SpruceTip is a web-based expert system that can be added to any WordPress site. It transforms existing site content, uploaded files, and other knowledge sources into custom-engineered intelligent workflows. The dynamic user interface helps automate administrative decision-making and facilitates exchanges with site users to solicit and infer information, tailoring every exchange to the user. 

• A workflow is an AI-powered questionnaire that makes intelligent decisions about what to ask next based on the user's answers, and auto-fills fields on their behalf using their previous input, your organization's knowledge base, web access, and advanced reasoning.  

• To create a new workflow, under the SpruceTip sidebar on the WordPress admin dashboard click “Workflows”, then click “Add New Workflow” 

• An assistant customizes the default AI model used to run a workflow. Its system instructions define overall guidelines the assistant follows when running a workflow. It also has a knowledge base (see below) which can be populated with existing site content and uploaded files that serve as reference material available to the assistant. 

• To create a new assistant, under the SpruceTip sidebar on the WordPress admin dashboard click “Assistants”, then click “Add New Assistant” 

• Existing site content can be included in a knowledge base by selecting site taxonomies and terms, in which case any published post tagged with those terms is automatically included.  

• Site content that is not tagged with any of the selected terms can also be manually included in the knowledge base. Conversely, site content that does match the selected terms can be manually excluded from the knowledge base.  

• Including site content in a knowledge base is not recursive. For example, including a page from your site that has links to other pages or files will not also include the content from the other pages or files. Nested content must be added separately. 

• Uploaded files remain private to SpruceTip and are not exposed elsewhere on the site through the web server or the media library. 

• A chain is the first logical block in a workflow. It is a group of interactions, split across one or more pages, that run together as one stage of a workflow.  

• To create a new chain, under the SpruceTip sidebar on the WordPress admin dashboard click “Chains”, then click “Add New Chain” 

• The system instructions define rules for how Gemini should pre-populate the interactions in the chain and interpret the answers it receives.  

• The interactions (see below) in a chain are grouped into pages, and everything on a page is shown to the user at once. Each page has a title, an optional CSS ID for styling, and, where timers are enabled in the site settings, an optional countdown in minutes. Note that an interaction can appear only once per chain. 

• The branches (see below) in a chain are the conditional routes the workflow can take from the current chain to the next. 

• For a chain with no branches, the output is a closing message shown to the user when the chain finishes. A chain with no interactions and no branches shows its output message as soon as it is selected. 

• chain that already leads back to the current one, so a workflow can never enter a loop. The same chain cannot be selected in multiple branches; instead, merge the conditions of those branches together. A chain also cannot have itself as a branch. 

• Conditions do not need to be written as logic rules (e.g. if answer = “yes”). Conditions should be natural language descriptions of the situation, criteria, and important factors in the branch decision.  

• A workflow is structured as a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG), meaning that two different chains (chain A and chain B) can branch to the same chain (chain C). This allows for common paths in a workflow to be re-used instead of duplicated. 

• An interaction is the smallest building block; each interaction is an opportunity to get input from the user or display output from Gemini. Interactions are created once and can be reused across as many chains as needed. 

• To create a new interaction, under the SpruceTip sidebar on the WordPress admin dashboard click “Interactions”, then click “Add New Interaction” 

• The title of the interaction is mainly used for internal reference as the interaction’s identifier. 

• The display title of the interaction is the title of the interaction shown to the user when running a workflow.  

• There are many types of interactions available (see below). 

• Enabling Gemini for an interaction that takes in user input allows Gemini to pre-populate an inferred response based on the user’s answers so far. If Gemini has no inferred answer, this interaction will be pre-populated with its default value or left empty if no default value was set. For an interaction that displays text output, enabling Gemini customizes the text to display based on the user’s previous input. If Gemini does not return a response, this interaction will be populated with its default value or left empty if no default value was set. 

• If Gemini is enabled, system instructions can be added to the interaction to specify rules or guidelines Gemini should follow when handling this interaction. 

Text Input: single-line text input box

Checkbox: multi-select checkbox list

Select: single-select dropdown list

Radio Button: single-select buttons

Paragraph: multi-line text input box

Text Output (no user input): multi-line text output box. Can use a default value or populate the value from Gemini to tailor it to the user

Number Stepper: vote collection tool

Email Address: single-line text input box. Checks the input is a valid email address

File Upload: file upload box

• SpruceTip uses wp_mail() - the built-in WordPress function that wraps PHPMailer - to enable sending email notifications upon a user’s completion of a workflow. 

• An email can be sent to the client containing a copy of all of their responses. The interaction in the workflow to pull the client email address from can be managed in the workflow. 

• An email can also be sent to an administrator containing a copy of the user’s responses along with internal information like branch decision reasoning and system instructions. By default, if enabled, this email is sent to the WordPress site administration email but can be changed per-workflow. 

• After creating or editing a workflow, click “Publish” or “Update” to save the WordPress post. 

• Then, click “Sync Workflow Now” to synchronize all the information with SpruceTip. Wait for the banner at the top of the screen to say “SpruceTip sync completed successfully” before running the workflow. 

Once a workflow has been built, saved, and synced on the admin dashboard, it needs to be made public on the site for users to run it. 

1. Copy the workflow ID of the workflow from the “Workflows” menu  

2. Under the “Pages” sidebar on the WordPress admin dashboard, click either “Add Page” to create a new page for this workflow or click on an existing page you want this workflow to appear on. 

3. On the page editor that opens, paste the following into the content box beneath the title: “[sj_questionnaire workflow_id=x]” (replace x with the workflow ID). 

4. Publish the page   

• When a user opens the page, the workflow starts at the root chain and displays its first page. 

• The user works through the chain’s interactions, going through the pages one by one. The user may navigate between the pages of a chain by clicking “Back” or “Next” before proceeding. 

• When the user clicks “Finish” on the chain's last page, if the chain has no branches, the user will be shown that chain’s output message (or the default output message if not set) and the workflow is complete. Otherwise, SpruceTip will begin processing that chain. 

• SpruceTip does two things: first, it analyzes the current chain to choose the appropriate next chain, then, it pre-populates each interaction in that next chain with Gemini enabled. 

• When SpruceTip has finished processing, the first page of the next chain appears, with the pre-populated responses filled in where applicable. The user can then review and edit pre-populated inputs and read any outputs given. 

• The steps above repeat until the workflow reaches a chain with no branches. That chain's output message (or the default output message if not set) is shown, and the questionnaire is complete. 

• Answers are saved as the user advances, and progress is tracked against the user's email address. A resumed entry returns the user to the last chain in the workflow they reached. 

• The user’s email address is taken from the interaction named in the workflow's “User Email Interaction” setting. That interaction always takes precedence; whenever it is answered its value replaces the email address is currently on the entry. 

• If no interaction has been mapped, or the mapped one has not been answered yet, the entry falls back to the first valid email address it receives from any interaction of the “Email Address” field type and tracks the user by that address unless and until the mapped interaction supplies one. 

• If a workflow is not completed within two hours of the root chain being submitted, a reminder email is sent to that email address with a link back to resume the workflow. 

• Until a valid email address has been received from the user, none of this applies; the entry cannot be resumed by link, and no reminder is sent. 

• When running a workflow, if there is a problem with the workflow or any of its dependents (chains, interactions, and/or assistant), the user will not be able to start the workflow.  

• When submitting a chain, if a SpruceTip or third-party error occurs, the workflow will end and display the current chain’s output message, or the default output message if not set.