Design 2: Customer-support agent
Words made simple
A few useful meanings before you read the explanation.
- Agent
- An application that uses a model to choose its next action within defined limits. It can use tools and continue through several steps.
- RAG
- Find relevant information first, then give it to a model to help answer the question. The answer is only as reliable as the information and checks used.
- Persistence
- Saving information so it remains available after a request ends or a process restarts.
More words from this lesson
- Authentication
- Checking who a user or service is, such as by verifying a login session.
Overview
A bounded assistant for knowledge questions, account lookups, clarification, and escalation. It may perform approved low-risk actions.
Why this matters
Support requests mix language, records, and missing information.
An everyday example
A service representative consults several systems.
A technical example
Intent router selects FAQ RAG, claim status, ticket draft, or staff handoff.
How it works
- Authenticate
- Route
- Use scoped tools
- Check progress
- Respond/escalate.
Architecture and flow
UI → router/graph → knowledge + account services → answer/ticket.
The insurance assistant example
Explain a document request and create a reviewed support ticket.
When to use it
Repeatable support tasks with known allowed outcomes.
When to avoid it
Do not autonomously decide disputes or payouts.
Interview answer
“I give support agents narrow tools and explicit escalation, and evaluate real resolution and safe failures.”
Benefits, trade-offs, and production considerations
Persist cases and run outcomes; control external sends and ticket deduplication. Avoid optimizing apparent resolution while customers must contact staff again.
Can you explain it without the notes?
Design 2: Customer-support agent
Use your own words. Explain an example and one limitation before checking the explanation.
Check your explanation
A bounded assistant for knowledge questions, account lookups, clarification, and escalation. It may perform approved low-risk actions.
Turn this concept into a clear answer.
Practice this conceptAdapted from 13_AI.MD · “Design 2: Customer-support agent”. Examples are study fragments; framework behavior can depend on your version.