Configure an AI tester

Configure the scenario and personality together to control an AI tester. The scenario defines what the tester should accomplish, while the personality defines how it behaves and communicates.

Scenario and personality roles

Each simulation pairs one scenario with one personality. Keep their responsibilities separate so you can reuse the same customer behavior across different test cases:

Configuration	What it controls	Example
Scenario	The AI tester’s goal, relevant context, actions, and stopping condition	Dispute an unexpected charge, provide an account ID when asked, and end after receiving a resolution
Personality	The AI tester’s behavior, tone, conversation timing, model, transcriber, and voice	Act impatient, interrupt long answers, and ask for concise explanations

Write the scenario as instructions for the AI tester, not as the expected outcome. Define pass or fail conditions separately under Success criteria.

Dashboard and API settings

The available settings depend on whether you configure the AI tester in the Dashboard or through the API:

Area	Dashboard settings	Additional API settings
Scenario	Name and intent	Overrides for the assistant or squad under test, webhook destinations, transcript and message inclusion, and recording inclusion
Behavior	Behavior and who starts first	First message, start-speaking plan, stop-speaking plan, duration limit, background sound, and background-speech denoising
Model	Provider and model	Temperature, maximum tokens, fallback models, tools, prompt caching, knowledge base, and model-specific reasoning
Transcriber	Provider, model, and language	Language detection and hints, endpoint delay, vocabulary, contextual hints, and fallback transcribers
Voice	Provider and voice ID	Speed, version, language, pronunciation dictionaries, chunking, formatting, and caching

In the Dashboard, Scenario settings are on the Scenario tab, and the Behavior, Model, Transcriber, and Voice settings are on the Personality tab.

Chat simulations ignore transcriber and voice settings. Behavior, model, and turn-taking settings still apply.

Configure the AI tester

Dashboard

cURL

Open the simulation

Open Simulations, select Suites, and create or edit a suite. Select the simulation you want to configure.

Define the scenario

On the Scenario tab, enter a scenario name and intent (the scenario’s instructions field in the API). Include the AI tester’s goal, information it can provide, actions it should take, and when it should end the conversation.

Keep behavioral traits such as tone, patience, and interruption style out of the scenario. Configure those traits in the personality so you can reuse them with other scenarios.

Set the behavior

Open the Personality tab. Enter the instructions that define how the AI tester should act. Under Who starts first?, select AI tester or Assistant or squad.

Configure the model

Expand Advanced settings. Under Model, select the provider and model that control how the AI tester reasons.

Configure voice settings

For a voice simulation, configure these optional settings:

Under Transcriber, select the speech-to-text provider, language, and model.
Under Voice, select the provider and voice, or enter a custom voice ID.

Continue configuring the suite

Select Next, configure the success criteria and other advanced simulation options, then save or run the suite.

Editing a built-in (Default) personality in the Dashboard saves it as a new personality you own. The built-in personality remains unchanged.

Next steps

Simulations advanced

Configure variables, tool mocks, webhooks, and reusable structured outputs.

Manage simulations

Edit suites, review and rerun results, and maintain test coverage.