What a chatbot actually is
A practical system definition—from the message box to the policies, tools, people, and failure paths behind it.
Read guide ↗Field 01 / Foundations
Define the system.
Before choosing a model, decide what the service is allowed to know, say, and change. These guides separate product scope from interface polish and turn a vague assistant idea into an accountable service.
The question to keep asking
Can someone explain the service without naming its model?
A useful review starts here
- One user job has a clear completion state.
- Every consequential decision has an accountable owner.
- The person can see what the assistant cannot do.
- 01
Name every component ↗
Map the channel, identity, state, evidence, tools and human owner.
- 02
Write the promise ↗
Make supported jobs, limits and alternative routes visible.
- 03
Protect the identity boundary ↗
Move verification into an appropriate secure surface.
See the source / related interface context
A shared connector is not a trust policy.
Interoperability and authorization are different layers.
Open the case file ↗This source capture illustrates a related interface—not evidence that the vendor passed these review checks.
The complete foundations desk
Go deeper.
Flows, retrieval, and agents are different tools
Choose the least flexible mechanism that can safely complete the job.
Read guide ↗
Ubisoft · source visual / reviewFoundations2 minState is not memory
Design session state, user profile, retrieval context, and long-term memory as separate promises.
Read guide ↗The channel is part of the system
Web chat, email, voice, messaging, and kiosks change what good behavior means.
Read guide ↗Scope and refusal contracts: make a useful no repeatable
Publish what the service can do, where it stops, and the next route a person can actually use—then test refusals as carefully as answers.
Read guide ↗Conversational onboarding: preview the work before asking for trust
A first run should reveal useful tasks, limits, and exits without turning a new user into a captive tutorial subject.
Read guide ↗Provider exit portability: rehearse the reversible path
Preserve owned records, documented tool contracts, and asset rights so leaving a provider is a tested transition rather than an emergency assumption. This field note supplies an inspectable artifact, counterexample, and release checks.
Read guide ↗Keep the system connected
Conversation design Knowledge & actions Put the reading to work