Creating a Bot Growth+This feature requires the Growth+ plan or higher
There are three ways to make a bot: describe the job in one sentence, start from a template, or ask for it in the Ask Dash chat. Whichever you pick, you read the steps and decide before anything is saved.
Before You Start
- You need the Bots: Manage permission (admins have it).
- Know the job in one sentence, the way you would say it to a new staff member. For example: "Every morning at 8, tell me who has not signed their form for today."
Method 1: Describe It
- Click Bots in the sidebar.
- In Tell Dash something to handle, type the job.
- Click Create bot.
The New bot page opens and Dash writes the job up as a short list of steps. Nothing is saved yet. You can also start here by clicking New bot at the top of the Bots page and typing into What should it handle?
Read the steps
Each step says what it does and carries a tag:
| Tag | What it means |
|---|---|
| Check | It only looks something up. Nothing leaves your shop. |
| Only if | It only carries on for the bookings you picked. Checked before Dash starts, so a booking that does not match costs nothing. |
| Text / Email | It sends a message to a customer. |
| Website chat | It replies in the chat on your booking site. |
| Charge | It takes a payment. A charge always waits for your OK. |
| Change | It changes a record, such as a booking or a customer. |
| Asks you first | It waits for your OK before this step. |
| Automatic | It does this step on its own. |
Above the steps, one line says when it runs - "Every day at 8:00am" - with Change when beside it. More about when bots run.
Send it to you
When you ask a bot to tell you something, its last step is Send the list to you. When the bot runs, it emails you what it found, to the email you sign in with. No customer gets it.
If you have connected Dash on WhatsApp, the step offers Send it on WhatsApp instead. One tap switches it, and Send it by email instead switches it back.
Your own words to customers
A Text or Email step sends your words exactly as written, once per booking. Dash drafts the message; to change it, click Change the wording and edit the box.
Under the box, Add: puts a booking detail into the message:
- First name -
{first name} - Date -
{date} - Time -
{time} - Where to meet -
{where to meet}
For example: Hi {first name}, your booking is today, {date}. Please be there at {time} at {where to meet}. Each customer gets their own details.
When you approve a message, your OK covers those words and the people they go to.
Every message has to be written before the bot can go on. Until then, the step shows No message written yet.
When Dash has to guess
If your sentence leaves something out, the draft says what Dash picked, with answers you can tap. For example: "It checks every day at 7:00am because you did not give a checking time", with Every 4 hours or Pick a time beside it.
If you ask for something a bot cannot do, like phoning customers, Dash says so and offers the nearest job it can do. Nothing is drafted or saved.
When it is already built in
Some jobs are already built into EquipDash, like the waiver request or the review request. If your sentence matches one, the draft says so:
- If it is off, Turn that on instead switches the built-in message on.
- Build it as a bot anyway keeps your bot instead.
A "never" in your sentence
If you write something like "never text customers on Sundays", Dash asks whether it applies to every bot or only this one:
- Make it a rule for every bot - all your bots follow it, and every send checks it.
- Only this bot - only this bot follows it.
Change what it does
- Add a step - describe another thing it should do and Dash writes that step.
- Change the wording - edit the step names and messages.
- Remove - drop a step you do not want.
- Change when - change when it runs.
Decide how much it does on its own
At the top right of the bot, one control sets the whole bot. The same control sits on the bot's row on the Bots page:
- Ask me first - it looks things up, then waits for your OK before anything leaves your shop.
- Just do it - it gets on with the job and tells you afterward.
Anything involving money always asks you first, whichever you pick. More about approvals.
Check who it would reach
The line under the steps counts who the bot would reach right now, without sending anything - for example "Right now it finds 17 bookings, for 12 people. Nothing was sent." Click See who for the names. If it has not counted yet, the line reads "Nothing has been sent. Dash can count who this would reach right now." Click Check.
Save it
- Try it once - saves it switched off and runs it one time now, so you can see what it does.
- Turn it on - saves it and starts it running when its time comes.
- Keep it off for now - saves it switched off. Turn it on later from the Bots page.
Method 2: Start from a Template
Templates are bots that are already written.
- On the Bots page, click the Bot templates tab.
- The list opens on All. Narrow it by Use case (Reports, Customers, Inventory and so on) or by Industry - pick your trade, such as Diving or Bikes, to see the ones written for it.
- Click Use this on the template you want.
- The bot opens with its steps and its schedule. Change anything you want.
- Click Turn it on, or Keep it off for now.
Some of the templates
| Template | What It Does | When It Runs |
|---|---|---|
| Late Return Follow-up | Finds overdue rentals and sends reminder emails | Daily at 9:00 AM |
| Store Low Stock Alert | Checks store stock levels and writes a reorder summary | Daily at 8:00 AM |
| Daily Booking Summary | Morning summary of pickups, returns, sessions, and revenue | Daily at 7:00 AM |
| Waiver & Form Chaser | Reminds customers to complete waivers before their booking | Every 4 hours |
| Weekly Performance Report | Revenue, bookings, and top products compared to last week | Weekly on Monday at 8:00 AM |
| Booking Preparation Guide | Sends a "what to expect" email when a booking comes in | When a booking comes in |
| Late Pickup Reminder | Contacts customers who have not picked up on time | Every hour |
| Workshop Status Digest | Reviews workshop items and flags overdue repairs | Daily at 10:00 AM |
| Survey Follow-up Bot | Thanks happy customers and follows up with unhappy ones | When a survey comes back |
| Experience Availability Monitor | Flags sessions tomorrow that are nearly empty or full | Daily at 6:00 PM |
| Staff Roster Builder | Reviews next week's bookings and creates staff shifts | Weekly on Sunday at 6:00 PM |
| Customer Re-engagement | Finds customers who have not booked in 30+ days | Weekly on Friday at 10:00 AM |
Diving templates
Under Industry > Diving there are six more. None of them messages a customer; each one sends you the list.
| Template | What It Sends You | When It Runs |
|---|---|---|
| Tomorrow's boat list | Tomorrow's dives, with each diver's cert level and gear sizes | Daily at 6:00 PM |
| Medical forms still missing | Divers booked in the next two days whose medical form is not done | Daily at 7:00 AM |
| Cert level check | Anyone booked on a dive that needs a higher cert level than they gave | Daily at 4:00 PM |
| Weekend seats left | How many seats are left on each weekend dive | Weekly on Thursday at 3:00 PM |
| Gear due back today | Hired gear due back today that has not come in yet | Daily at 4:00 PM |
| How did we do this week | Last week's bookings, survey scores and what divers said | Weekly on Monday at 8:00 AM |
Method 3: Ask Dash in the Chat
- Open Dash AI > Ask Dash.
- Say what you want and when - for example, "make a bot that every Friday at 4pm tells me which gear is booked out for the weekend". If your message has a "never" in it, Dash asks Every bot or Only this bot first.
- Dash drafts the bot and shows it beside the conversation: when it runs, Ask me first or Just do it, the steps with their messages, and a count of who it would reach right now. Across the top, Goal, Who, Sequence, Messages and Approve tick off as the draft fills in.
- If a message is still empty, the panel says "Every message gets written before this goes on." Ask Dash to write it, or type the words you want.
- Click Approve and turn on. It stays grayed out until every message is written. The bot goes on and shows on the Bots page.
Modify puts "Change the job:" in the chat box so you can ask for a change. Open in Bots opens the draft on the Bots page to read or edit it there. Nothing runs until you approve it.
Advanced - what it reads and what it sends
Most shops never open this. It holds:
- Anything else it should know - extra instructions in your own words, for rules the steps do not cover ("never contact the same customer twice in a day").
- What it is allowed to reach - one switch per area of your shop. Turn off anything this bot has no business touching.
| Switch | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Look things up | Bookings, customers, products, availability, reports. Read-only. |
| Email & message customers | Emails, texts, forms, and reminders. |
| Payments & refunds | Payment links, charges, refunds, deposits. |
| Change bookings | Create, update, move, or cancel bookings; notes and tags. |
| Manage customers | Create and update customer records and groups. |
| Manage products & inventory | Products, stock levels, workshop, store items. |
| Manage experiences & sessions | Experiences, departures, series, programs. |
| Manage staff & schedules | Shifts, time off, certifications. |
| Promotions & vouchers | Promo codes, vouchers, campaigns. |
| Day-to-day operations | Seasons, closures, waitlists, bundles, categories, settings. |
| Connected apps | The outside apps you connected in Settings > Connected apps. |
Payments & refunds is locked to Always asks first, and so is anything that cancels a booking, changes a product or its price, or makes a promo code or voucher. However the bot is set up, it waits for a person.
For finer control, click One ability at a time to tick each ability separately. Pick them for me lets Dash choose them from your steps. Not sure what something does? See the Tools Reference.
Which AI it uses sets the AI model the bot runs on. The default suits most jobs. See Choosing the Right AI Model.
Chat with a Bot
Every bot's page opens on Chat. It is one conversation per bot, shared by everyone in your shop who manages bots. Each message shows who wrote it, and the bot's runs sit in the same thread, in time order. Show earlier at the top loads older messages. Team members who can only view bots see its runs, not the conversation.
- Go to the Bots page and click the bot.
- Type in Message followed by the bot's name, and press Enter.
- The bot answers about its own job and what it found.
Under the thread, tap What did you find last time?, Run it now (Try it once when the bot is off) or Skip tomorrow.
Ask for a change
Say the change in the chat, for example "Send it at 7 instead and skip Sundays". The bot shows a card with the old value crossed out and the new one beside it. Nothing changes until you click Approve. Decline drops it, and Modify lets you say it differently.
Steps waiting for you
When a run is waiting for your OK, its steps show under the run in the chat, each with Approve, Skip and Change the wording. A text to a customer has Read it and approve instead, which opens the run so you read the words first. When more than three texts are waiting, they show as one line, such as "5 texts waiting for your OK", with Read them and approve and Skip all.
Skip a run or pause a bot
The Coming up card beside the chat lists the bot's next five runs.
- Skip - that one run does not happen. It shows crossed out, with Undo skip. A bot that runs every few minutes or hours has no Skip; pause it instead.
- Pause it - pick a day under Start again on and click Pause. The card reads "Paused until" that day, and the bot runs again on its own from that day. Start it again now ends the pause early.
On a phone, the card shows the next run only. Tap See all for the rest.
Talk to a bot from any page
In the Dash side panel, tap a bot's mark to open it. While it is open, the box reads Message and the bot's name, and what you type goes to that bot.
Editing a Bot
- Go to the Bots page and click the bot.
- Click Bot setup, or choose Edit from the bot's menu.
- In What do you want to change about this bot?, say the change - for example, "Run it at 7am instead, and skip anyone who already paid".
- Click Change it. Dash shows the bot before and after the change.
- Click Make the change, or Leave it as it is.
To edit the steps yourself instead, open Advanced and click Change the steps by hand.
Turning a Bot On or Off
On the Bots page, open the bot's menu and choose Turn on or Turn off. On the bot's own page, use Turn it on or Turn it off.
A bot that is off does not run by itself. You can still press Try it once to run it one time.
Deleting a Bot
- On the Bots page, open the bot's menu and choose Delete.
- Confirm in the window that appears.
Deleting a bot is permanent and removes what it did from the history. Built-in bots cannot be deleted.