Custom app
Learn to set up your conversational AI application with NLX in minutes
What's a Custom application?
A Custom application is a build-your-own experience powered by the flows you design and attach to your app that contain all the logic, prompts, and pathways that are tailored to your goals. It can be deployed across multiple channels (chat, voice/phone, SMS) and offers advanced controls, including supported languages and configurable confidence thresholds with your NLP provider for intent recognition and flow invocation.
Create a custom app
Select Applications in your workspace menu > Choose New application
Click Blank application from the available options > Choose Custom
Provide a name for your application > Click Create application
Configuration
The Configuration tab allows you to provide the necessary NLP engine, flows, and communication method for your application.
AI Engine
An AI engine helps disambiguate human speech for language understanding and intent recognition and also help construct construct a package of your application whenever a new build is made.
Provider: Select the engine in the Provider dropdown. You may choose the built-in NLX model or select a managed NLP provider you previously integrated into your workspace
Delivery
Channels are the modes through which users interface with your application. Each new custom application you create in your workspace comes with a prebuilt API channel for easy installation on web or mobile frontend services. Select any channel added to your app's delivery section for access to advanced settings and installation instructions.
For MCP setup, choose the API channel > Enable MCP interface
+ Add channel: Select one or more channels from the list where you want your application deployed
Channel name: Defaults to the chosen channel type, but you may overwrite with a custom name
Integration: For channels requiring a one-time workspace integration, select from applicable integration(s) created
Custom conversation timeout: Customize the timeout period (in minutes) for a conversation session to end on the selected channel
Escalation: If any escalation channels have been created in your workspace, they will be listed here for selection
Remaining fields are specific to the channel type selected. See list of channels for complete instructions
Functionality
Custom applications are defined by the flows they're comprised of. Here, you'll attach the workflows that your application will have access to as well which flows to default to during certain scenarios.
+ Add flow: Select one or more flows from your workspace that the application can use
Click Default behavior > Assign a flow to run during a situation:
Welcome: Runs when a new conversation session starts. Use it to greet the user, set expectations, and collect any essentials (e.g., name or intent)
Fallback: Runs on timeouts, integration failures, state breaks, or exceeded incomprehension events that are not handled by a knowledge base. Route here to recover gracefully and guide the user forward
Unknown: Runs when the AI cannot match the user's response to any flow or provided choices. Use to invoke a knowledge base and check a question against a repository of information
Escalation (optional): Runs when a node hits the escalation path. Route here to transfer to a human agent
Linked resources: View all workspace resources associated with your application. Select one to navigate to its edit page
Click Save
Deployment
Deploying an application allows you to construct a build that contains a package of the flows, AI engine, settings, and delivery details in the state they exist at the time the build is created. You may then deploy a successful build to make it live or roll back to a previous deployment.
Build
Click deployment status in upper right > Select Build and deploy
Review Validation check for critical errors or detected UX issues in custom flows. Before each new build initiates, a validation check is run to provide a preview of potential errors that may cause failed builds. Detected issues are listed with descriptions and potential solutions
You may provide a Description of notable build edits as a changelog
Enable NLX Boost (optional): Enhances the performance of your engine with generative AI intent classification
Allow NLX Boost to override the NLP: Enabling this relies on NLX's built-in generative AI to detect user intent (based on your routing data) and route to a flow accordingly, regardless of the AI engine's detected match
Click Create build
You may now test your newest build in your workspace using any of the test chats.
Experiencing a Failed build? Select the All builds option in the deployment menu and click the failed build to view details on what caused an error.
Deploy
Channel(s) provides the frontend interface (how users experience your app). Deploying a build pushes your updates through any delivery channels setup on the app, effectively making your app live outside of your NLX workspace.
Click deployment status in upper right > Select All builds > Choose Deploy on successful build
Deployment languages (optional): Select the languages to include in the deployment, if multiple are available
Hosting (optional): Host your application as a Touchpoint app via the conversational.app domain. Ideal for previewing its final look during development and sharing your app externally with collaborators. Enable the Hosting option to configure the URL (e.g.,
mybusiness.conversational.app)
Click Create deployment
Once a build is made, flows can be further edited without affecting a deployed application. Only deploying a new build will impact live applications. Only one build can be deployed at a time and deploying any build deactivates the previous one. You can freely alternate between newer and older builds using Rollback or Deploy.
Install
Click the Configuration tab of your application > Click any channel assigned in the Delivery section
For finalizing MCP, follow these instructions for your chosen MCP client
Choose the Setup instructions tab and follow instructions for installing to your chosen communication channel
Want to take your app offline? Click the deployed build > Select Deployment tab in modal > Scroll to Danger zone and click Delete deployment. The app stays offline until you redeploy.
Once you deploy a build, you may use your application outside the NLX workspace in two ways:
Delivery channel: Interact with the app through the channel where it’s installed (e.g., web chat via API channel, voice, SMS)
Touchpoint (hosted chat): Open the hosting URL from a deployed build to chat with the app. Hosting must be enabled when you deploy
Custom app settings
AI settings
Input a brief description of the application for Model Context Protocol (MCP) Clients to reference when using your app as an MCP server
Advanced
Child-directed: For applications subject to COPPA. Utterance information will not be stored if enabled
Autocorrection: For supported NLPs, spell correction will be applied towards written user responses
Repeat on incomprehension: If a user's response is unclear, the application will repeat its last message to the user
NLP confidence threshold: When an utterance is at or above this value, your application assumes it matched to a flow with certainty
Negative sentiment threshold: The flow assigned to the Frustration default will be triggered when negative sentiment is detected above this threshold by the NLP (e.g., profanity, sarcasm, etc.)
Incomprehension count: Define the number of sequential utterances that the application asks for clarity on before an escalation or Unknown flow is triggered
Conversation timeout (min): Sets the timeout period for all channels on your application. If a timeout was also configured for a channel when managing channels, that channel's setting will take precedence over the application's setting
Default project ID: Default Project ID when using Google's Dialogflow NLP
Automated tests (enterprise only)
See the Automated tests setup for advanced configuration
Languages (check the list of supported languages in your workspace)
Choose which languages your application supports when in production. Though the flows attached to your application may be set up and developed in several languages, your application ultimately decides which to provide when released.
Expand either Main language or any Supported language to view advanced settings:
Use native NLP: Sends a user's utterance to the NLP directly without translation
Region: Global is chosen by default but may be toggled to EU for compliance and performance when using Dialogflow's NLP
Dialogflow project ID: If using Dialogflow's NLP, enter the project ID generated on the application's deployment tab
Amazon Lex Voice: If using Amazon's Lex NLP for voice channels, select the conversational AI voice to be used. You may listen to the selection of Amazon Polly voices here
As some voice channels leverage NLP models to convert audio inputs to text, check your NLP provider's supported languages for phone-enabled applications deployed with NLX.
Lifecycle (enterprise only)
Choose any Lifecycle hook (enterprise only) created within your workspace that enables your application to retrieve and use content from external resources or trigger an external operation during specific points within the application's conversation session. The following are all lifecycle types available to configure on your application:
Conversation start: Triggers when a conversation session starts
Conversation end: Triggers when a conversation session ends/times out
Escalation: Triggers when an Escalate node is hit and the agent escalation transfer initiates
Message received: Triggers whenever a user submits a message (utterance)
State modification: Triggers when a node is hit that includes State modifications applied to one or more Data requests where the Stream state modification setting is also enabled
Deleting an application does not delete the resources attached to your application, but the deletion of your application does wipe all custom settings configured for communication channels you may have set up for the application or any automated tests.
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