Set a conversation's topic and title

A fresh conversation just arrived. Before anyone looks at the inbox it should already be triaged: tagged with a topic (Billing, Support, Sales, …) so it can be filtered and routed, and carrying a short title so the list is readable at a glance. Your job is to read one conversation, pick or create the right topic, and set a concise title — then stop. This is a fast, narrow pass, not a full analysis.

You have very little to go on (usually just the first message), and that's fine. Topic and title are cheap, reversible hints for humans — not commitments. When the signal is weak, prefer leaving the topic unset over forcing a bad one.

TL;DR

1. Read the conversation with conv_get_conversation(<conversationId>). The prompt names it; don't list or scan others.
2. List existing topics with conv_list_topics.
3. Pick the best-fitting existing topic. If one clearly fits, that's your topic — use its id.
4. Create a topic only when confident none of the existing ones fit and the theme is unmistakable. Otherwise leave the topic unset.
5. Set the topic with conv_set_topic (skip this call if you decided to leave it unset).
6. Set a title with conv_set_subject — but only if the conversation's subject is currently empty. If it already has one (email threads always do), leave it.
7. Stop. At most one conv_set_topic and at most one conv_set_subject, then finish. No prose reply.

Step 1 — read the conversation

{ "name": "conv_get_conversation", "arguments": { "id": "ccv_…" } }

The response gives you messages[], the current subject (may be null), topicId (usually null on a new conversation), and channelType. Base your decision on end_user-authored messages — that's what the customer actually said. Ignore agent, user, and system messages; they aren't the subject of the conversation.

If the conversation already has a topicId, don't second-guess it — skip straight to the title step.

Step 2 — choose the topic

{ "name": "conv_list_topics", "arguments": {} }

Match the conversation against the existing topics first. Topics are broad buckets, not fine-grained tags — "I was double-charged" and "how do I update my card" are both Billing. Don't hold out for a perfect match; the closest sensible existing topic wins.

Choose an existing topic when one reasonably covers the message. Use its id in step 4.

Create a new topic only when both are true:

• None of the existing topics reasonably fit, and
• The conversation has a clear, recurring theme that an operator would obviously want as its own bucket (e.g. the org has Support and Sales but this is plainly about Billing, which doesn't exist yet).

When you create, keep it broad and reusable — a category, not a one-off:

{
  "name": "conv_create_topic",
  "arguments": { "name": "Billing", "slug": "billing" }
}

• name: short, title-case, singular category ("Billing", "Refunds", "Onboarding").
• slug: lowercase letters, digits, hyphens — the kebab-case of the name.
• Don't invent near-duplicates of an existing topic ("Support Requests" when "Support" exists). Reuse the existing one instead.
• Don't create hyper-specific topics ("Double charge on May invoice"). That's what the title is for.

conv_create_topic returns the new topic's id; use it in step 4.

When in doubt, don't tag. A conversation with no clear theme (a bare "hi", an ambiguous one-liner) is better left untagged than mis-bucketed. Skip the conv_set_topic call entirely in that case.

Step 3 — (covered above)

Step 4 — set the topic

{
  "name": "conv_set_topic",
  "arguments": { "conversationId": "ccv_…", "topicId": "ctp_…" }
}

Skip this call entirely if you decided in step 2 to leave the conversation untagged.

Step 5 — set the title

A title is a 3–8 word summary of what the customer wants, in their framing — what you'd put on a support ticket. Examples:

• "Double charge on May invoice"
• "Can't reset password"
• "Question about team plan pricing"
• "Refund request — duplicate order"

Rules:

• Only set a title if the conversation's subject is empty/null. Email conversations carry the email Subject line already — never overwrite it. Chat, SMS, and voice conversations usually arrive without one; those are the ones to title.
• Summarise, don't quote. Strip greetings, signatures, and filler ("Hi there, I was wondering if…").
• No trailing punctuation, sentence-case, ≤ 200 chars (aim for far shorter).
• If the first message is contentless ("hello", "?", an emoji), there's nothing to summarise — skip the title call and leave it for a later message.

{
  "name": "conv_set_subject",
  "arguments": { "conversationId": "ccv_…", "subject": "Double charge on May invoice" }
}

Pass subject: null only if you ever need to clear a bad title — not part of the normal flow here.

What NOT to do

• Don't reply to the customer. This skill never posts a message. It only tags and titles.
• Don't overwrite an existing subject or topic. Email subjects and operator-set topics are authoritative; fill gaps, never clobber.
• Don't proliferate topics. Reuse existing buckets aggressively; create at most one, and only when clearly warranted. Topic sprawl makes the inbox harder to filter, not easier.
• Don't over-read. You're working from the first message or two. Don't infer elaborate themes from thin signal — a weak guess tagged confidently is worse than no tag.
• Don't make more than two writes. One conv_set_topic (or zero), one conv_set_subject (or zero). Then stop.

Related

• skill://crm/extract-contact-from-message — the symmetric per-conversation pass, but extracting CRM identity instead of triage metadata. Runs on close rather than creation.
• skill://kb/review-content — per-conversation curation that proposes KB candidates from resolved questions.