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Overview

Custom AI Experts let your team create focused Ask Z specialists for specific jobs. Each expert can have its own name, icon, description, instructions, ownership, intelligence level, allowed apps, skills, and trigger settings. Use custom experts when one assistant should stay focused on a specific kind of work, such as reviewing support tickets, preparing sales follow-ups, watching connected app events, or running a scheduled operational check. Z360 also includes ready-to-use Business Manager and Frontdesk experts for common organization workflows. Business Manager can help with day-to-day operations across contacts, Inbox, tickets, inquiries, pipelines, AI Studio, and organization settings. Frontdesk is designed for inbound triage, lead capture, customer follow-up, and routing customer conversations. If you only need the main agent to run on a schedule or connected-app event, use AI Studio Automations. Use a custom expert when the workflow needs its own specialist identity, prompt, allowed apps, skills, or intelligence settings.

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When to Use a Custom Expert

Create a custom expert when you need:
  • A named specialist for a repeatable workflow
  • Different instructions from the default Ask Z experts
  • A scheduled assistant task with a clear goal
  • An expert that reacts to a connected app event
  • Tighter control over which apps and actions the expert can use

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Use the Visual Expert Builder

The Expert builder shows the expert’s setup in one workspace so you can move between the main parts of the expert without losing context. Use the canvas controls to zoom in, zoom out, or fit the builder view when the expert has many settings. AI Studio is organized under Settings > AI Studio, with Agent, Voice, Experts, Automations, Memory, Library, Knowledge Base, Integrations, and Abilities in one workspace. Ask Z can also show this Expert workspace directly inside an Ask Z conversation after creating or editing an Expert. Use the embedded preview to check the setup quickly, then open AI Studio > Experts when you need the full editor.

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Create or Edit an Expert

  1. Open AI Studio.
  2. Go to Experts.
  3. Create a new expert or open an existing expert.
  4. Choose an expert icon.
  5. Enter the Expert name.
  6. Add a Description that explains when the expert should be used.
  7. Add the System Prompt with the expert’s standing instructions.
  8. Choose Ownership.
  9. Review the builder sections and click Save.
Keep the description short and practical. The system prompt can be more detailed, but it should still focus on the expert’s actual job and boundaries.

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Choose Ownership

Use Ownership to decide who can see and use the expert. Ownership also affects which tools and external triggers are available. A private expert can use private user-scoped tools, while an organization expert should use tools that are safe for shared team workflows.

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Choose How the Expert Runs

In the Trigger section, choose one or more trigger types. At least one trigger must stay selected.

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Set Status and Review Run Timing

Use the Status switch to make the expert Active or Inactive. Organizations can have a limit on active Experts. If the active Expert limit is reached, Z360 explains that another Expert must be deactivated or deleted before you activate a new one. Inactive drafts and edits that do not activate a new Expert can still be saved. The settings panel also shows:
  • Next run for active scheduled experts
  • Last ran when the expert has run before
  • Previous runs for recent expert activity
Previous runs include the recent expert activity you are allowed to review. Private expert activity stays scoped to its owner, while organization-wide expert activity can appear for teammates with access. If a scheduled expert is inactive, broken, unsaved, or has no upcoming run, the next run field may show -.

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Schedule an Expert

Use Schedule when an expert should perform recurring work without someone starting a chat.
  1. Select Schedule in the trigger options.
  2. Open Schedule settings.
  3. Choose the Timezone.
  4. Choose how often it repeats: Hourly, Daily, Weekly, or Custom.
  5. For weekly schedules, choose the weekdays.
  6. For daily or weekly schedules, choose the run time.
  7. Choose the expert’s Reasoning level.
  8. Add a Goal that tells the expert what to do when the schedule runs.
  9. Save the expert.
For custom schedules, use an RRULE value only if your team is comfortable with recurring-rule syntax. Review the Timezone before saving so the schedule runs at the intended local time.

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Run a Scheduled Expert Now

Scheduled experts can be run manually with Run now when:
  • The expert has Schedule enabled
  • The expert is Active
  • The expert is not broken
  • There are no unsaved changes
If Run now is disabled, save your changes first and confirm the expert is active.

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Use External Triggers

Use External when a connected app should start the expert automatically.
  1. Select External in the trigger options.
  2. Open External trigger settings.
  3. Click Select trigger.
  4. Search or choose the connected integration group.
  5. Choose the event trigger.
  6. Fill in required Trigger config fields.
  7. Expand Optional fields only when the integration needs extra filtering or setup.
  8. Choose the trigger’s Reasoning level.
  9. Add a Goal that explains what the expert should do when that event happens.
  10. Save the expert.
Each external trigger card shows the trigger name, connected account, and any status label the integration reports. The trigger picker also shows available triggers from connected apps, which makes it easier to see whether an integration can start the expert. If a connected app trigger is missing, reconnect or refresh the integration, then open External trigger settings and choose Select trigger again.

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Limit Allowed Apps

Use Allowed apps to control which apps and action groups the expert can use across chat, schedule, and external triggers.
  • Click Allowed apps.
  • Search for apps when the list is long.
  • Choose only the apps the expert needs.
  • Use Select all only for broad experts.
  • Use Clear when you want to rebuild the list.
This is useful when one expert should work with support tickets but not billing, or when an app-triggered expert should only use the connected app it is responsible for.

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Review Expert-Specific Skills

Skills now live with the experts that use them. Open the Skills section on an expert to review the reusable instructions and files that support that expert’s work.
  • A single-file skill opens directly in the preview.
  • A multi-file skill can be expanded under Files.
  • Review skill files before using the expert in customer-facing conversations or automated workflows.
  • Keep skills focused on the expert’s job so the expert does not mix unrelated instructions.
For a deeper walkthrough, see Browse and Review AI Skills.

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Review Approval Prompts

Approval prompts now stay with the active Ask Z run that needs review. When an expert asks to use an app or make a customer-impacting change, review the action details in the thread before approving or rejecting it.

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Choose an Intelligence Level

Choose Everyday for simple tasks, Advanced for most work, or Frontier for complex tasks that need deeper reasoning. Use stronger intelligence for multi-step investigations, workflow edits, or customer-impacting decisions. Use a lighter level for simple scheduled checks or straightforward lookups.

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Best Practices

  • Give each expert one clear job.
  • Keep the system prompt specific to that job.
  • Use scheduled goals that can be completed without extra clarification.
  • Start with fewer allowed apps, then expand only when needed.
  • Review approval prompts in the active Ask Z run before allowing customer-impacting changes.
  • Test a scheduled expert with Run now before relying on it.
  • Review Previous runs after scheduled or external-triggered work.
  • Review external trigger configuration after reconnecting or changing an integration account.