How to Build an AI Agent from Scratch: A Step‑by‑Step Guide (Using Stammer AI)
You’ve probably noticed how AI chatbots are everywhere now. Whether it’s on a website, in an app, or during a call, AI agents are becoming part of our everyday interactions. As you experience these smart systems more often, you might start thinking, "Why not bring one to my own business?"
With Stammer AI, you can easily create and deploy custom AI agents without needing to be a tech expert. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of building your own AI agent, setting it up, and integrating it into your business.
Why Choose Stammer AI?
Stammer AI is a powerful white-label platform that enables businesses and agencies to create chat and voice AI agents under their own brand. You can easily build and manage these agents. Here are the key benefits of using Stammer AI:
No coding required:
Stammer AI simplifies the process of building AI agents with little to no technical expertise needed. The platform’s user-friendly design lets you focus on creating the agent’s purpose and content without worrying about complex coding.
Custom branding:
With Stammer AI, you have full control over branding. You can customize the domain, logo, colors, and dashboard. Your clients see your brand, not Stammer’s.
Multi-channel deployment:
Stammer AI allows you to deploy AI agents across multiple channels. You can embed them on websites, integrate them with WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or use voice agents for phone calls.
Built-in usage/billing model for agencies:
As an agency, you keep 100% of your revenue. Stammer AI provides a flexible billing system that allows you to set your own prices and charge clients directly. You can create a new recurring revenue stream.
Define the Agent’s Purpose & Scope
Before building your AI agent, it's essential to define its purpose and set clear expectations. This step will guide the agent's design and ensure it meets your business goals.
Purpose
Start by deciding what you want the AI agent to do. Some common purposes include:
Lead qualification: The agent can interact with website visitors or social media users, asking a series of questions to qualify them as potential leads.
Appointment scheduling: An AI agent can handle booking meetings, syncing with calendars, and ensuring appointments are scheduled at convenient times.
Customer support: The agent can provide instant answers to frequently asked questions, troubleshoot common issues, or direct customers to the right resources.
Audience & Channel
Next, determine who will interact with the AI agent and on which platforms. The agent might engage:
Website visitors: Visitors who need quick answers or assistance.
Callers: Those calling your business can be greeted by a voice agent, handling basic inquiries or redirecting them as needed.
WhatsApp or social media users: The agent can respond to messages on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or other platforms.
Scope and Limits
It’s important to set clear boundaries for what the AI agent can handle and when it should escalate to a human. For example:
The agent might handle basic queries about business hours, product information, or booking appointments.
If a customer has a more complex issue or request, the agent should pass the conversation to a human representative. Clearly define these limits in the agent’s training to ensure smooth transitions between AI and human interaction.
Success Metrics
To measure the success of your AI agent, identify key metrics:
Number of leads captured: How many potential customers the agent qualifies.
Calls handled: How many customer inquiries are resolved by the agent without human intervention.
Reduction in support load: Track how much the agent reduces the burden on your customer service team, allowing them to focus on more complex issues.
By defining the purpose, audience, scope, and success metrics, you’ll set a solid foundation for your AI agent’s design and ensure it delivers the results you expect.
Setup Your Stammer AI Workspace
Setting up your Stammer AI workspace is a simple process that will have you ready to create and manage your AI agents in no time. Follow these steps to get started. Begin by creating an account on Stammer AI. Once you’re signed up, choose the plan that best suits your needs.
Branding Setup
Stammer AI allows you to fully brand the platform with your business identity. This is a crucial feature for agencies and businesses that want to maintain a seamless experience for their clients:
Custom Domain: Set up a unique domain for your AI agents, so clients access the platform under your brand, not Stammer’s.
Logo and Colours: Customize the look and feel of the dashboard and interface with your company’s logo and color scheme.
Wallet / Billing Setup
Stammer AI offers an integrated billing system that allows you to manage payments easily:
Agency Wallet: As an agency, you’ll have a wallet where you can fund your account and manage payments for your clients.
Client Sub-Accounts: Each client can have their own sub-account, where they can load funds and track usage (messages or call minutes).
Dashboard Tour
Once your account and branding are set up, you’ll land on your Stammer AI dashboard. Here are some of the key areas you’ll be working with:
Agent Creation: This is where you’ll design, customize, and deploy your AI agents. From setting up conversations to choosing triggers, everything happens here.
Knowledge Base: Store all relevant information, FAQs, and training data that your AI agent will use to interact with customers. The knowledge base is essential for training your agent and ensuring it provides accurate responses.
Integrations: Easily integrate your AI agent with platforms like websites, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and more. The integrations tab helps you set up connections to multiple channels for seamless communication.
With your workspace set up, you're ready to start building your AI agent and begin offering powerful automation to your clients.
Build the Agent: Step by Step
Now that you've defined the purpose, audience, and scope of your AI agent, it's time to build it. Follow these steps to create your AI agent on Stammer AI, ensuring it meets your business needs.
1. Choose Chat vs. Voice Agent
The first decision you need to make is whether your agent will handle chat, voice calls, or both. Stammer AI allows you to create both chat-based and voice-based agents.
Chat Agent: Ideal for website visitors, social media users, or apps where text-based communication works best.
Voice Agent: Perfect for phone calls. They offer human-like conversations to interact with callers.
Depending on your business needs, you can choose one or both types of agents.
Define Agent Identity and Prompts
Once you’ve decided on the type of agent (chat or voice), the next step is to define its identity and set up prompts that will guide its behavior and responses. This ensures the agent aligns with your brand’s voice and delivers consistent, accurate interactions.
1. Display & Model Names:
In the Display Name field, give your agent a name that will appear to users on the chat widget. Choose a name that reflects your business tone, whether it's friendly and casual or more formal. For example, "Customer Support Bot" or "Booking Assistant".
In the Alternative Model section, you can specify a more technical or internal name for the model, like "GROK-X-1212". This won’t be visible to users, but it helps differentiate different models or versions of agents if you are managing multiple.
2. Base System Prompt:
The Base System Prompt is where you define how the agent should interact with users. This includes a general guideline that will be used to shape its responses. You can include specific instructions, such as:
Begin all responses with a friendly greeting (e.g., "Hello! How can I assist you today?").
If the agent doesn’t have an answer to a question, it should say, “Hmm, I’m not sure. Let me connect you to someone who can help.”
Direct users to appropriate resources (e.g., appointment scheduling links) or redirect them to human support when needed.
3. Conversation Starter:
Under Initial Messages / Popup Messages, enter a welcoming message or prompt that will greet users when they first interact with the agent. For example:
"Hi! How can I assist you today?"
"Welcome! Let me know how I can help you with your questions."
4. Knowledge Base Search Results:
In the Knowledge Base Search Results section, you can choose how many results the agent should display when it searches the knowledge base. We recommend setting it to 5 results to strike a balance between providing rich context and avoiding confusion for the user.
5. Additional Features:
You can enable or disable extra features such as:
Enable Audio Features: For voice agents, enabling this option allows the agent to use audio responses for a more interactive experience.
Enable Streaming: For real-time interaction, this option can allow streaming of responses for voice agents, making conversations more dynamic.
Add Training Data / Knowledge Base
For the agent to provide accurate and relevant responses, you need to populate its knowledge base with important information about your business.
Upload Files: Upload product brochures, service manuals, or other documents the agent can reference.
Q&A: Create common question and answer pairs that the agent can use to respond to customer queries.
Scrape Website URLs: You can scrape relevant information from your website to help the agent understand the context of your business and respond effectively.
Integrate Channels
After setting up the basic functionalities of your agent, you’ll need to integrate it into the platforms your customers use.
Embed the agent on your website, allowing visitors to chat with it directly.
Connect the agent to social media channels like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and other platforms where your customers engage with you.
Test the Agent
Before going live, it’s essential to test the agent and make sure it functions as expected.
Run Sample Interactions: Interact with your agent using different queries and scenarios. Check for any areas where the agent may misunderstand or fail to respond appropriately.
Check Accuracy: Evaluate whether the agent’s responses are accurate and aligned with your brand’s voice.
Make Adjustments: If any issues arise, tweak the knowledge base, prompts, or AI model settings to improve the agent’s performance.
Deploy
Once you’re confident that the agent is functioning smoothly, it’s time to go live. Deploy your agent across the channels you’ve set up (website, social media, voice). Continuously monitor the agent’s performance to ensure it’s meeting your goals, whether that’s handling inquiries, capturing leads, or improving customer experience. Make adjustments as needed based on feedback and performance metrics.
Conclusion
Building an AI agent from scratch is now simple, fast, and accessible with Stammer AI. By setting clear goals and building within a branded workspace, you can introduce AI into your business in a controlled practical way.
Once deployed, the agent can help support your day-to-day operations and offer a more responsive experience to your customers. Starting with a focused purpose and expanding only when needed makes it easier to maintain an agent that aligns with your business and delivers consistent value.
