FAQs for watsonx Assistant

Find answers to frequently-asked questions and quick fixes for common problems.

FAQs about watsonx Assistant

What is watsonx Assistant?

IBM® watsonx™ Assistant is an improved way to build, publish, and improve virtual assistants. You use actions to build conversations. Actions are a simple way for anyone to create assistants. For more information, see the Getting Started guide or the documentation.

Why can't I see the assistants that I made with the classic experience in watsonx Assistant?

IBM® watsonx™ Assistant is a clean slate in the same IBM Cloud instance as your classic experience. Assistants that you created in one experience don't appear in the other. However, you can switch back and forth between experiences without losing any work. For more information, see Switching between watsonx Assistant and the classic experience.

What happens when I switch between the classic experience and watsonx Assistant?

The assistants that you create in one experience don't transfer to the other. However, you can switch experiences, return to your work, and create or use assistants. You don't lose anything by switching. Changing experiences doesn't affect other users in the same instance. For more information, see Switching between watsonx Assistant and the classic experience.

Is the classic experience still available?

IBM has no plans to discontinue the classic experience. However, we encourage you to explore the benefits and capabilities in watsonx Assistant. For more information, see the Getting Started guide. You can also continue to use dialog in watsonx Assistant. For more information, see Migrating to watsonx Assistant.

Where are the search skill and channel integrations in watsonx Assistant?

In the left navigation, click Integrations . On the Integrations page, you can add search, channel, and extension integrations to your assistant. For more information, see Adding integrations.

Where is the Assistant ID found in the new product experience?

The assistant ID can be found in Assistant settings.

In Assistant settings, the assistant ID is in the Assistant IDs and API details section.

What do the draft and live tags mean?

A Draft tag indicates that the information is linked to your draft environment, which means that you can preview these updates but they are not visible to your users. A Live tag indicates that the information is linked to your live environment, which means that the content is available to your users to interact with.

For more information, see Environments.

If you can't log in to a service instance or see messages about tokens, such as unable to fetch access token or 400 bad request - header or cookie too large, it might mean that you need to clear your browser cache. Open a private browser window, and then try again.

If the private browsing window fixes the issue, then consider always using a private window or clear the cache of your browser. You can typically find an option for clearing the cache or deleting cookies in the browser's privacy and security settings.
If the private browsing window doesn't fix the issue, then try deleting the API key for the instance and creating a new one.

If you keep getting messages, such as you are getting redirected to login, it might be due to one of the following things:

The Lite plan that you were using expired. Lite plans expire if they are not used within a 30-day span. To begin again, log in to IBM Cloud and create a new service instance of watsonx Assistant.
An instance is locked when you exceed the plan limits for the month. To log in successfully, wait until the start of the next month when the plan limit totals are reset.

Why don't I see the Analytics page?

To view the Analytics page, you must have a service role of Manager and a platform role of at least Viewer. For more information about access roles and how to request an access role change, see Managing access to resources.

Why am I unable to view the API details, API key, or service credentials?

If you cannot view the API details or service credentials, it is likely that you do not have Manager access to the service instance in which the resource was created. Only people with Manager access to the instance can use the service credentials.

Can I configure the timeout parameter for a custom extension?

No, the timeout value for a custom extension is not configurable. Any call to the external API must complete within 30 seconds.

Why can't I edit intents, entities, or dialog nodes?

To edit a dialog, you must have Writer service access to the service instance and a platform role of at least Viewer. For more information about access roles and how to request an access role change, see Managing access to resources.

Can I export the user conversations from the Analytics page?

You cannot directly export conversations from the conversation page. However, you can use the /logs API to list events from the transcripts of conversations that occurred between your users and your assistant. For more information, see the V2 API reference. Or, you can use a Python script to export logs. For more information, see export_logs_py.

Can I export and import dialog nodes?

No, you cannot export and import dialog nodes from the product user interface.

If you want to copy dialog nodes from one dialog into another dialog, follow these steps:

Download as JSON files both the dialog that you want to copy the dialog nodes from and the dialog that you want to copy the nodes to.
In a text editor, open the JSON file for the dialog that you want to copy the dialog nodes from.
Find the dialog_nodes array, and copy it.
In a text editor, open the JSON file for the dialog skill that you want to copy the dialog nodes to, and then paste the dialog_nodes array into it.
Import the JSON file that you edited in the previous step to create a new dialog skill with the dialog nodes you wanted.

Is it possible to recover a deleted dialog?

Regularly back up data to prevent problems that might arise from inadvertent deletions. If you do not have a backup, there is a short window of time during which a deleted dialog might be recoverable. Immediately following the deletion, open a case with Support to determine if the data can be recovered. Include the following information in your case:

Skill ID
Instance ID or name
Region where the service instance is hosted from which the dialog was deleted

Can I change my plan to a Lite plan?

No, you cannot change from a Trial, Plus, or Standard plan to a Lite plan. And you cannot upgrade from a Trial to a Standard plan.

How many Lite plan instances of watsonx Assistant can I create?

You can have only one Lite plan instance of watsonx Assistant per resource group.

How long are log files kept?

The length of time for which messages are retained depends on your service plan. For more information, see Log limits.

How do I create a webhook?

To define a webhook and add its details, go to the Live environment page and open the Environment settings page. From the Environment settings page, click Webhooks > Pre-message webhook. You can add details about your webhook. For more information, see Making a call before processing a message.

Can I have more than one entry in the URL field for a webhook?

No, you can define only one webhook URL for an action. For more information, see Defining the webhook.

Can I extend the webhook time limit?

No. The service that you call from the webhook must return a response in 8 seconds or less, or the call is canceled. You cannot increase this time limit.

Is there a range of IP addresses that are being used by a webhook?

Unfortunately, the IP address ranges from which watsonx Assistant might call a webhook URL are subject to change, which in turn prevent using them in any static firewall configuration. Use the https transport and specify an authorization header to control access to the webhook.

Why did I receive the message “Query cancelled” when I import a dialog?

This message is displayed when the dialog import stops because artifacts in the dialog, such as dialog nodes or synonyms, exceed the plan limits.

If a timeout occurs due to the size of the dialog but no plan limits are exceeded, you can reduce the number of elements that are imported:

Make a copy of the JSON file that you are trying to import.
Open the copy of the JSON file in an editor, and delete the entities array.
Import the edited JSON file as a new skill.
If this step is successful, edit the original copy of the JSON file.
Remove the dialog_nodes, intents, and counterexamples arrays.
Update the skill by using the API. Be sure to include the workspace ID and the append=true flag, as in this example:

curl -X POST -H "content-type: application/json" -H "accept: application/json" -u "apikey:{apikey}" -d@./skill.json "url/api/v1/workspaces/{workspace_id}?version=2019-02-28&append=true"

What do I do if the training process seems stuck?

If the training process gets stuck, first check whether for an outage for the service by going to the Cloud status page. You can start a new training process to stop the current process and start over.

How do I see my monthly active users in watsonx Assistant?

To see your monthly active users (MAU):

Sign in to https://cloud.ibm.com
Click the Manage menu, then choose Billing and usage.
Click Usage.
For watsonx Assistant, select View Plans.
Under Time Frame, select the month that you need.
Select your Plus plans or Plus Trial plans to see monthly active users and the API calls.

Error: New Off Topic not supported

You see the error New Off Topic not supported after you edit the JSON file for a dialog and changing the skill language from English to another language.

To resolve this issue, modify the JSON file by setting off_topic to false. For more information about this feature, see Defining what's irrelevant.

Can I see what web browser users are using with watsonx Assistant?

With the V2 API and an Enterprise plan, you can use the Segment extension to see what browser was used to send the message. For more information, see Sending events to Segment.

Is it possible to increase the number of intents per skill

No, it is not possible to increase the number of intents per skill.