Smart Agents Chat

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The Smart Agents chat experience appears in three different surfaces depending on how you reach it. All three use the same underlying chat control — the same message window, the same typing indicator, the same attachment and approval features — but they differ in context and available controls:

• Smart Agents Chat (full page) — the primary chat workspace. You open it from Tell Me or the Business Manager Role Center. It shows an agent picker, a full session history sidebar, and page-level actions for managing test cases and sessions.
• Smart Agent Chat (popup) — a focused chat card that opens on top of a Business Central page when another part of the app (or a partner extension) launches it for a specific agent and record. It shows the agent name as the page title and embeds the same chat control without the agent picker or session tabs.
• Agent Chat (embedded subpage) — a chat panel embedded directly inside a BC page (for example, a customer or sales order card). The agent is pre-selected for the record you are viewing. Session switching and the agent picker are hidden; the panel opens with a greeting that names both the agent and the record.

In plain terms

This is where the work actually happens — you type a question or instruction in plain language and the agent answers, looks up data, or proposes changes. If you've used any chat app, the window is familiar; a few BC-specific ideas are worth knowing:

• Session. Each conversation is a session — one continuous thread, like one journal or document you're working in. The full-page chat keeps a sidebar of your past sessions so you can reopen them.
• Approval / confirmation cards. When an agent wants to write to Business Central (create a customer, post something), it doesn't just do it — it shows a confirmation card and waits. This is the AI equivalent of an approval workflow: nothing hits the database until you click Approve (this happens whenever a tool is set to On Confirmation). You can approve all, approve only selected changes, or reject with feedback.
• Thread memory panel. On long tasks the agent keeps a scratchpad — its thread memory — showing the goal, plan, and verified data. If the admin allowed it, you can edit it to correct a misunderstanding mid-conversation.
• Stop costs nothing. If the agent is taking too long or heading the wrong way, click Stop — a cancelled request uses no credits.

Worked example. You open the Finance Helper, click the suggested prompt "Show overdue customers", and it lists them. You then type "Create a follow-up note on the worst one." Because that writes data, a confirmation card appears; you review it and click Approve, and only then is the note created.

How to open it

Full-page chat (Smart Agents Chat)

• Tell Me (Alt+Q) → search "Smart Agents Chat".
• Business Manager Role Center → open from a deep link or launcher action that pre-selects an agent.

The page always opens with a fresh chat session and automatically selects the first active agent you have access to.

Popup chat (Smart Agent Chat)

• Opened programmatically by a partner extension or BC action that calls the chat launcher for a specific agent and record. You cannot open it directly from Tell Me.
• The page title shows the agent's name.

Embedded chat subpage (Agent Chat)

• Appears as a panel on BC record pages (such as customer cards or document pages) where an administrator has added the chat subpage.
• The agent and the source record are determined by the host page. You cannot switch agents or sessions inside the panel.

The chat interface

All three surfaces render the same chat control. Here is what you see and can do:

Message area

The main area displays the conversation between you and the agent. Each message shows who sent it (you or the agent). Agent messages are rendered with Markdown formatting — headings, bullet lists, bold text, and code blocks are all displayed as formatted output.

While the agent is working, a typing indicator appears. A status line below the indicator describes what the agent is doing, for example "Searching records..." or "Executing approved operations...".

Agent picker (full-page only)

A dropdown at the top of the chat lets you switch between agents. Agents are grouped by department. When you switch agents, the current session is closed and a new session opens for the newly selected agent. You must have access to an agent to select it.

Session history sidebar (full-page only)

The left side of the full-page chat shows your previous sessions with the active agent, newest first. Each entry displays the session title (taken from your first message). You can:

• Switch to a past session — click any session in the list to reload its conversation history.
• Start a new session — click the new chat button at the top of the sidebar.
• Delete a session — click the delete icon next to a session. Any session you delete is permanently removed.

Suggested prompts

When a session is new (no messages yet), the chat displays a set of suggested prompts for the active agent. These are short-cut questions or instructions the agent administrator has configured. Click a suggested prompt to send it as your message immediately.

Sending messages

Type your message in the input box at the bottom of the chat and press Enter or click the send button.

You can also attach files or images if the active agent supports them:

• Attach an image — available when the agent has image analysis enabled. Supported formats: PNG, JPG/JPEG, GIF, BMP, WebP, TIFF.
• Attach a file — available when the agent has knowledge base or image analysis enabled. Image files are processed as images; all other files are sent as document attachments.

After you send a message, your text appears in the chat immediately. The agent's typing indicator shows that a response is on the way.

Stopping the agent

While the agent is processing, a Stop button appears. Click it to cancel the current request. The agent stops working and a notice is shown. No credits are charged for a stopped request.

Agent notifications (full-page only)

If a background agent task finishes while you are chatting with a different agent or session, a notification appears in the chat. Click the notification to switch to the agent and session that completed.

Approval and confirmation cards

Some agents can propose changes to your Business Central data before committing them. When this happens, the typing indicator stops and a confirmation card appears in the chat.

First, you can review what the agent wants to do:

• View AI Suggested Data — open the relevant BC page to review the staged data in detail before deciding.

Then you have three ways to respond:

• Approve — accept all proposed changes and let the agent proceed.
• Approve selected — accept only the changes you choose; the rest are rejected.
• Reject with feedback — decline the proposal and type a note explaining what the agent should change. The agent revises its approach and tries again.

If you navigate away from the page while a confirmation is pending and then return to the same session, the confirmation card is restored so you can still respond.

Export downloads

When the agent generates a report or data export, a download link appears in the chat. Click it to save the file. Exported files are available as PDF or CSV depending on what the agent produced. For tabular exports, an Analyze option may also appear, opening the data in the built-in analysis view.

Thread memory panel (full-page and popup)

A side panel shows the agent's working memory for the current session — its understood goal, plan, verified data, and any decisions or error notes it has recorded. If the agent administrator has allowed user edits, you can edit sections of this memory directly. Changes you make are saved immediately and are visible to the agent on its next turn.

You can view the full thread memory at any time using the View Thread Memory option in the chat control.

Actions (full-page chat only)

The full-page chat has the following page-level actions in the action bar:

Related pages

• Agent Chat Sessions — full list of past sessions, opened from Past Chat Sessions.
• Reply to the agent — dialog that collects your feedback when you reject a confirmation card.

Notes

• The full-page chat always starts a fresh session when the page opens. Previous sessions remain accessible in the sidebar.
• The embedded subpage always starts a fresh session for the specific record you are viewing. Previous conversation history for that record is available on demand via the Load History option.
• If the agent is not responding for an extended period (approximately 90 seconds without any progress update), the chat displays an error and cancels the pending request. You can resend your message.
• You must have explicit access to an agent to chat with it. If you do not have access, an error is shown and the agent selection reverts. Contact your administrator to request access.
• In subscription billing mode, the credit badge shows a metered indicator instead of a numeric balance.