Setting Up Leno AI Agent Chatbot

April 15, 2026

Activate Leno AI Agent to handle visitor conversations automatically — answer questions, share information, and escalate to humans when needed.

What the Leno AI Agent Chatbot Does

The Leno AI Agent is an autonomous AI that takes over visitor conversations without requiring a human agent to be present. Once activated, it monitors every incoming chat, processes the visitor's message, retrieves the most relevant answer from your knowledge base, and replies automatically — typically within seconds. The agent continues the conversation until the visitor's question is resolved, until the visitor requests a human agent, or until the AI reaches the boundary of what it can confidently answer. At that point, Leno AI hands the conversation off according to your configured Handoff settings.

Automated conversation handling — Leno AI responds to visitors 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without any agent being online.
Knowledge base retrieval — answers are drawn from the content you have added to your Leno AI knowledge base, including URLs, documents, and Q&A pairs.
Product awareness — when connected to your Shopify store, Leno AI can answer questions about your product catalog, stock levels, and pricing.
Intelligent handoff — when the AI cannot answer a question or the visitor requests a human, the conversation is routed according to your Handoff settings.
Conversation history preserved — when Leno AI transfers a conversation to a human agent, the full chat history is retained so the agent can continue seamlessly without asking the visitor to repeat themselves.

Before You Begin

The Leno AI Agent requires two prerequisites to be in place before activation. If either is missing, the AI toggles will appear disabled in your dashboard and LenoChat will display a warning message explaining what needs to be resolved.

Install the LenoChat widget on your website — the chat widget must be embedded on your site and the integration marked as complete in your dashboard. If you have not done this yet, navigate to Settings → Integrations from the main dashboard sidebar and follow the installation steps for your platform.
Ensure your plan includes AI conversation credits — the Leno AI Agent consumes conversation credits from your plan's monthly allowance. If your conversation limit has been reached, all AI toggles are automatically disabled until the limit resets at the start of your next billing cycle or you upgrade your plan.

If you see a yellow warning banner reading 'You Have Not Installed The Chat Widget' at the top of the Leno AI Settings page, complete the widget installation before proceeding. The banner includes a 'Go to Integrations' button that takes you directly to the installation steps.

How to Activate the Leno AI Agent

Activating the Leno AI Agent takes under 60 seconds. All settings are controlled from the Activation panel inside the Leno AI section of your dashboard. Follow the steps below to enable the agent chatbot and choose which AI modes you want active.

Step 1: Log in to your LenoChat dashboard and click Leno AI in the left sidebar. This opens the Leno AI section with its own navigation.
Step 2: Click Settings in the Leno AI sidebar, then select Activation (or Leno AI if you are on the updated sidebar layout). This opens the Leno AI Activation panel.
Step 3: Locate the Enable Leno AI toggle at the top of the activation card. Click it to toggle it ON. This master switch enables all Leno AI features and also automatically activates both sub-toggles — Leno AI Copilot and Leno AI Agent.
Step 4: Review the two sub-toggles that appear below the main toggle. Enable Leno AI Copilot During Agent Chats controls AI assistance for your human agents during live conversations. Enable Leno AI Agent controls the autonomous chatbot mode that responds automatically without an agent present.
Step 5: Adjust the sub-toggles to match your preferred configuration. If you only want the autonomous chatbot and not the copilot assistance, turn off Enable Leno AI Copilot During Agent Chats while keeping Enable Leno AI Agent on.
Step 6: Changes take effect immediately — no save button is required. Toggle states are saved automatically and a success notification confirms each update.

Leno AI Agent chatbot activation panel in LenoChat dashboard showing the three AI toggles — Enable Leno AI, Enable Leno AI Copilot, and Enable Leno AI Agent

Understanding the Three AI Toggles

The Leno AI Activation panel contains one master toggle and two sub-toggles that give you precise control over how AI is used in your workspace. The table below summarises what each toggle controls and when to enable it.

Toggle	What It Controls	When to Enable
Enable Leno AI	Master on/off switch for all Leno AI features. Enabling it automatically activates both sub-toggles. Disabling it turns off all AI features instantly.	Enable whenever you want to use any Leno AI feature. Required for both Copilot and Agent modes.
Enable Leno AI Copilot During Agent Chats	Activates AI assistance for your human agents. When an agent is handling a chat, the AI suggests replies and surfaces relevant knowledge base content in the agent's sidebar panel.	Enable when you have human agents handling live chats and want to reduce their response time with AI-generated suggestions.
Enable Leno AI Agent	Activates the autonomous chatbot mode. When enabled, Leno AI automatically responds to every incoming conversation without a human agent needing to be present or assigned.	Enable when you want 24/7 automated responses to visitor questions, even when your team is offline.

Tip: You can run both Copilot and Agent modes simultaneously. When both are active, the Leno AI Agent handles new conversations autonomously, and if a human agent takes over a chat, the Copilot continues to assist them with AI suggestions in the sidebar. This combination gives you full AI coverage across both automated and human-handled conversations without any additional configuration.

Plan Usage and Conversation Limits

Every AI response generated by the Leno AI Agent or triggered by the Copilot counts toward your plan's monthly AI conversation allowance. The current usage is displayed at the bottom of the Leno AI Activation card in the format 'X out of Y Leno AI conversations limit used'. Monitoring this counter helps you avoid unexpected service interruptions.

Your AI conversation limit is set by your Leno AI plan. Paid plans include larger monthly allowances, and additional conversation credits can be purchased as add-ons at any time from the Subscription page.
When the limit is reached, all three AI toggles are automatically disabled. Visitors will no longer receive AI-generated responses until the limit resets at the start of your next billing cycle or you purchase additional AI conversation credits.
To purchase additional AI conversations or upgrade your plan, click the Upgrade link shown next to the usage counter in the Activation panel, or navigate to Settings → Subscription from the main dashboard.
If you are running a high-volume Shopify store or expecting traffic spikes, review your projected monthly conversation volume before enabling the agent to avoid hitting the limit mid-month.

AI conversation add-ons are cumulative with your base plan. If your plan includes 500 conversations and you add a 500-conversation add-on, your total monthly limit becomes 1,000 conversations. The Activation panel usage counter always reflects the combined total across your plan and any active add-ons.

How the Leno AI Agent Handles Conversations

When a visitor opens the chat widget and sends a message, the Leno AI Agent processes it in real time and generates a reply from your knowledge base. The conversation appears in your LenoChat inbox labelled as AI-assigned, distinguishing it clearly from chats handled by human agents. Your team can monitor AI conversations at any time and step in to take over with a single click.

Every incoming chat is assigned to the Leno AI Agent automatically when Agent mode is active — no manual assignment or routing rules are required.
The AI responds continuously as long as it can find relevant answers. If the visitor asks something outside the knowledge base, Leno AI triggers your configured Handoff behavior — either routing to the agent queue or displaying a contact form.
Visitors can request a human agent at any time by typing phrases such as 'I want to talk to a person'. This immediately triggers the Handoff workflow regardless of whether the AI had an answer ready.
Human agents can view and take over any AI-assigned conversation instantly from the chat list. Clicking Assign to Me removes the conversation from the AI queue and places it in the agent's active chats, with the full history preserved.

LenoChat inbox showing AI-assigned conversations managed by the Leno AI Agent chatbot alongside human-handled chats

Tip: Before activating the Leno AI Agent for live visitors, test it using the Playground feature in the Leno AI section of your dashboard. The Playground lets you send test messages and see exactly how the AI responds based on your current knowledge base content — without affecting real visitor conversations and without consuming AI conversation credits. Use Playground to identify knowledge gaps before going live.

Customizing Your AI Agent's Messages

Leno AI uses configurable message templates for key moments in every conversation — when the AI cannot answer a question, when a visitor requests a human agent, and when an inactive chat is closed automatically. These messages appear directly in the chat widget and are the visitor's primary touchpoint with your brand during AI interactions. Customizing them ensures your AI sounds like your team, not a generic chatbot.

Transfer preset message — displayed to the visitor when the AI hands the conversation off to a human agent or triggers the contact form. A default message is provided out of the box and can be fully edited to match your brand tone and voice.
Closing message — displayed when an inactive AI-assigned chat is automatically closed after the auto-close timeout period you have set. You can add a custom closing message or leave it blank for a silent close.
To edit these messages, navigate to Leno AI → Settings → Handoff in your dashboard, find the Preset Response and Closing Message sections, enter your custom text, and click Save after each change.

Leno AI Agent customised message configuration panel showing transfer preset response and closing message settings

Common Issues & Solutions

The Enable Leno AI toggle is greyed out and cannot be clicked

This happens when the chat widget has not been installed or the integration has not been verified as complete. Check the top of the Leno AI Settings page for a yellow warning banner. If visible, click the Go to Integrations button and complete the widget installation steps for your platform. Once the widget is live and the integration status updates, the AI toggles will become clickable.

All AI toggles are disabled after previously working

This is almost always caused by reaching your monthly AI conversation limit. Check the usage counter at the bottom of the Leno AI Activation card. If it shows all conversations used, purchase an AI conversation add-on from the Subscription page or wait for your limit to reset at the start of your next billing cycle. The toggles re-enable automatically once credits are available.

Turning off both sub-toggles disables the master Enable Leno AI switch

This is expected behavior. When both Enable Leno AI Copilot During Agent Chats and Enable Leno AI Agent are turned off simultaneously, the master Enable Leno AI toggle automatically disables because there are no active AI features to power. To keep the master switch ON, ensure at least one sub-toggle remains enabled.

Leno AI Agent is not responding to visitor messages despite being enabled

Verify all three conditions: (1) Enable Leno AI is ON, (2) Enable Leno AI Agent is ON, and (3) your monthly conversation limit has not been reached. If all three are confirmed, check your Leno AI knowledge base — the AI cannot answer questions if no content has been added. Navigate to Leno AI → Knowledge Base and add at least one URL, document, or Q&A pair, then test again using the Playground.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the Leno AI Agent work when no human agents are online?

Yes. The Leno AI Agent operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, regardless of whether any human agents are logged into the dashboard. It automatically handles every incoming conversation and only routes to a human when explicitly requested by the visitor or when it cannot find a confident answer in your knowledge base.

Can I use Leno AI Copilot without enabling the Leno AI Agent chatbot?

Yes. The Enable Leno AI Copilot During Agent Chats and Enable Leno AI Agent toggles are independent of each other. You can enable only the Copilot — which assists your human agents with AI suggestions during live chats — while keeping the Agent toggle off so the AI never responds autonomously to visitors.

What happens when the Leno AI Agent cannot answer a visitor's question?

When the AI cannot find a confident answer in your knowledge base, it triggers your configured Handoff behavior. Depending on your Handoff settings, the conversation is either transferred to the unassigned agent queue so a human can pick it up, or the visitor is shown a contact form to submit their question by email.

How do I know which conversations are being handled by the AI?

AI-assigned conversations are clearly labelled in your LenoChat inbox and appear separately from human-handled chats. You can monitor them in real time from the chat list and take over any AI conversation instantly by clicking Assign to Me on that conversation.

Can I test the Leno AI Agent before enabling it for live visitors?

Yes. Use the Playground feature inside the Leno AI section of your dashboard to send test messages and see exactly how the AI responds based on your current knowledge base. Playground conversations do not count toward your monthly AI conversation limit and have no impact on real visitor chats.

What happens if both sub-toggles are turned off — does Leno AI disable entirely?

Yes. If both Enable Leno AI Copilot During Agent Chats and Enable Leno AI Agent are turned off, the master Enable Leno AI switch automatically disables because there are no active AI features remaining. To re-enable AI, turn the master toggle back ON — this also re-activates both sub-toggles.

How many AI conversations are included in my plan?

The number of included AI conversations depends on your Leno AI subscription plan. Your current usage and remaining allowance are displayed at the bottom of the Leno AI Activation card in the format 'X out of Y conversations used'. To see plan details or purchase additional conversation credits, navigate to Settings → Subscription in the main dashboard.