Personalised agents should be set up through Alva, not built from scratch in the UI. Jump to Personalised agents below. Template agents can be set up either way.
What every agent needs
Whatever the mode, an agent needs:1
At least one active Discovery profile
The agent needs companies to target. Create and activate an ICP or other discovery profile first, and wait for some results to come through. This includes both company searches and People Searches.
2
A connected email account
The agent needs an inbox to send from. Connect your email in Settings → Email Connections.Leave this unset to run the agent in simulation mode — it evaluates companies and logs what it would do, but sends nothing. A great way to test.
- Template also needs at least one email template group for the agent to send from.
- Personalised also needs a completed playbook and a successful preview — see Personalised outreach.
Template agents
Template agents send your approved templates verbatim, with merge fields filled in per company and contact. You can create one from Discovery → AI Agents → Create Agent, or simply ask Alva.Name and instructions
Give your agent a descriptive name (e.g. “Healthcare Agency Prospector”) and write instructions that guide its decision-making:- Who to prioritise — which roles or personas (e.g. “Focus on CTOs and VP Engineering”)
- When to escalate — what situations should be flagged for human review
In Template mode, don’t put messaging guidance in the instructions — the agent uses your email templates for the words. The instructions are about who and when, not what to say. (Personalised agents handle what to say through the playbook instead.)
Target profiles
Select which discovery profiles the agent should work from. The agent takes companies from these profiles and begins outreach.Minimum match score
Optionally set a minimum match score (1–100). When set, the agent ignores companies scoring below that threshold — even ones already imported — and works through the rest best-fit first. This is most useful with a People Search, where contacts are imported before their companies are scored for fit. See How the agent chooses who to work on.Email templates
Choose which template groups the agent can use. The agent selects the most appropriate template for each prospect and fills in the merge fields.Email connection
Select which connected email account the agent should send from. This determines the sender address and signature. Leave it unset to run in simulation mode.Allowed tools
By default all tools are enabled. You can restrict which actions the agent may take:Escalation notifications
Optionally add email addresses to notify when the agent escalates a company for human review. See Managing replies.Personalised agents
Personalised agents write original copy from a playbook instead of sending fixed templates — a more powerful but more involved setup. To get started, open Alva and say something like:“Set up a Personalised BDR agent for my healthcare ICP.”Alva will walk you through the playbook, show you previews, and confirm the agent is ready before it goes live. Full details are on the Personalised outreach page.
Launching the agent
However you created it, a new agent starts Paused. Review its configuration, then click Start when you’re ready. When active, the agent processes companies on a regular schedule (controlled by its run pace). For each company it checks enrichment, chooses a contact, sends outreach, tracks responses, follows up, and escalates when human judgement is needed. See How the agent chooses who to work on for the ordering.What happens after launch
The agent appears on the Discovery → AI Agents page with live stats:- Emails sent — total outreach emails dispatched
- Budget spent — how much of the monthly budget has been used
- Status — active, paused, or completed