Build Your First Conversational Flow

In this tutorial you'll build a complete, working conversational flow from scratch. By the end, your virtual assistant will greet users when they start a conversation, offer them a choice of topics, and respond appropriately to each.

Along the way you'll learn how the Conversation Editor works, how nodes connect together, and how to trigger a flow from a Handler.

What you'll build: A greeting flow that fires on conversation start, presents three quick-reply options (FAQ topics), and delivers a relevant response for each.

Time: ~20 minutes

PrerequisitesCopy Anchor Link

Before starting this tutorial, you need:

• A Virbe dashboard with at least one Profile configured
• A Persona assigned to that profile
• The Conversation Editor open – navigate there from the left sidebar

You don't need a Conversational Engine configured for this tutorial. The flow uses only static text responses.

Step 1 – Create a new flowCopy Anchor Link

Open the Conversation Editor. In the left sidebar under Conversational Flows, click + Add flow.

Name the flow Greet and confirm.

The new flow appears in the sidebar and opens as a blank canvas with a single Flow Entrypoint node already placed.

The Flow Entrypoint is the starting point of every flow. Every node you add connects downstream from it.

Step 2 – Add a greeting messageCopy Anchor Link

Click the + button at the bottom of the Flow Entrypoint node to open the node palette.

Select Text from the Response section.

In the Text node's configuration panel on the right, type your greeting:

Hello! I'm here to help. What would you like to know?

Your canvas now has two connected nodes: Flow Entrypoint → Text.

Step 3 – Add quick reply optionsCopy Anchor Link

Below the Text node, add another node. This time select Quick Reply from the Action section.

Quick Reply presents the user with clickable options rather than waiting for free-text input. In the configuration panel, add three options:

The labels are what the user sees. The values are what the flow receives internally to route on.

Step 4 – Branch with an If/Else RouterCopy Anchor Link

After Quick Reply, add an If/Else Router node from the Logic section.

The If/Else Router evaluates conditions and sends the conversation down different branches. You'll add one condition per Quick Reply option.

In the configuration panel, add three conditions:

• Branch 1: Last user message equals pricing
• Branch 2: Last user message equals touchpoints
• Branch 3: Last user message equals getting-started

The router automatically adds an Else branch for anything that doesn't match.

Step 5 – Add a response for each branchCopy Anchor Link

Connect a Text node to each branch output of the router.

Branch 1 – Pricing:

Virbe is priced per profile, with plans based on usage. Contact us at [email protected] for a quote tailored to your deployment.

Branch 2 – Touchpoints:

Virbe currently supports two touchpoints: the Web Widget (embedded in any website) and the MetaHuman Kiosk (for physical installations). Both are configured per profile.

Branch 3 – Getting started:

The fastest way to get started is to create a Profile, assign a Persona, and connect a Conversational Engine. Check the Getting Started guide in the docs for a step-by-step walkthrough.

Else branch – add a Text node with a fallback:

I didn't quite catch that. Could you choose one of the options above?

Your flow now has a complete path from greeting through to a response for each topic.

Step 6 – Trigger the flow on conversation startCopy Anchor Link

Right now the Greet flow exists but nothing triggers it. You need to connect it to the On Conversation Start handler.

In the left sidebar, switch from Conversational Flows to Handlers and open On conversation-start.

The handler canvas opens. Add an Activate Flow node from the Preprocessing section and select Greet as the target flow.

Then add a Continue Processing node after it.

The handler now fires the Greet flow every time a new conversation starts.

Step 7 – Test the flowCopy Anchor Link

In the top toolbar, click Test conversation. A chat panel opens on the right side of the editor.

Start the conversation. You should see your greeting appear immediately, followed by the three quick reply buttons. Click each one and verify the correct response appears.

If anything doesn't work as expected, check that:

• Each branch of the If/Else Router has a condition set
• Each branch connects to a Text node
• The On conversation-start handler has both Activate Flow and Continue Processing nodes

What's nextCopy Anchor Link

You've built a complete flow that handles a greeting, branching logic, and multiple responses. From here you can:

• Add more topics by extending the Quick Reply and If/Else Router nodes
• Replace static text with an AI response by swapping the Text node for an LLM Response or Tool Agent node
• Persist user choices by adding a Store Variable node to remember which topic the user asked about
• Add a follow-up question by looping back to the Quick Reply after delivering a response

See the Build section for full documentation on every node type.

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