Send workflow nudges through your AI agent (beta)

Last updated: September 21, 2026 03:35

Workflow nudges use Pendo behavioral data to detect when a visitor starts a workflow but doesn't finish it, then signal your AI agent to reach out and help them complete it. A workflow is any process a visitor can start but leave before completing, for example, setting up a profile or finishing an onboarding checklist.

You can set up workflow nudges for both Intercom Fin agents and custom agents.

Use cases

Workflow nudges let your AI agent re-engage visitors at the moment they stall. You can use them to:

Recover incomplete onboarding before a visitor abandons setup.
Reduce inbound support volume by resolving stalls before the visitor asks for help.
Deliver a relevant guide alongside the outbound message so the visitor can continue the workflow.

How it works

Workflow nudges are delivered over the proactive support connection, not MCP. You define the workflow steps and the visitors they apply to on the Workflow nudges tab. When a visitor completes some but not all of the steps, Pendo sends an event to your agent, and the agent sends an outbound message to help the visitor finish.

An agent can use MCP, proactive support, or both, but workflow nudges require an active proactive support connection.

What happens after Pendo sends the event depends on your agent type:

Intercom Fin. Pendo delivers the event to Intercom, and an outbound chat you create from Pendo opens the conversation with the visitor.
Custom agent. Pendo sends a signed POST request to the HTTPS endpoint you host. Your agent decides what to do with it.

Event payload for custom agents

Workflow nudge events use the standard Agent Toolkit webhook shape, including visitorId, atkEventType, and uniqueId. For the payload envelope, signature verification, and how to build a receiver, see Set up a custom agent in Agent Toolkit.

For a workflow nudge, atkEventType is pendo-workflow-nudge. The properties object describes the visitor's unfinished workflow: the workflow's name and description, how many steps were completed out of the total, each step (with its type, completion status, and description), the target segment, and the guide to deliver, if you selected one.

Before you begin

For all agent types, you need:

Agent Toolkit turned on for your subscription.
Proactive support turned on for your subscription. During beta, contact Pendo support to turn this on.
An agent in Agent Toolkit with a proactive support connection. See Set up an agent in Agent Toolkit for Intercom Fin, or Set up a custom agent in Agent Toolkit for a custom agent.
Subscription admin permissions in Pendo.

For Intercom Fin, you also need an Intercom workspace with Fin enabled, connected through OAuth or an access token.

For a custom agent, you also need a publicly reachable HTTPS endpoint that accepts Pendo webhook events, and a developer to build it.

Note: Agent type is set when you create the agent and can't be changed afterward.

Step 1. Connect proactive support for your agent

If your agent already has a proactive support connection, go to Step 2.

Intercom Fin:

Go to Agent Toolkit and select Add agent.
On the Agent details step, enter a name, a description, and the applications this agent can access.
Continue to the proactive support step.
Connect Intercom, then select Test connection. A success message confirms Pendo reached your Intercom workspace.
Review your setup and create the agent.

Custom agent:

Go to Agent Toolkit and select Add agent.
Under Agent type, select Custom agent.
Enter a name, an optional description, and the applications this agent can access.
On the Set up proactive support step, enter the URL of the endpoint Pendo sends events to. It must be a publicly reachable HTTPS URL of 1024 characters or fewer.
Set a Secret, or select Generate to have Pendo create one. Pendo signs every request with it so your endpoint can verify the request came from Pendo.
Select Create connection, then continue and create the agent.

The proactive support connection starts inactive. Your endpoint doesn't have to be live to finish the wizard, but it must be live before you turn the connection on in Step 4.

Step 2. Add the workflow nudges capability

Each capability is added to an agent individually.

Open your agent from the Agent Toolkit landing page.
On the Overview tab, find the proactive support capability group.
On the workflow nudges card, select Add workflow nudges.

Once added, the card shows View workflow nudges. Until you add the capability, the Workflow nudges tab explains what the feature does but doesn't let you create nudges.

Step 3. Create a workflow nudge

Open the Workflow nudges tab for your agent.
Select Create nudge.
Enter a Name, for example, "Incomplete onboarding reminder."
Optionally add a Description.
Select the Application the workflow takes place in. On multi-application subscriptions, this is required before you can choose a segment or a guide.
Optionally choose a Segment to limit the nudge to visitors in that segment.
Under Workflow steps, add the steps the visitor is expected to complete, in order. Add at least one step and up to 20.
Optionally select a guide to deliver with the nudge. The guide is included in the event payload sent to your agent.
Select Save.

Define workflow steps

Each step is a Page, Feature, or Track Event. Pendo evaluates the steps in order to determine whether a visitor started the workflow without finishing it. A step counts as complete when the visitor interacts with that item, such as viewing the Page.

If you change the application on a multi-application subscription, your steps, segment, and guide selections are cleared.

Note: Some segments aren't compatible with event delivery. If a segment isn't available in the list, choose a different one or leave the segment blank.

Step 4. Go live

Creating a nudge in Pendo isn't enough on its own. You also need to turn on event delivery, and for Intercom Fin, finish setup on the Intercom side.

On the Workflow nudges tab, go to the Go live section.

Intercom Fin:

On the workflow nudges card, select Create in Intercom. This creates the outbound chat that delivers Pendo workflow nudge events to Fin.
Once created, select Open in Intercom to review or edit the outbound chat in your Intercom workspace.
Turn on the proactive support connection so Pendo starts delivering events.

Both steps are required. Without the outbound chat, the integration isn't connected in Intercom. With the connection off, Pendo doesn't send events even when nudges are configured.

Custom agent:

Confirm your webhook endpoint is live and returns promptly.
Turn on the proactive support connection so Pendo starts delivering events.

Manage your nudges

The Workflow nudges tab lists every nudge for the agent, with its segment and number of steps. To edit a nudge, select it from the list, update the fields, and select Save.

Verify your setup

Before testing, confirm that:

The agent has an active proactive support connection.
The workflow nudges capability is added to the agent.
At least one nudge is saved with valid steps.
For Intercom Fin, the outbound chat is created.
For a custom agent, your endpoint is live and verifying signatures.

To test end to end, start the workflow in your application without finishing it. For Intercom Fin, confirm Fin responds. For a custom agent, confirm your endpoint receives the event.

Permissions

Creating, editing, and deleting nudges, adding the capability, and going live all require subscription admin permissions.

Troubleshooting

Nudges aren't sending. Check the following in order:

The proactive support connection is turned on for the agent.
The workflow nudges card on the agent Overview tab shows View workflow nudges, which means the capability is added.
The workflow steps match the behavior you're testing.
For Intercom Fin, the Go live panel shows Open in Intercom rather than Create in Intercom, and Intercom is still connected. If you see an authentication warning, reconnect the agent's proactive support connection.
For a custom agent, your endpoint is reachable over HTTPS and returning a success response.

Your endpoint rejects events as unsigned. If you didn't set a signing secret when creating the connection, Pendo sends no X-Pendo-Signature header. Set a secret on the connection, then add it to your endpoint's configuration.

The segment picker is unavailable. On multi-application subscriptions, select an Application first.

Save is unavailable. Confirm you've entered a name, selected an application if applicable, and added at least one workflow step.

Workflow nudge options aren't visible in Agent Toolkit. Proactive support capabilities, including workflow nudges and frustration signals, require proactive support to be turned on for your subscription. Contact Pendo support.