We’re using AI Agents in a paid community where the bot participates in threaded group conversations alongside members. The instant response works against us — it makes the bot feel like a chatbot rather than a thoughtful participant in the discussion.
Is there a way to add a configurable delay to Agent responses? Ideally, something like 1-4 hours after the triggering post, so the bot’s replies land at the same pace as the human conversation around it.
If this isn’t available natively, is there a recommended approach? We’re open to plugin-level or API-level solutions.
I found a temporary fix for now. Sharing it here in case someone else is trying the same.
Problem - I wanted the Discourse agents to reply with some pause, like 60 minutes or so and not instantly. Like how typical discourse conversations happen between humans.
It’s not to pretend that the bot is human. But to allow humans to interact along with the bot.
Challenge - The challenge was that as soon as a human would reply to the bot’s post, the bot would reply immediately. There was no setting to change that.
Solution - I set up an orchestrator bot using Claude… It runs a schedule (cron job). and checks the discourse category through API.
Insight - The Discourse Agent replies only when orchestrator bot tags it. The Allowed group for the agent has only the orchestrator bot and no human.
This way, there is no instant reply, only on a schedule. We can vary the frequency but we have some control.
This can also help with Agent API costs. With only a few replies a day, it can add meaningful value to a community.