## Overview

Every time the contact writes, the **bot** composes ONE reply. To compose it, it may need to **do
things first**: look the CRM up, find a product in the catalog, open a deal, attach items, leave a
note. Each of those is an **action**.

**Actions per reply** is the limit on how many actions the bot may chain before it has to answer the
contact. It exists so a reply can never get stuck in an endless loop of lookups — the contact would
sit in silence while the bot "thinks" forever.

The default is **6**, which fits most conversations.

## Prerequisites

- Be an **administrator** of the account.
- A bot already created and connected to an inbox.

## Step by step

1. Go to **Settings → Bots** and open the bot you want to tune.
2. Scroll to the **Conversation & Context** block.
3. In **Actions per reply**, enter the new limit (between 2 and 20).
4. Leave it empty to fall back to the system default.
5. Click **Save**. It applies from the next message — nothing needs restarting.

## Settings & options

| Value | When to use |
|---|---|
| Empty (default) | Almost always. Covers support, questions and simple sales. |
| 8–12 | Bots that run long processes in one go: read the CRM, open a deal, attach products, leave a note and still reply. |
| 2–4 | Very simple bots (FAQ, triage), where chaining many actions is a sign something left the script. |

> The number of actions **actually performed** is one less than configured. The last round is
> reserved for the bot to write the reply — that is what guarantees nobody is left without an answer.

## Use cases

- **Consultative sales.** The bot reads the history, checks whether a deal is already open, opens one
  when there isn't, attaches the products mentioned and only then replies. Raising this to 8–10
  keeps it from running out mid-process.
- **Straightforward support.** Answering from the Knowledge Base rarely goes past 2–3 actions.
  Keeping the default is right.

## Tips, limits & best practices

- **Raising the limit makes replies slower and more expensive.** Each action is one more lookup, and
  the bot only writes once it is done. Raise it only for a concrete reason.
- **If the bot runs out of actions before finishing**, it does NOT go silent: it replies with what it
  already gathered and says honestly what it is still handling. It never claims to have done
  something it did not do.
- **Whatever was left pending becomes an internal note** on the conversation (visible to your team
  only), listing exactly which actions were not performed. If they still apply, someone does them by
  hand.
- **Resolving also ends that turn's outbound delivery.** After resolving, Maestro does not send a
  new sentence to the contact. This prevents automated endpoints from replying to the farewell,
  reopening the conversation and creating a bot-to-bot loop. The team still sees the native resolve
  event and an audit note with a human-readable action and reason.
- **Seeing that note often on the same bot** means the limit is tight for what you ask of it — or
  that its instructions are asking for too many steps per reply.

## Troubleshooting

**The bot replied but did not move the card / did not create the deal.**
Look for the internal note on the conversation. If it lists the action, the budget ran out first.
Raise **Actions per reply** or simplify the bot's instructions.

**Replies got slower after I raised the limit.**
Expected: more actions, more time before writing. Go back to the default and raise it gradually.

**The bot says it "will check" and never comes back.**
It ran out of actions mid-way. The sentence is honest — it really did not finish. The internal note
says what was missing.

## See also

- [Bot autonomy modes and human approval (HITL)](/hc/ajuda/articles/maestro-brain-autonomia-e-aprovacao-humana-en)
- [Maestro tools by module](/hc/ajuda/articles/maestro-brain-ferramentas-maestro-por-modulo-en)