How the bot works a pipeline
What the bot reads from your pipeline, when it suggests or makes a move, and what stops it
The bot uses a pipeline in two separate ways: it follows your texts while it talks to a lead, and after each exchange it checks whether the lead is ready for the next stage.
What the bot reads while it talks
For a lead sitting on an open stage, the bot receives:
- the pipeline's Goal;
- the name of the stage the lead is on;
- that stage's What the bot does in this stage;
- that stage's When it leaves this stage;
- whether the stage is handled by Only a person.
It sees only the current stage. It does not see the other stages, the board, the owner or any counts.
How it uses them:
- Where these texts conflict with your Custom Bot Instructions about how to handle the customer, the pipeline texts win, because they are more specific to this lead right now.
- They never override the bot's safety rules, and they are never a source of facts. Prices, availability and product or service details still come only from your catalog, your services and your Knowledge Base. Do not put prices in a stage instruction expecting the bot to quote them.
- The bot is instructed never to mention stages, steps or the pipeline to the customer.
- On a stage handled by Only a person, the bot keeps answering normally but does not push toward that stage's goal.
The bot receives none of this when the contact is not on the board, is on a Won or Lost stage, or is chatting in the Playground. The Playground therefore cannot be used to test stage instructions. A pipeline whose goal and stages are empty changes nothing about how the bot talks.
When the bot checks for a stage change
After each exchange the bot completes with a lead, it reads the conversation and judges whether the customer's own words meet the stage's When it leaves this stage. What the bot itself said does not count. If they do, it proposes one of the stages allowed under Where it can go next, with a reason, the customer's words as evidence, and a confidence level.
All of these must be true for the check to run:
- the lead is on an open stage;
- the pipeline is not set to I move them myself;
- the stage is not handled by Only a person;
- When it leaves this stage is filled in;
- there is at least one open stage to go to;
- the bot itself answered the conversation. While Chat AI is off for the conversation, or a person has taken it over, the bot proposes nothing.
Suggest a move
In a pipeline set to Suggest a move, the proposal becomes a suggestion:
- the card shows Bot suggests → and the stage, with Accept and Ignore;
- Suggestions at the top of the Board lists all pending ones;
- the lead's own page shows it too.
Accept moves the lead. Ignore discards the suggestion. A newer suggestion replaces an older one for the same lead, and any move of the lead closes its pending suggestions. If something changed meanwhile, accepting shows This suggestion is out of date or This suggestion was already decided.
Accepting a suggestion does not stop later automatic moves for that lead; dragging the card yourself does.
Move them automatically
In a pipeline set to Move them automatically, a valid proposal is applied at once and recorded in the lead's timeline as a move by Bot, with its reason and evidence. The bot makes a suggestion instead of moving when:
- the target stage is behind the current one — it never moves a lead backward;
- a person moved this lead by hand or undid one of its moves — from then on the bot only suggests for that lead;
- it already moved this lead automatically three times in the last 24 hours.
It never moves a lead to Won or Lost, in any mode.
If the bot moved a lead wrongly, open the lead and select Undo on that move. See The Leads board.
Automatic events
An automatic event set on a stage moves the lead there without the bot's judgment:
- Order confirmed — an order of the contact is confirmed.
- Appointment booked — an appointment of the contact is confirmed.
- Trial started — reported by an integration.
Rules:
- The lead goes to the stage of its current pipeline that carries the event. If no stage carries it, nothing happens.
- It only moves forward: from an open stage to a stage further along. A lead on Won or Lost is never moved.
- It works in every bot mode, including I move them myself, and also for leads a person moved by hand.
- The stage can be a Won stage. This is the only automatic way a lead becomes Won. Templates set this up; in Configure stage the event can be set on open stages.
- A contact that is not on the board is placed directly on that stage of the pipeline it belongs to, unless it was declined.
The timeline records it as System: "An order was confirmed" or "An appointment was booked".
Suggesting another pipeline
When you have two or more pipelines, the bot can notice that a new lead fits another one better.
- It happens only if a pipeline other than the lead's current one has Who belongs here filled in.
- It applies only to a lead that is new: still on its pipeline's entry stage.
- It is always a suggestion, whatever How the bot moves contacts says. The card shows Looks like and the pipeline's name; Why this pipeline? shows the reason.
- Accept moves the lead to the entry stage of that pipeline. The move appears in the timeline and can be undone.
- Ignore discards it, and the bot does not suggest that pipeline again for that lead.
The bot never chooses the pipeline of a new lead by itself: that is decided by the entry rules.
Summary: what stops the bot
| You want | Do this |
|---|---|
| No stage moves or stage suggestions by the bot in a pipeline | How the bot moves contacts → I move them myself. Automatic events (an order or appointment confirmed) still move leads, and Looks like suggestions for another pipeline still appear |
| No moves out of one stage | Leave its When it leaves this stage empty, or set Who handles it to Only a person |
| The bot not to take orders or book for these leads | Who closes the sale → A person closes the sale or The team contacts the customer |
| No automatic moves for one lead | Move it yourself once; the bot then only suggests for it |
| No bot replies at all for one conversation | Turn Chat AI off in Messages |