Concierge
In one line: A customer or co-worker talks to it; it answers from grounded sources and knows when to hand off.
What it is
A Concierge is the agent people talk to. A customer or co-worker asks in plain language; it answers from sources it can point to, and passes the conversation to a person when it cannot ground an answer or the request needs a decision.
How one run goes
- A person asks a question.
- Find the relevant source: a guide, a policy, product data.
- Answer from that source and say where it came from.
- If there is no source, or the request needs a decision, say so and hand off with the context.
- Remember the conversation so the person never has to repeat themselves.
An example
A store co-worker asks what to do about a damaged delivery. The Concierge answers from the internal guide, links the page, and offers to open a ticket for the part the guide does not cover.
Where the human comes in
The agent hands off to a person for anything it cannot ground in a source, and never promises refunds, codes or exceptions.
Use it when
The same questions keep coming and the answers are written down somewhere. It is not the right shape when the answer depends on a live decision that is written nowhere.
Watch out for
People will push it off script: ask for discounts, refunds or someone else’s data. It must never promise what only a person can, and it must not make up an answer when it has no source.
Back to all patterns or the Idea Gallery. A pattern is a shape to borrow when it fits, not a category: the gallery cards do not carry one.