Getting started

Glossary of Unless terms

In brief: Unless terms describe the platform, its agents, the customer journey, and the tools used to configure and evaluate interactions.

Unless’s terminology connects what customers experience with the systems that support it. Use this guide to understand the main concepts and how they fit together, then refer to the relevant term when configuring or reviewing your setup.

The platform and its agents

The Engine is the platform behind the agents. It holds three “senses” and runs four phases: Train, Test, Deploy, and Analyze.

• Living Knowledge is the self-maintaining library built from your Sources.
• Living Memory remembers customers across sessions.
• Living Context connects to CRM, billing, and product data so the Customer Agent can see the situation around a conversation.
• Customer Agent is the customer-facing AI agent. Team Assistant helps your team inside its helpdesk.
• Dashboard is where managers configure agents, monitor performance, and handle Inbox Messages.

Together, these terms distinguish the platform’s internal systems from the agents people use.

Customer journeys and interactions

The Customer Agent serves four moments: Acquisition, Retention, Expansion, and Support. The platform uses one agent per moment, and each moment describes a different part of the customer lifecycle.

A conversation is a structured exchange tracked for analytics and improvement. A query is a structured request for information, while an answer is a response to a question or query. A session is a continuous period of interaction, tracked end to end.

These terms describe different layers of an interaction, from the customer’s request to the record of the full exchange.

Knowledge and agent actions

A Source is content ingested into Living Knowledge, such as website pages, FAQs, files, or content retrieved through an integration. A Topic organizes Sources and conversations around a theme, helping the Customer Agent use the relevant slice of knowledge when answering.

Procedures are actions the Customer Agent or Team Assistant can take, including follow-up questions, live chat, and API calls. A component is an interface module on a website, product, or portal; an action button in a component can trigger a configured Procedure or flow.

These terms separate the information an agent uses from the actions it can take.

Testing and outcomes

Preview lets you try the Customer Agent from the customer’s side before customers see it. Simulations run scripted conversations at scale, while Quality reports test answers against control questions and answers.

An outcome is recorded when Unless successfully completes the job it was set up to do: either a resolution, where it answers at least one real customer question without human help, or a hand-off, where a configured Procedure passes the customer to a human or workflow. Misfires are not billed as outcomes.

Renamed terms

Some glossary entries identify earlier names. Audiences replaces “segments,” Messages replaces “tasks” in the Inbox, and Procedures replaces “tasks” in the agentic sense, as well as “agent actions” and “AI actions.” Customer Agent replaces “AI assistant,” “chatbot,” and “bot”; Team Assistant replaces “browser assistant.”

Knowing these terms makes it easier to follow how Unless organizes knowledge, supports interactions, and measures results.