Mode in the Behavior section is the single most important setting on an agent. The rating bands tune what it does at each star rating. The mode decides whether it may post anything on its own at all.
What you need: an agent with instructions and some knowledge.
The Behavior section with the mode picker, the 2 rating bands and the send delay.
The 2 modes
Draft for review writes the answer and stops. Nothing is posted on its own. Low ratings wait in Approvals, the rest are saved as drafts on the review card for a person to read and send.
Auto-reply posts on its own at the ratings you choose in the automatic band, on sites that take replies through their API. Below that band it still drafts, and at or below the approval band it still asks.
Start every agent in draft for a week. Read what it writes, fix the knowledge behind the answers that were wrong, then switch. Duplicating an agent always starts the copy in draft mode for the same reason: 2 auto-repliers on one source could answer the same review twice.
The rating bands
Both modes respect the approval band. Only auto-reply uses the automatic band. See Rating bands for the full picture and the exceptions.
Which reviews it answers
The Reach section holds the rest.
- Assigned sources, Sites and Locations decide where the agent answers. Leave a list unticked to cover everything in it.
- Which reviews it answers starts on reviews marked "needs reply", the safest setting. A detection prompt decides what qualifies, and its wording can be changed and restored.
- Also skip reviews containing is your own list. Anything legal, medical or money-back belongs with a person:
refund,chargeback,lawyer. Those reviews are left to you, whatever the mode.
The Reach section with the assigned sources, sites and locations, and the skip keyword field.
Send delay
Send delay works exactly as a rule's wait does: none, a fixed wait or a random wait up to a limit. A random few minutes on auto-reply reads far better than an answer that lands instantly.
Before you switch to auto-reply
- Read a week of drafts and count how many you sent unchanged.
- Check that the knowledge covers what you had to rewrite.
- Set automatic posting to 5 stars to begin with.
- Put a send delay on it.
- Switch the mode and read what it posted on the first day.
A bad week is the exception. Keep an agent drafting during a crisis, or raise its approval band, and approve each answer yourself, because that is exactly where a wrong sentence spreads.
Stopping everything at once
To stop automated replies on one source without touching the agent, turn off Automated replies on the source's card in Sources. Agents can still draft there. See Pause automated replies for a source.
What this costs
A reply costs the same in either mode, because the answer has to exist either way for a person to read it. A draft you discard costs the same as one you send. Approving, editing or discarding is free.
The detection that decides whether a review needs a reply is a small AI check of its own. Reviews caught by your skip keywords cost nothing, since those are read before anything reaches the AI.