Product guide updated September 16, 2026. Screenshots show the actual workspace with sample data.
Build when a critical experience or integration needs control that available products cannot provide and your team can operate it. Choose a platform when it meets your hardest requirements and reduces ongoing work. Test the difficult boundary before making the decision.
List the work behind the conversation.
A customer-facing agent needs source handling, customer identity, authorized tools, review steps, result evidence, monitoring, and a path to improve incorrect answers. Building the chat surface is only one part. Make each responsibility explicit before estimating delivery.
Test the requirement most likely to break the plan.
If you need access to customer-specific records, start with identity and authorization. If your product requires an unusual interaction, prototype that interaction. If an action has a costly side effect, test confirmation, retry behavior, and recovery. A convincing answer demo does not resolve those requirements.
Compare the operating model after launch.
For either approach, assign ownership for source freshness, permission changes, answer review, regressions, releases, and incidents. Find out what evidence is available when a task fails. Check whether a corrected answer can be tested before customers see it.
Include portability in the decision.
Check how sources, reviewed answers, action definitions, transcripts, and outcome evidence can be exported. Identify the work needed to change a provider or move a custom component. A hybrid approach can preserve a specialist integration while using a platform for other responsibilities.
Choose from an acceptance test, not a feature count.
Compare a working result, delivery time, ongoing ownership, total cost, and unresolved limitations. An available platform that passes the critical task may be the fastest route. A custom build may be justified when the hardest requirement remains unmet and your team can maintain the missing capability.
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