Intent Rules

Intent Rules are conditions you define to help your AI Agents recognize user inputs and trigger a specific Intent based on precise criteria. These rules provide more control and flexibility than standard Intents, which work by recognizing patterns in example sentences.

Key Benefits

• Precision. Intent rules are especially valuable when dealing with technical payloads (structured data) or specific conditions that Intents don't easily handle.
• Context-Sensitive Triggers. You can enforce certain conditions, such as checking the user's login status or ensuring required data is present before triggering the Intent.
• Simple Conditions. They work well when you have clear, straightforward conditions for triggering the Intent. For example, specific keywords or patterns in the text.

Restrictions

• Intent rules always have a score of 1 when they match, thresholds don't apply.
• Intent rules take priority by forcing an Intent match when their conditions are met, ignoring both Intent Sentences and Intent conditions. In contrast, Intent conditions determine whether Intent Sentences should be used.

How to use

To set a rule for a specific Intent, navigate to NLU > Intents in the Flow editor. Open the desired Intent, then go to Rules to configure the rule.

You can add multiple rules to an Intent. You write these rules using CognigyScript, which allows you to define the conditions that must be met to trigger the Intent. These conditions usually rely on input, context, or other dynamic data.

Syntax

Basic Text Matching

This rule triggers the Intent if the user input contains the word pizza.

ci.text.includes("pizza")

Comparing Input Text

The rule matches if the user exactly says I want to order a pizza. This rule only matches this exact phrase, and minor variations (like punctuation changes) would prevent the Intent from being triggered, making it less robust than an ML-based approach.

ci.text == "I want to order a pizza"

Using Context Data

The rule checks if the user has selected pizza as the only item in their food Slot.

input.slots.food[0].keyphrase == "pizza" && input.slots.food.length == 1

Combining Multiple Conditions

The rule triggers the Intent if the user mentions order and has selected one item in their food Slot.

ci.text.includes("order") && input.slots.food.length === 1

Using Regular Expressions

This rule uses a regular expression to match the phrase order followed by any characters and then pizza.

ci.text.match(/order\s.*\spizza/)

Dynamic Input Matching

This rule checks if the user input matches a dynamic sentence structure based on the user's first name, such as John wants pizza.

ci.text === `${input.slots.first_name[0].keyphrase} wants pizza`

Rules and Intent Sentences: Prioritization

Intent rules always have higher priority than Intent sentences. This means that if a user input triggers both a rule and an Intent sentence, the rule will be triggered first.

Resolving Conflicts Between Multiple Rules

If multiple rules apply simultaneously, the order of rules in the Flow hierarchy determines which one is triggered.

There are three main principles:

Main Flow
├── Intent A
│   └── Intent A.1
│       └── Intent A.2
└── Intent B

Attached Flow 1
└── Intent C
    └── Intent C.1
        └── Intent C.2

Attached Flow 2
└── Intent D

Principle	Description	Example
Intent rules lower in the list come first	If multiple Intent rules match, the one that appears last in the list is triggered.	If Intent A.2 and Intent B match the same input, Intent B will be triggered because it is lower in the list.
Children come first	If both parent and child Intents match, the child Intent takes precedence.	If Intent A.1 and Intent A.2 match the same input, Intent A.2 will be triggered.
Attached Flows come third	Intents in attached Flows are processed after those in the main Flow. The order of attached Flows determines which Intent is triggered.	If Intent C in Attached Flow 1 and Intent D in Attached Flow 2 both match the same input, Intent C will be triggered because it comes first in the list of attached Flows.

Use Cases

Processing an Order Request

If you build a system that handles order requests from a user via an API (coming from a Webchat or frontend interface), the request might include structured data, such as JSON:

{
  "action": "order",
  "product": "pizza",
  "quantity": 2,
  "userId": "user123"
}

You might want the system to trigger an Order Intent when it receives this specific structure.

Rule:

input.data.action === "order" && input.data.product === "pizza" && input.data.quantity >= 1

This rule ensures that the order Intent is only triggered if the data contains an action of order, the product is pizza, and the quantity is greater than or equal to 1.

Checking for Specific Parameters in a Payload

Imagine you have an API that receives user's login data:

{
  "action": "login",
  "username": "john_doe",
  "password": "secret"
}

You can create a rule to trigger an Authenticate Intent based on the specific parameters in the payload:

Rule:

input.data.action === "login" && input.data.username !== "" && input.data.password !== ""

This rule ensures the Intent is triggered only when the payload contains both username and password fields.

Validating and Triggering Action Based on a Webhook Payload

You might have a webhook integration where you receive data from an external service, such as a payment gateway. The payload might look something like this:

{
  "payment_status": "success",
  "transaction_id": "txn123456",
  "amount": 100.0
}

To trigger an Intent when a successful payment is detected, you can use the following rule:

Rule:

input.data.payment_status === "success" && input.data.transaction_id !== undefined && input.data.amount > 0

More Information

• Overview
• Intent Conditions