Read the Used by list before you change anything
Every bot, flow and knowledge base shows what depends on it. Reuse without fear is only possible because of this.
Reuse is the point of the whole design — one bot on three channels, one knowledge base behind four bots, one call flow behind six numbers. But reuse without visibility is how a small change breaks something nobody was thinking about.
Hence the Used-by list. Everything reusable in the product carries one, and the habit worth building is reading it before you edit, not just before you delete.
Before you start
- A bot, flow or knowledge base you are about to change.
- Two minutes to read the list before you edit, not only before you delete.
Steps
Open the bot, flow or knowledge base
The Used-by panel names what depends on it and how — a channel routing incoming conversations to it, a call flow handing over to it, a campaign dialling with it.
The relationship is stated, not just listed, which matters: a bot used as a channel's incoming route and a bot used as a campaign's answer are affected differently by a change to its opening line.
Read it before you edit, not only before you delete
Deleting is the obvious risk and the one people check. Editing is the frequent one: changing an instruction changes the bot on every channel, flow and campaign pointing at it.
Expect one bot to appear in several places
That is the design working. A bot knows nothing about where it is used, so the Used-by list is the only place that relationship is visible.
Create a second bot when the uses genuinely differ
If a change would improve one use and damage another, you have two jobs and want two bots. That is cheaper than a compromise that serves neither well.
Check it again after the change
Confirm nothing you did not intend to touch has changed behaviour. Send a message to one of the other channels on the list and check the bot still opens the way that channel needs.
This is the step that catches the change that helped one use and quietly damaged another.
Check it worked
Pick your busiest bot and read its Used-by list. If it is longer than you expected, that is the information you needed before your next edit.
The parts people get wrong
- Call flows carry the same kind of list, showing channels and prompt flows that depend on them.
- A knowledge base's Used-by list is what stops you deleting a document four bots are quoting from.
The ones people actually ask
Why does one bot appear in several places?
That is the design working. A bot knows nothing about where it is used — channels, flows and campaigns point at it — so the Used-by list is the only place that relationship is visible.
I changed a bot and something else broke.
Editing changes the bot everywhere at once. Read Used-by before you edit, not only before you delete, and afterwards send a message to one of the other channels on the list to confirm it still opens the way that channel needs.
A change would help one use and hurt another.
Then you have two jobs and want two bots. That is cheaper than a compromise instruction that serves neither well.