AI agent: three layouts to pick from
Usability round, step 3. The AI agent area is six pages: Behaviour, Knowledge, Playground, Settings, Log and Triggers. Each option shows Behaviour at 1440 and Settings on a phone, in the real shell, on the six text roles. Pick one, or name the parts you want from each.
What is off now
From the apple-design review of the six pages (shots of 2026-09-27 at 1440 and 390).
- HighNothing on the page shows the other five AI agent pages. At desktop width they are only in the menu that opens from the side rail.
- HighBehaviour puts a card inside a card inside a card, and "Role" and the heading under it are nearly the same size. The text runs 460 px wide inside a 1000 px card.
- HighSettings is one 5,300 px page (10,000 px on a phone). Each message sits in a box that ends "Nobody has written this. It is the standard wording." in the same ink as the message the customer gets.
- HighSettings shows internal names (
agentReview.threshold) and switches between "the agent", "the AI" and "the bot". - MediumPlayground's Test and Manage switch is about 29 px tall on a phone, where 44 is the size a thumb expects.
- MediumKnowledge shows four text documents as cards with a "Rows per page 24" control.
- MediumLog writes "9/27/2026, 12:41:39 PM" where Knowledge writes "Sep 27, 2026", and "Published by Admin" looks like a button.
- MediumTriggers says "Standing down" and "Still using the list above" under an empty list.
Tabs and a page of text
The six pages as tabs under the area's name. Behaviour reads like a document: one heading per section, the text in a readable column, and an outline at the side that says which parts are yours.
1440 · Behaviour, Conversations
390 · Settings
- No cards on Behaviour: sections are separated by a line and space.
- The outline jumps to a section and marks it "Standard" or "Yours".
- Settings keeps one long page, but each message shows once, with "Standard wording" as a small status under it.
- Trade-off: Settings is still long; the outline helps on desktop only.
A sidebar and a list
A sidebar for the AI agent area, with the four situations under Behaviour. Settings becomes a grouped list: each row says what the setting is now, and opens its own page.
1440 · Behaviour, Conversations
390 · Settings as a grouped list
- One card per heading, never a card inside a card.
- The situation you are in is in the sidebar and in the page title.
- Settings fits on one phone screen: every row shows its current value.
- Trade-off: 220 px go to the sidebar; editing a setting is one more tap.
Rows that open a sheet
Behaviour lists its five headings as rows: the first words of each, and whether it is standard, yours or waiting to be published. A row opens beside the list to read and edit. Settings splits into four short pages.
1440 · Behaviour, Goal open beside the list
390 · Settings, the replies page
- The whole situation fits one screen; you read one heading at a time.
- Edits go to the draft as today; the row says "Draft" until you publish.
- Settings: Replies, Audience, Thresholds, Moderation, each a page you can finish reading.
- Trade-off: you no longer see the whole prompt at once; "See the exact prompt" still shows it.
In every option
- The heading reads "Who the AI is" in the stored prompt and in the code (renamed 2026-09-28). Every label says "AI": "When the AI gets stuck".
- Knowledge becomes a table: title, where it applies, facts, on or off, last change. No pager under 25 documents.
- Dates read the same everywhere: "27 Sep, 12:41", with the year only when it is not this year.
- Log names who and what in one line: "Admin published Conversations · Tone (added)".
- Playground's Test and Manage switch is 44 px tall on a phone.
- Internal names such as
agentReview.thresholdleave the screen. - The standard messages drawn here are the current defaults, which no longer carry a dash ("…on our side. A Silver Oak consultant…").