Routing Descriptions help Novus AI determine which AI Route should handle a member's question.
A well-written Routing Description clearly defines the type of concerns that belong to a route without including unnecessary response instructions or large amounts of Knowledge Base information.
Clear descriptions are especially important when your server has multiple routes with similar topics.
What Is a Routing Description?
A Routing Description explains the purpose and scope of an AI Route.
For example:
Route Name: Technical Support
Routing Description:
Handles installation problems, launcher errors, connection issues, missing files, crashes, update problems, and other technical troubleshooting concerns.
When a member sends:
My launcher keeps crashing after the update.
Novus AI can identify that the message belongs to Technical Support based on the intent described by the route.
Describe the Intent, Not the Answer
The Routing Description should primarily explain what belongs to the route.
Avoid putting complete answers or support procedures inside the description.
Instead of:
Technical Support handles launcher errors. Tell the member to reinstall the launcher, restart the computer, download the patch, and create a ticket if it doesn't work.
Use:
Handles launcher errors, installation problems, crashes, update issues, connection problems, and other technical troubleshooting concerns.
The actual troubleshooting procedure belongs in your Route Instructions or Knowledge Base.
Be Specific Enough
A description that is too vague can cause incorrect routing.
Avoid:
Handles support questions.
Many routes could potentially match this description.
A better version is:
Handles installation, launcher, client, connection, patching, crashes, missing files, and other technical troubleshooting concerns.
This gives Novus AI clearer boundaries.
Don't Make Descriptions Too Narrow
Descriptions should not depend on members using specific words.
For example:
Use this route when the member says "launcher error."
A member might instead say:
The game won't start.
It closes when I open it.
I'm getting an error after patching.
All of these may represent the same technical support intent.
Describe the overall concern rather than requiring exact wording.
Avoid Keyword-Only Descriptions
Do not write descriptions like:
launcher, error, crash, dll, patch, connection, install
These words provide some information but do not clearly explain their relationship.
Instead:
Handles technical problems involving installation, launcher errors, missing files, crashes, patches, updates, and connection issues.
Natural descriptions provide better context.
Define Clear Boundaries
When two routes are related, explain what makes them different.
For example:
General Support
Handles general questions about the community, guides, features, rules, events, and other informational concerns that do not require specialized technical or transaction support.
Technical Support
Handles installation, launcher, application, connection, update, crash, and other technical troubleshooting concerns.
Payment Support
Handles questions about purchases, packages, payment methods, payment procedures, and transaction-related assistance.
The differences between the routes are clear.
Include Important Related Intents
Members may describe the same concern in many ways.
For example, a Payment Support route might include:
Available payment methods
Prices and packages
Purchasing
Payment confirmation
Pending payments
Failed payments
Transaction concerns
You do not need to list every possible sentence a member might write.
Include the major intents that define the route.
Avoid Excessive Overlap
Consider these descriptions:
General Support: Handles all questions and concerns.
Technical Support: Handles technical questions and concerns.
Because General Support claims to handle everything, it overlaps with Technical Support.
A better General Support description would be:
Handles general informational questions that do not belong to a specialized support route.
This creates a clearer boundary.
Use General Support Carefully
If you have a General Support route, it will often act as a broad route for normal questions.
Do not define it so broadly that it competes with every specialized route.
For example:
Handles general community information, guides, rules, events, and common questions that do not require specialized technical, account, payment, or other configured support.
This helps preserve specialized routes.
Route Descriptions vs. Route Instructions
These fields serve different purposes.
Routing Description:
Determines what type of message belongs to the route.
Route Instructions:
Determines how Novus AI should handle the message after the route has been selected.
For example:
Routing Description
Handles questions about available payment methods, packages, purchases, transaction status, and payment-related concerns.
Route Instructions
Only provide payment information available in the Knowledge Base. Do not invent prices or payment details. Transaction-specific concerns requiring verification should be directed to the configured support process.
Keeping these separate makes routes easier to maintain.
Routing Description vs. Knowledge Base
The Routing Description should also not contain all of the factual information about the topic.
For example, avoid:
Handles Premium purchases. Premium costs $10 for 30 days and members can pay using...
The price, duration, and payment methods belong in the Knowledge Base.
The Routing Description only needs to identify the concern:
Handles Premium subscription purchases, available payment methods, payment status, and other subscription transaction concerns.
Example: Technical Support
Poor Description
Technical stuff.
Better Description
Handles installation problems, launcher errors, missing files, crashes, update or patching issues, connection problems, and other technical troubleshooting concerns.
Example: Account Support
Poor Description
Anything about accounts.
Better Description
Handles account registration, login problems, password recovery, account access, verification, and other account-related concerns.
Example: Payment Support
Poor Description
Payments.
Better Description
Handles questions about purchases, available payment methods, packages, payment confirmation, failed or pending payments, and other transaction-related concerns.
Example: Community Programs
Poor Description
Guild and streamer.
Better Description
Handles questions about community programs such as guild participation, streamer programs, applications, eligibility, benefits, rewards, and related program concerns.
Don't Create Artificial Differences
If two routes require almost identical descriptions and instructions, they may not need to be separate.
For example:
Payment Questions
and
Purchase Questions
may overlap significantly.
If both concerns follow the same procedure, consider combining them into a single Payment Support route.
Routes should be separated because their handling is meaningfully different, not simply because different words can describe the same topic.
Test Ambiguous Questions
After creating your Routing Descriptions, test messages that could potentially belong to multiple routes.
For example:
I paid for the package but didn't receive it.
This message involves both a product and a transaction.
Your routing configuration should make it clear which route is responsible for transaction-related delivery problems.
Testing ambiguous questions is one of the best ways to discover overlapping route descriptions.
Test Natural Member Messages
Do not only test perfectly written questions.
Discord members may send messages such as:
launcher not opening
where donate
forgot password help
payment still pending
how join guild program
Test short, informal, misspelled, and multilingual messages that resemble actual community conversations.
Improve Descriptions Based on Incorrect Routing
If Novus AI repeatedly chooses the wrong route:
Identify which routes are being confused.
Compare their Routing Descriptions.
Look for overlapping language.
Clarify the purpose of each route.
Add important distinguishing intents.
Remove unnecessarily broad descriptions.
Save the changes.
Test again.
Avoid immediately creating another route to solve an unclear routing problem.
Often, improving the existing descriptions is enough.
Recommended Routing Description Formula
A simple structure that works well is:
Handles [primary concerns], including [important related intents], and other [specific category] concerns.
For example:
Handles installation and technical troubleshooting concerns, including launcher errors, missing files, crashes, patching, updates, and connection problems.
The description does not need to be long.
It only needs to clearly communicate what belongs to the route.
Keep Your Routing System Simple
A few clearly defined routes are usually better than many routes with overlapping descriptions.
As your community grows, add new routes only when a concern requires genuinely different instructions, information, or escalation behavior.
The goal is not to create as many categories as possible.
The goal is to help Novus AI consistently select the correct support behavior.
Next Step
Once Novus AI can accurately identify which route should handle a question, you need to define what the assistant should do after that route is selected.
Continue to Creating Route Instructions.