Using Variables

Overview

Variables are named fields that store information collected during a conversation—such as an end user’s name, email, order number, or preferred language. Ada uses Variables to capture user inputs, track conversation context, and store metadata throughout an interaction. They enable personalization, guide conversation flow, support conditional logic and integrations, and pass data to backend systems for reporting and further processing.

Limitations

Keep the following constraints in mind when working with Variables:

• Character limit: Each variable can store up to 100,000 characters. When saving large payloads (such as full API responses), exceeding this limit may result in parsing issues or unexpected behavior.

• Autocapture language support: Autocapture is designed to perform best in English. This feature does not work at all in most other languages. While there may be limited success with some languages like Spanish, it generally fails to extract or generate questions accurately in languages such as German or Chinese.

  Currently, there’s no way to prevent Autocapture Variables from executing if the language used isn’t English, so results might be unexpected.

• Context-sensitive performance: The accuracy of Autocapture value extraction depends on the clarity of the variable’s name and how well the end user communicates the required information.

Use cases

Variables enable your AI Agent to collect, store, and reuse information throughout conversations.

• Personalization: Store end user details (such as name or email) to personalize responses and greetings.
• Order and account lookup: Collect order numbers or account IDs to fetch information from backend systems via Actions.
• Conversation flow control: Track state and guide conditional logic based on variable values, such as incrementing a retry counter.
• Sensitive data handling: Store confidential information with automatic Redaction and deletion after 24 hours.

Capabilities & configuration

Variables come in several types, each designed for a different purpose. This section explains how each type works, when to use it, and how the values are captured or provided during a conversation.

Autocapture Variables

Autocapture Variables are automatically populated by scanning the conversation transcript for information that matches the variable’s description. If the information is not found, Ada generates a real-time question to collect the value and then extracts it from the updated transcript.

Autocapture variables:

• Rely on transcript parsing, not raw user messages
• Use LLM-based extraction
• Do not consider structured UI inputs such as button selections

Autocapture behavior

When you create an Autocapture Variable, you must choose its capture behavior. This setting defines how the Agent collects and updates the variable’s value during a conversation, including when it decides to prompt the user for additional information.

• Ask when needed: The AI Agent attempts to extract the value from the transcript. If no suitable value is found, Ada asks the user a question and then extracts the value from their reply in context.
• Always ask: The Agent asks the user for the variable’s value every time the block that references it runs, even if a value already exists.

Metavariables

Metavariables are end user–specific fields that Ada collects automatically. They can include browser details, location metadata, channel-specific values, conversation context, system indicators, and more.

Metavariables are:

• Automatically populated
• Read-only
• Available for use in Processes, Playbooks, Actions, and other supported features

Unlike Autocapture, Global, and Sensitive variables, metavariables cannot be created manually. They are collected automatically by Ada or passed into the Agent through setMetaFields() in your embed script.

Metavariable definitions

The following metavariables are automatically collected and available for use:

Global Variables

Global Variables persist throughout your AI Agent’s interactions and remain available for reuse. Their values reset when a new conversation begins. Global variables must be created manually—Ada does not automatically detect or capture them. This also applies to sensitive variables.

Sensitive Variables

Sensitive Variables store confidential information and must be defined manually, as Ada does not automatically detect or capture them. Their values:

• Are redacted in the dashboard
• Are automatically deleted after 24 hours
• Are not retained beyond that window

Use sensitive variables for information that should not persist for long-term analysis or reuse.

Quick start

Get started by creating your first Variable. For detailed configuration options, see Create a Variable.

To create a Variable:

Implementation & usage

Before you can reference a Variable in your Agent, you must create it and define its behavior. This section describes how to configure variables and how to populate them during a conversation.

Create a Variable

To create a new Variable, use the Variable Manager to define its type, name, and data type. The steps below walk you through the process.

To create a new Variable:

1. In the Ada Dashboard, navigate to Config > AI AGENT > Settings, then open the Variables tab.
2. Click New variable.
3. Select a Variable type:
   • Autocapture: Use when you want Ada to extract the value from the conversation or prompt the end user if not found.
   • Global: Use for values that persist throughout the conversation and reset when a new conversation begins.
   • Sensitive: Use for confidential data that should be redacted and automatically deleted after 24 hours.
     Metavariables cannot be created manually. They are automatically collected by Ada or passed via setMetaFields in your embed script.
4. Enter a Name for the variable.
   • Use a clear, descriptive name that reflects the data it stores (for example, order_number, customer_email).
   • Avoid generic names like var1 or temp.
5. Select a Data type: String, Number, or Boolean.
6. For Autocapture variables, select a capture behavior:
   • Ask when needed: Ada extracts the value from the transcript, or asks if not found.
   • Always ask: Ada prompts the end user every time, even if a value already exists.
7. Click Save.

Use Variables in your AI Agent

Once in place, Variables can be referenced throughout your AI Agent to personalize content, guide logic, and pass data into Actions, Greetings, Playbooks, and other areas where variable-based customization is supported.

Ways to populate Variables

Variables can be filled in several ways depending on where the data comes from and how you intend to use it. Use this table to choose the method that best fits your use case:

Related features

Explore complementary capabilities for working with Variables and data.

• Conversation identifiers and persistence
• Personalization data
• Data retention