Settings & Customization
Every setting on the knowledge base Answering tab's About your server, How Atlas replies, and When Atlas answers cards, and how carefully it builds its answers
The Answering tab controls what the bot knows about your community, what its answers look like, how carefully it builds them, and when it should leave a ticket to staff. It has four cards: About your server, How Atlas replies, When Atlas answers, and Hand over to staff. Each card shows the settings most servers change; the expert ones wait behind Advanced at the bottom of the card. This page lists every setting on the first three cards, with its range and default, so you can tune the bot without guessing; Hand over to staff is covered on Feedback & Learning.
Open AI assistant → Knowledge base → Answering. The Use the knowledge base switch at the top of the Knowledge base card must be on; while it is off, the tab only says so. Change the settings, then click Save changes in the bar at the bottom of the page to apply them; unsaved changes are lost when you leave the page. Members without Atlas lives on the AI assistant → Atlas page, and the status page integration lives on the Sources tab (see below).
On phones, use the dropdown under the Knowledge base header to choose Sources, Answering, Auto support, Learning, Staff Q&A or Stats. On desktop, the same sections appear as a row of tabs. When you change a Staff Q&A filter or a stats time range, the previous result stays visible until the next result arrives; Q&A row actions wait for the new result.
You can keep editing while a save is in progress. Changes made after you click Save changes stay unsaved in the bar; save again to apply them.
About your server
This card tells the bot who it works for. Fill it in before tuning anything else; it has the biggest effect on answer quality.
| Setting | Limit | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Community or company name | 100 characters | The bot introduces itself as the helper for this name |
| What your team helps with | 500 characters | What your team supports, for example We support our game launcher, accounts, and billing. Helps the bot decide which questions belong in support |
| Instructions for Atlas | 2,000 characters | Plain-language rules for tone and policy, for example For billing questions, always mention our 30-day refund policy. A counter under the box shows how much you have used |
Under Advanced:
| Setting | Limit | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Product names | Up to 50 names, 100 characters each | Product names the bot should recognise and spell correctly. Type a name and press Enter, or paste several separated by commas. Clear all empties the list |
| Topics to leave to staff | Up to 20 topics | Topics the bot must not answer. It politely declines and hands the question to staff. Type a topic and press Enter, or paste several separated by commas |
| Links Atlas can share | Up to 25 links, each a name and an HTTPS address | Important pages the bot may mention without reading them as a source. Sources already include their own addresses. Type the name and the full https:// address, like Pricing https://example.com/pricing, and press Enter, or paste several, one per line. Each link shows as its name; hover for the address. Clear all empties the list |
How Atlas replies
| Setting | Values | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reply style | Concise, Balanced, Helpful | Balanced | Concise gives short, next-step answers. Helpful adds more detail from your content |
| Longest reply | 200 to 3,000 tokens | 2,000 | The longest answer the bot may write. 2,000 tokens is roughly 1,500 words |
| Answer general tech questions | On, Off | On | Lets the bot add general tech knowledge (browser, networking, operating system basics) where your content leaves a gap, such as the exact Windows steps for a setting your docs name, and answer generic technical questions your content does not cover. Anything about your product still comes only from your content, and Check answers against your sources still checks it. Billing, account, security, and legal topics still go to staff. Turn it off to answer only from your content. Pro and higher |
| Show where the answer came from | On, Off | On | Adds a Source: line with the source name under each answer |
| Show the match score | On, Off | On | Adds Confidence: 78% to the footer. The displayed score is scaled for readability and is not the raw match strictness value |
The card also shows an estimate such as Your Pro plan covers about 1.2K replies a month. so you can see how many answers your monthly allowance pays for.
Under Advanced:
| Setting | Values | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| How closely content must match | 10% to 100% | 50% | How closely help content must match the question before the bot uses it. Higher is stricter |
| Ticket messages Atlas reads | 20 messages (low cost), 50 messages (balanced), 100 messages (high quality), All messages | 20 | How much of the ticket the bot re-reads for each answer |
| Shortest message Atlas answers | 1 to 100 characters | 10 | Messages shorter than this never trigger an answer, so hi is ignored but What is X? is not |
| Wait before answering | 5 to 60 seconds | 10 | How long the bot waits after the customer's last message, so a question split across messages gets one answer |
Answer checks
Also under Advanced, these switches decide how carefully the bot prepares and checks a reply.
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Check answers against your sources | On | Checks every answer against your approved content so the bot cannot invent information. Turning it off risks made-up answers reaching customers |
| Understand unclear questions | Off | Helps with unclear or indirect questions. Slightly slower and uses more tokens |
| Focus on what matters in long sources | On | Keeps replies centred on the parts of long content that matter |
| Remember source details better | Off | Improves how the bot remembers source details. Read every source again after enabling it |
| Double-check the best match | On | Adds an extra pass to pick the strongest content. Uses more tokens |
| Skip when already confident | 85% (50% to 100%) | Shown while the setting above is on. Skips the extra pass when the best match is already this strong |
| Skip when one match stands out | 25% (10% to 50%) | Shown while the setting above is on. Skips the extra pass when the best match leads the runner-up by this margin |
When Atlas answers
| Setting | Values | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Give staff the first chance | On, Off | Off | Holds the answer so staff can reply first |
| How long to wait | 10 to 300 seconds | 45 | Shown while the setting above is on. How long to hold the answer |
| Cancel if staff reply | On, Off | On | Shown while Give staff the first chance is on. Drops the held answer if any staff message arrives during the wait |
| Stop once staff reply | On, Off | Off | Once a staff member replies in the ticket, the bot stops answering there |
| Step back while staff are active | On, Off | On | The bot stays quiet while a staff member has replied within the last 5 minutes or is typing |
| Only answer outside business hours | On, Off | Off | The bot only answers outside your configured business hours (Enterprise) |
| Close tickets when members ask | On, Off | Off | Closes the ticket when the customer explicitly asks, for example you can close this ticket |
Under Advanced:
| Setting | Values | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Let Atlas see member roles | On, Off | Off | Lets the bot see the customer's server roles, so a Premium member gets premium-specific answers |
Members without Atlas
This list is on the page under AI assistant → Atlas, not on this tab. Manage opens a list of members (up to 500, added by name or Discord user ID) who never receive AI answers in tickets they create. Use it for people who abuse the bot or prefer a human. Staff still see their tickets normally.
Status Page Integration
Connect Better Stack or Atlassian Statuspage so the bot can mention a known outage when a customer asks whether something is down. The integration is on AI assistant → Knowledge base → Sources, in the Status page card under Add a source (Pro and higher). The card only shows while Use the knowledge base is on, since Atlas only uses the integration when answering from the knowledge base. Under Status page service, pick Better Stack or Atlassian Statuspage, turn on the switch in the card's header, then copy the Webhook URL the card shows (and the one-time secret) into your status page's webhook settings; the card lists the steps for your service. Get a new URL replaces the URL if it leaks. Only the bot owner can turn it on, switch services, or get a new URL. Incident-based answers do not show a Source: line.
What happens
- A customer sends a message of at least Shortest message Atlas answers characters in a ticket.
- The bot waits Wait before answering seconds. If Give staff the first chance is on, it waits How long to wait instead and cancels if staff reply.
- If Step back while staff are active finds a staff reply in the last 5 minutes or staff typing, or Stop once staff reply finds any staff reply, nothing is posted.
- The bot searches your sources, keeps content that meets How closely content must match, and writes an answer in your Reply style, no longer than Longest reply, checked by Check answers against your sources.
- The answer is posted with the source line, the match score, the AI notice, and vote buttons according to your display and feedback settings.
Recommended configurations
Quick answers, staff first
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Reply style | Concise |
| How closely content must match | 70% |
| Give staff the first chance | On, 45 seconds |
| Stop once staff reply | On |
Full self-service
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Reply style | Helpful |
| How closely content must match | 50% |
| Ticket messages Atlas reads | 50 messages |
| Show where the answer came from | On |
| Stop once staff reply | Off |
After-hours cover (Enterprise)
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Only answer outside business hours | On |
| Reply style | Balanced |
| Hand over to staff (Answering tab) | On |
Limits and gotchas
Do not turn off Check answers against your sources to get more answers. Lower How closely content must match instead. The check is what keeps invented details out of customer replies.
- How closely content must match and Show the match score use different scales. The footer score is presented in a readable range; compare answers against each other, not against the strictness setting.
- Only answer outside business hours does nothing until business hours are configured, which needs Enterprise.
- Raising Ticket messages Atlas reads or Longest reply raises the token cost of every answer.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The bot answers questions it should leave to staff | Topics to leave to staff or What your team helps with are empty | Fill in About your server and list the topics that must go to staff under Advanced |
| The bot uses the wrong product name | Product names is empty | Add every product name customers use under Advanced in About your server |
| Answers are cut off | Longest reply is low | Raise it toward 2,000 |
| The bot answers greetings | Shortest message Atlas answers is very low | Set it back to 10 |
| The bot replies while a moderator is mid-conversation | Step back while staff are active is off | Turn it on, or turn on Stop once staff reply |
| The bot never answers a Premium member's question correctly | It cannot see roles | Turn on Let Atlas see member roles |
| Changes do not take effect | You left the page without clicking Save changes | Make the change again and save |
Common questions
Which single setting matters most? About your server. Tell the bot your community name, what you support, your product names, and the topics to leave to staff before touching anything under Advanced.
What match strictness should I use? Start at 50% (How closely content must match, under Advanced in How Atlas replies). Raise it if answers are often off-topic; lower it if the bot says it does not know about things your docs cover.
How do I make the bot wait for a human first? Turn on Give staff the first chance and set How long to wait (10 to 300 seconds, 45 recommended). Leave Cancel if staff reply on so a staff reply drops the pending answer.
Can the bot translate for customers who write in another language? Not from this tab. Message translation between customers and staff is a separate feature with its own settings; see Translation.
Does Show the match score reveal the match strictness number? No. The footer shows a scaled confidence for readability. How closely content must match is the internal cut-off for which content is used.
Why can't I see the Answering settings? The settings stay hidden until you switch on Use the knowledge base at the top of the Knowledge base card and save. If the bot owner's plan is below Pro, the Knowledge base block shows a locked card with a Pro+ badge instead. The Atlas master switch at the top of AI assistant → Atlas must also be on before the bot answers.
Source citations for AI answers, the short version
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Q&A Entries
Every way question-and-answer entries get into the Knowledge Base, how to review, edit, and remove them, and how the bot answers from them
Feedback & Learning
How votes, escalation, and learning from closed tickets work, every setting on the Learning tab and the Hand over to staff card, and how to review what the bot learned