updating existing configurations, this guide offers a comprehensive overview of each setting and how to create and manage your Bolt Agents.
Find Bolt Agent settings by navigating to Engagement > Bolt Agents.
General
General settings are applied globally. When adding or editing an agent, you can customize each agent's channels and schedule.
Select Channels: Specify which conversation channels Bolt Agents will respond to inbound messages: Live Chat, Email, SMS.
This setting serves as the central control to enable/disable Bolt Agents.
When all chips are disabled (gray), all agents are disabled.
The agent will optimize its response based on the channel (e.g., SMS responses will be around 160 characters, and e-mail responses will contain greetings).
Limit The Time Active: Set a schedule for agents to respond to conversations.
This setting is helpful if you'd like the agents to run during off-hours when your team is unavailable.
To run agents on a set schedule, Conversations must be set to active during the same time as agents.
Agents
The Agents card provides a convenient table view of all your agents. Here, you can quickly see each agent's name and type and whether it’s enabled.
From this card, you can also:
Preview an agent to see how it interacts.
Edit an agent to update its settings.
Add a new agent to expand your team’s capabilities.
This section serves as a central hub for managing your agents. We’ll dive deeper into adding, editing, previewing, and configuring agents below:
Adding a Student Agent
Adding a Student Agent
Navigate to Engagement > Bolt Agents.
Locate the Agents section.
Click + Add Agents.
Give your agent a Name in the header.
💡 Naming Tip: While you have flexibility in naming your agent, avoid using functional titles like “Financial Aid” or “Admissions.” The agent's title (displayed next to the name) can provide additional context, and the description can further explain its expertise. Since the agent may reference its name in greetings, choosing a more natural, human-like name will create a smoother, more engaging experience for students
Use the 'enabled' toggle to activate the agent now or later.
Configure the agent's settings (title, type, skills, etc.) and permissions. We explain those in detail below.
Click the "Preview" button in the header to preview your agent to ensure it looks and behaves as expected.
When ready, click "Save" in the header to save your agent.
Add your agent to a Team. The agent must be assigned to a team, as this is how you can control where and when it is active.
Previewing an Agent
Previewing an Agent
The built-in preview feature lets you see an agent in action before enabling it. This allows you to fine-tune your settings without leaving the editor.
Preview During Creation
When creating or editing an agent, click the Preview
button in the top right corner of the side sheet.
Preview Existing
Navigate to Engagement > Bolt Agents.
Locate the Agents section.
Locate the agent you wish to preview.
Click the three vertical dots
icon at the end of the row.
Select Preview.
Agent Settings + Permissions Explained
When adding or editing an agent, you’ll find a wide range of customization options to make each one unique and specialized for its role. Be sure to review these settings and permissions carefully to ensure your agent is tailored to meet your needs before creating it.
Agent Title + Types
Agent Title + Types
Agent Title
(Optional) Personalize your agent's title to make it unique.
This title will appear in Messenger and your conversation inbox. If no title is added, the Agent Type will be displayed by default. For example, in the image below, we’ve set the title as “Blaze Ambassador.”
Agent Type
Agents are designed to be specialized, giving you the flexibility to customize their expertise for specific functional or subject areas. This allows you to deploy them in different contexts where they can be experts in their roles.
Choose from nine Agent Types to match your needs:
Academic Advisor
Career Advisor
Financial Aid Advisor
Common App Advisor
Admissions Advisor (with subtypes)
Undergraduate
Graduate
Continuing Education
International
Domestic
Campus Life Advisor
Peer Advisor
Alumni Advisor
Athletics Advisor
Default Agent
Your default agent is designed to be all-knowing, which means its access to knowledge base sources cannot be limited. However, you can restrict its access to certain skills. To maximize results and minimize unnecessary human handoffs, ensure the default agent has the same skills as your other agents.
The default agent isn't listed when multiple agents are available on a team. Instead, students will see an “I’m not sure” option if they’re unsure which agent to choose. Selecting this option activates the default agent.
Please note that the default agent cannot hand off to other agents—only to humans. Read more about this here.
Agent Skills
Agent Skills
Select Agent Skills
Choose the specific skills you want to activate for this agent to tailor its expertise.
Agents not only provide answers but also help students accomplish tasks. For a complete list of skills and their descriptions, visit our AI Agent Skills article.
Avatar
Avatar
Avatar
Customize the agent's appearance by adding a unique avatar or picture.
You can either upload an image or use the built-in AI-powered avatar generator to create one.
For the best results, upload an image with a 1:1 aspect ratio (square), such as 100px by 100px. If no image is uploaded, the agent will default to displaying your institution’s primary logo.
Greeting
Greeting
Greeting
Set an initial greeting to welcome students and introduce the agent.
This message is the first thing students will see when they start a new chat with the agent after selecting it from the list.
A personalized, friendly greeting helps set the tone and guide students in starting their conversation.
For example: “Hi! I’m Finley and can help you with most things related to financial aid. How can I help?”
Voice
Voice
Voice
(Optional) Assign the agent a voice profile to enable compatibility with Voice-Recorded Messages and Advanced Voice Mode. Without a voice profile, certain voice features will be unavailable. Adding a voice ensures the agent can interact more naturally in supported channels.
Element451 offers two voice-based features that work seamlessly with Bolt Agents. Below is a breakdown of each feature, including how this setting impacts them, and links to more detailed information.
Voice-Recorded Messages (Supported in Messenger)
If no voice is assigned:
The agent's voice reply feature will be disabled, even if voice replies are enabled in the Agent Messenger settings.
External participants (e.g., students) can still send recorded messages, and the agent will understand them, but it will reply via text only.
If a voice is assigned:
The agent will reply via voice recordings when spoken to using voice recordings.
[Beta] Advanced Voice Mode (Supported in Messenger + In-App Calling)
If no voice is assigned:
Advanced Voice Mode will be disabled for that agent.
If a voice is assigned:
The agent can communicate live in real-time voice conversations, similar to a human-to-human phone call.
When assigning a voice, ensure it is compatible with Advanced Voice Mode. Voices are clearly labeled to indicate compatibility, helping you make the right choice.
Description
Description
Description
Provide a brief description to help students understand the agent's purpose and expertise.
This description will be visible when students are prompted to select an agent.
Keep it concise yet descriptive, ensuring students can quickly determine what the agent can help with. A clear and focused description makes it easier for students to select the right agent for their needs.
Internal Description
Internal Description
Internal Description
(Optional) Enhance the handoff process between agents by providing an internal description.
Use keywords or phrases to summarize the agent's capabilities and skills. These descriptions are visible only to other agents, helping them determine when an agent-to-agent handoff is appropriate, but they are not shown to users.
Permissions: Knowledge + Appointments
Permissions: Knowledge + Appointments
Permissions
Set up the agent's permissions to control what it can access and assist with.
Permissions dynamically update based on the skills you enable in the Agent Skills setting. By default, permissions are set to “all” to grant broad access. To customize, toggle off “all,” and additional configuration options will appear.
For example, disabling “all knowledge” will generate a knowledge settings section, allowing you to specify the sources the agent can access.
Below is a breakdown of permissions based on each skill:
Knowledge
Individual Sources: Restrict the agent to specific sources you’ve uploaded.
Categories: Limit access to particular categories in your knowledge base.
URL Patterns: Restrict knowledge access to items matching specified URL patterns.
Title Patterns: Restrict knowledge access to items matching specific title patterns.
Events
Individual Events: Limit the agent to select events.
Categories: Restrict access to specified event categories.
Applications
Individual Applications: Limit the agent to referencing only specific applications.
Appointments
Individual Availabilities: Restrict the agent to particular individual appointment availabilities.
Categories: Limit access to specified appointment categories.
Teams
Teams are how you deploy your Bolt Agents. Simply activating an agent doesn’t make it accessible to students—it must be assigned to a team. Teams allow you to control where and when agents appear by applying condition filters such as Page URL, Path URL, UTM Parameters, and Conversation Channel.
For example, you could create an Athletics team that includes an Athletics Advisor and an Admissions Advisor, configuring it to only appear on pages containing “athletics” in the URL. This ensures the right audience connects with the right team for assistance.
Key Considerations for Teams
Teams are checked sequentially in order:
Conditions must be met for a team to activate.
The first team whose conditions are met becomes active.
You should only ever have one team without conditions, which will act as a fallback.
This "default team" without conditions should be placed last in the list, as any teams below it will be ignored.
When building your teams, consider how agents within the same team can hand off queries to one another. Group agents logically based on knowledge permissions or functional expertise to ensure student queries are directed to the most qualified agent. We explore this more in Agent-to-Agent Handoffs below.
Explore the dropdown sections below to learn how to manage your agent teams:
Adding a Team
Adding a Team
Navigate to Engagement > Bolt Agents.
Locate the Teams section.
Click + Add Student Agents Team.
Configure the settings for the agent:
Name: Enter a name for the team in the header.
Enabled: Use this toggle to activate the team now or later.
Student Agents: Select the Agent(s) you wish to add to the team.
Conditions: Add conditions to control which pages this team should be active on. You can add Page URL, Path URL, UTM Parameter, and/or Channel conditions.
Click Save in the top right corner.
Reordering Teams
Reordering Teams
Team conditions are evaluated sequentially based on their order in the list. Use the two horizontal lines to reposition a team. If you haven't read how Team conditions are evaluated, be sure to read that at the beginning of the Teams section.
Agent-to-Agent Handoffs
Our intelligent Bolt Agents can seamlessly hand off queries to one another within the same team, ensuring students get the help they need without unnecessary delays. This mirrors real-life interactions but operates far more efficiently than navigating from office to office or building to building.
How Agent Handoffs Works
How Agent Handoffs Works
Agents can hand off to other agents assigned to the same team. This ensures that students get specialized help when needed.
Same-Team Handoffs: Agents can only hand off to other agents assigned to the same team. This setup ensures students receive specialized help as needed.
Automated Process: Handoffs happen automatically—there’s no setting to enable/disable the feature. If an agent can’t assist with a specific task, it will check if another agent on the team can handle it before offering to hand off to a human (if this skill is enabled).
Internal Descriptions: Each agent has an internal description setting (explained in the Agent Settings section). This field provides context about the agent's skills and knowledge areas. Internal descriptions are readable by other agents on the same team, enabling them to determine when a handoff is appropriate.
Default Agent: The default agent, used when students select “I’m not sure” when prompted to choose an agent, doesn’t hand off to others. As an all-knowing agent, it serves as a fallback. To minimize unnecessary human handoffs, ensure the default agent is configured with the same skills as your other agents.
Channel Settings (Messenger, Email, SMS)
Separate settings sections dynamically appear for each channel where agents are active. These settings are configured based on the channels enabled in the General section at the top.
If you don’t see a specific channel’s settings card (e.g., Messenger, Email, or SMS), it’s likely because the channel hasn’t been enabled under General. Ensure the desired channel is selected to make its corresponding settings card available.
Messenger
Messenger
Display Knowledge Base Sources to User
Enabling this setting will provide a source URL at the end of an agent's response. This allows the student to find more information or context on the topic of inquiry.
The source will only display if the agent uses a URL source for content.
Sources are displayed both internally and externally in the thread.
Messenger Conditions
This setting is for schools relying solely on the default agent (with no other agents added). It allows you to specify the pages where agents will be active within Messenger.
Email
Limit Email to a Segment: Restrict communication to certain users. If enabled, agents will exclusively respond to individuals within the segments you select on that channel.
Use this feature to do any testing before turning the feature on for your students.
SMS
SMS
Limit SMS to a Segment: Restrict communication to certain users. If enabled, agents will exclusively respond to individuals within the segments you select on that channel.
Use this feature to do any testing before turning the feature on for your students.
AI Settings
The AI Settings section allows you to enable Sentiment Analysis, which automatically evaluates the emotional tone of messages received in SMS and Messenger (live chat). Messages are categorized as positive, negative, or neutral to help you better understand how students feel during conversations.
For a detailed overview of how sentiment analysis works and tips on using these insights, refer to our Sentiment Analysis article.
Content Moderation Settings
In this section, you’ll find a table listing all content moderation flags, organized by category (e.g., sexual, hate, harassment). At a glance, you can view each flag’s action(s) and priority. You can also edit flags directly from here to update their message, priority, or actions.
Content Moderation helps maintain a safe and respectful environment by automatically flagging conversations that may contain inappropriate, harmful, or manipulative content, including text and images. For more details on managing flags and customizing actions, visit our Content Moderation article.