Glossary
Definitions for the main Stylo terms used across setup, assist, knowledge, integrations, and automation docs.
Quick definitions for the Stylo terms you'll meet across these docs. When a word is used two ways in the wider world, this page says which meaning Stylo uses.
Overloaded and retired terms
A few terms used to drift across the product and docs. These are the canonical resolutions.
Assist vs. Workflow Builder
Assist is the agent-facing sidebar that drafts and adjusts replies inside the helpdesk. The Workflow Builder is the block-based editor where admins author multi-step Workflows. They are different surfaces — Assist is where agents work a ticket; the Workflow Builder is where automations are built.
Response Workflow vs. Workflow Builder
These are two separate surfaces under the Workflows area of the navigation:
- A Response Workflow generates a contextual reply for a ticket.
- The Workflow Builder is where you author Workflows — broader, multi-step, block-based automations that can do more than generate a reply.
The word "automation" is the general concept and not a named surface — prefer the specific term. In particular, background automation and progressive automation are concepts that belong to Response Workflows (an execution mode and a rollout strategy), not to the Workflow Builder.
Copilot (retired)
"Copilot" is no longer used in Stylo docs. It was overloaded across agent assist and workflow authoring, which confused both customers and AI tools. Use Assist for the agent-assist sidebar, and Assist suggestion for a pre-generated reply surfaced for review (formerly "Copilot suggestion"). If you arrived here searching for "Copilot," see Assist.
Core workspace terms
Workspace
The Stylo environment your team uses to manage settings, knowledge, integrations, and workflows.
Member
A person who has access to a Stylo workspace.
Viewer
A workspace role for someone who needs visibility without broader operational control.
Agent
A workspace role for someone doing day-to-day support work with Stylo.
Admin
A workspace role for someone who manages workspace settings, access, and operational configuration.
Owner
The highest workspace role. Ownership is not assigned through the standard invite or join-link flows.
Invitation
A direct email-based access path for adding one person to a workspace with a selected role.
Join link
A shareable access link that lets anyone with the link join a workspace with a preset role while the link remains active.
AI assistance terms
Assist
The agent-facing Stylo sidebar inside the helpdesk that drafts, adjusts, and translates AI-generated replies. Agents review, edit, and send every response. (Formerly sometimes called "Copilot.")
Assist suggestion
A reply that Stylo pre-generates from a Response Workflow and surfaces in the Assist sidebar for an agent to review. (Formerly "Copilot suggestion.")
Draft
An AI-generated response suggestion that a human can review, edit, approve, or send depending on the workflow.
Grounding
Using connected knowledge and system data so an AI response is based on real source information instead of unsupported guesses.
Brand Settings
The workspace settings that define tone, response rules, banned phrasing, and language behavior for AI outputs.
Context Engine
The retrieval and context assembly behavior that determines what information Stylo feeds into AI generation.
Knowledge terms
Knowledge base
A collection of connected or uploaded content that Stylo can search and use for grounded responses.
Document
An indexed record inside a knowledge base that Stylo can search and retrieve.
File
A raw uploaded asset, such as a PDF, DOCX, or TXT file, that can be processed into searchable knowledge.
Sync
The process of pulling or refreshing content from a connected source into a knowledge base.
Sync Status
The current state of a knowledge base sync, shown as idle, syncing, or error in the product.
Query Mapping
The review workflow for turning real support conversations into stronger retrieval mappings.
Integration terms
Integration
A connection between Stylo and another system your team uses, such as Zendesk, Shopify, Stripe, Slack, or Linear.
Managed API
An API-backed integration that is configured and maintained inside Stylo for workflow use.
MCP server
An integration endpoint that exposes tools and capabilities to Stylo through the Model Context Protocol.
Connection status
The current health state of an integration, such as connected, degraded, auth expired, disconnected, or error.
OAuth
A connection method where you sign in to an external provider and grant Stylo access through that provider’s authorization flow.
API key
A secret value entered into Stylo to connect certain integrations directly.
Workflow terms
Response Workflow
An AI-powered response template and decision layer that generates contextual replies for support work.
Workflow
An automation built in the broader workflow builder. Workflows can run multi-step logic beyond response generation.
Workflow Builder
The Stylo block-based editor for building Workflows from blocks, variables, and connected systems.
Trigger
The event or starting condition that causes a workflow or execution to begin.
Execution
A recorded run of a workflow.
Execution History
The view that lists recorded runs for one workflow.
Execution Detail
The detailed record for one workflow run, including status, summary, errors, and event timeline.
Approval
A human review step that pauses a workflow until someone approves or rejects the next action.
Backlog run
A bulk run that applies a response workflow across a backlog of matching tickets instead of a single live event.
Escalation rule
A rule that prevents Stylo from responding automatically when a human should take over.
Automation and rollout terms
Copilot suggestion (retired)
Renamed to Assist suggestion. "Copilot" is no longer used in Stylo docs.
Background automation
An execution mode where Stylo generates, checks, and sends responses without agent involvement.
Progressive automation
The rollout approach of starting with review-heavy workflows and increasing automation only after the workflow proves reliable.
Voice Intelligence
The Stylo feature area related to Zendesk call processing and voice-specific operational workflows.