***

title: 'Assistants, Agents, & Plugins'
position: 1
deprecated: false
hidden: false
metadata:
robots: index
-------------

# Assistants & AI Agents

**Moveworks Assistants** are agentic systems that can help you accomplish any task: writing emails, managing your calendar, submitting time off, creating expense reports, analyzing CRM data, and [more](https://marketplace.moveworks.com/).

**Plugins** are skills that you give to AI Assistants.

1. **Conversational Plugins** are triggered by the **[Agentic Reasoning Engine](/agent-studio/agentic-ai/agentic-reasoning-engine/overview)**. When users chat, Assistants decide which plugins to use to search for information, analyze data, & take action.
2. **Ambient Plugins (aka. Ambient Agents)** run in the background. System events & scheduled jobs "trigger" them, but they can also chat with users by sending notifications.

<br />

# Plugins

<div>
  <iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/1157271966?h=41431a8d54&title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&badge=0&autopause=0&player_id=0&app_id=58479" frameBorder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share" allowFullScreen />
</div>

You build **Plugins** in Agent Studio.

## What type of plugin do I need?

The first architectural decision is simple: **What activates your plugin?**

```mermaid
flowchart TD
		B{Trigger?}
    B -->|System Event| C[Ambient Agent]
    B -->|User Utterance| D[Conversational Plugin]
    style C fill:#fff3e0
    style D fill:#e8f5e9
```

### User Utterance → Conversational Plugins

**Examples:**

* "Check my PTO balance"
* "Update the account owner in Salesforce"
* "Schedule a meeting with my team next week"

**Core components:**

* <a href="/agent-studio/core-concepts/conversational-plugins/natural-language-triggers">**Natural Language Trigger**</a>: Auto-generated from plugin name/description
* <a href="/agent-studio/conversation-process">**Conversation Process**</a>: Slots (aka. inputs) required from the user & a set of actions the Assistant should take

**Next steps:**

* Read best practices for [designing Conversational Plugins](/agent-studio/core-concepts/conversational-plugins).

<br />

### System Event → Ambient Agents

**When to use:** Your plugin responds to external system events (webhooks) or runs on a schedule (cron, interval, calendar).

**Examples:**

* Daily Customer Feedback Audit (scheduled)
* Expense Policy Violation Detection (webhook)
* Time Off Request Approvals (webhook + user notification)

**Core components:**

* **System Trigger**: Webhook listener or schedule
* **Compound Action**: Chains API calls without user interaction
* **Conversation Process** (optional): If you need to notify or interact with users

**Next steps:**

* Read best practices for [designing Ambient Agents](/agent-studio/core-concepts/ambient-agents).