Custom AI agents

AI-powered

Overview

PREREQUISITES:

• You must have an active Sitefinity AI subscription.
  For more information, see Sitefinity AI.
• This capability is available in self-hosted Sitefinity CMS and Sitefinity Cloud setup starting with version Sitefinity 15.4.8631.
• Using custom AI agents on page level is supported only for ASP.NET Core and Next.js pages.

Sitefinity CMS Agentic Framework enables you to create and use custom AI agents directly in your Sitefinity CMS backend. You can use multiple custom agents tailored to your needs - in parallel with the built-in AI agents or independently. Sitefinity CMS Agentic Framework allows custom agents to be configured through system prompts and settings as described below in this article.

Sitefinity AI agents are task-focused AI assistants that help users analyze, improve, create and manage Sitefinity content directly into Sitefinity CMS backend. Moreover, they can complete repeatable content tasks faster and consistently.

You can interact with custom agents in Sitefinity CMS backend in two ways:

• During your content editing experience, where you can apply actionable AI-generated recommendations.
• Through DX Assistant, an AI-powered chat experience available starting with version Sitefinity 15.4.8633.

Create a custom AI agent

Тo create and configure a custom AI agent in your Sitefinity CMS backend, a site administrator uses the AI agents module. Perform the following:

1. Log in to your Sitefinity CMS backend with Administrator privileges.
2. Navigate to Administration » AI agents.
3. On the AI agents screen, click Create AI agent.
   The Create AI agent screen opens.
4. In Agent name, enter the name of the custom agent.
   For example, enter Clarity & Readability.
5. In Enable this agent, you can optionally disable the AI agent by selecting No.
   The default setting is Yes.
6. In Available in the backend chat assistant, you select the desired setting.
   The default setting is Yes. This allows backend users to request this agent to perform various content-related and platform-related tasks through interacting with DX Assistant chat experience.
   If you do not intend to access and use this agent through the chat assistant, select No.

   NOTE: This configuration option is available for Sitefinity AI agents starting with version Sitefinity 15.4.8633.

7. In Generate suggestions while editing content, specify if you want to allow this agent to generate in-context suggestions while creating or editing Sitefinity content.
   The default setting is No.
8. In Instructions, you define the prompt that is sent to the large language model (LLM) when the AI agent is executed. Manually feed clear and detailed guidelines, no specific format is required. These instructions guide how the AI agent analyzes Sitefinity content and performs its tasks.
9. For multisite setup, under This agent works with..., select the desired option:
   • All sites (default option) - use this option if you want this agent to work consistently across all your sites.
   • Selected sites - use this option if you want this agent to work only for the site(s) you select here.
10. Under For content types and fields..., select the desired option:
    • All content types and fields - use this option if you want your agent to suggest improvements for all available content types and fields.
    • Selected content types and fields... - use this option if you want your agent to suggest improvements only for content types and fields that you specify here one by one.
      The agent will analyze all fields of the selected content types, but suggestions will be generated only for the content in the selected (added) fields.
      For example, the Clarity & Readability agent may be configured to suggest improvement only for Description and Content fields of News content type.
11. In the Tools section, under This agent can use the following tools, select the Sitefinity tools this agent can invoke to execute AI-driven tasks and operations on behalf of the user.

    NOTE: The Tools configuration option is available for Sitefinity AI agents starting with version Sitefinity 15.4.8633.

    Tools are exposed by Sitefinity MCP Server to enable Sitefinity AI agents safely perform tasks and operations on Sitefinity content and pages - through the integrated chat experience or during your content editing experience. You can select structured tools related to content items, pages, classifications, media items and libraries, CRUD operations on content items, and more.
    Tools that require explicit user approval for high-impact or destructive actions, are indicated on the UI and are only invoked through DX Assistant chat experience.
    1. To add tools, click  (Add).
    2. Select the desired tools on the Select tools screen that opens.
    3. Click Use selected to confirm your choice.
    For more information about the available MCP tools, see Sitefinity MCP Server » Exposed tools.
12. In the Agent identity section:
    • In Short name, enter a shorter version of your AI agent name.
      The short name is used where space is limited in the UI. For example, you can enter Readability.
      If you do not provide a short name, the Agent name setting is used.
    • In Agent ID, you provide an unique identifier for your AI agent (used internally by the AI agents workflow orchestration).
      For example, enter clarity-and-readability.
13. Click Create to finalize the procedure.

NOTE: Unlike built-in AI agents, your custom AI agents can be deleted. To do this, on the AI agents screen, click the (Actions) menu for an existing custom agent and select Delete.

Use custom agents during your content editing experience

Using custom agents on page level is supported only for ASP.NET Core and Next.js pages.

Once created and configured, your custom AI agent is integrated directly into the Sitefinity content editing experience and is ready to surface AI-powered suggestions for existing and new content items/pages.

When opening an existing content item or page for editing, the custom agent analyzes its text-based fields and generates different recommendations - according to the configured behavior of the agent.

If multiple AI agents, including built-in agents, are activated to analyze the same content, they are executed in an orchestrated workflow and some of their generated suggestions may overlap. These content suggestions are then unified and merged before being surfaced in the UI.

Content editors get a notification icon (Content suggestions) on their active screen indicating the counter of all AI-generated suggestions for the currently open content item or page. By clicking on this icon, content editors can access the AI-generated suggestions in the Content suggestions sidebar (for content items) or the Page suggestions sidebar (for pages).

The provided suggestions are actionable and in the sidebar, they are grouped by the individual sections and fields of the currently open content item or page.

NOTE: Custom agents cannot apply changes to Sitefinity content or pages without user approval.

User actions on AI-generated suggestions

When reviewing the AI-generated suggestions in detail, content editors can perform the following actions available in the Content suggestions sidebar or the Page suggestions sidebar:

• Filter the AI suggestions available on the user interface, provided multiple AI agents are configured and enabled in your Sitefinity CMS backend - by clicking button next to the Show dropdown.
  The generated suggestions can be filtered out per selected AI agent, or all suggestions are displayed together.
• Apply the suggested change directly - by clicking the Apply button, while reviewing the details of a content/page suggestion.

  NOTE: On page level, for Content block and Image widgets only, you can directly apply the AI suggestions in-context in the page editor. The Apply button works for both static and shared content blocks.

  The textual change is persisted/stored in the system when the content editor saves or publishes the updated content item (page).
• Discard the suggested change - by clicking the Dismiss button, while reviewing the details of a concrete suggestion.
• Preview the suggested change applied inline in the content editor - by clicking Preview in editor.
  Content editors need to confirm if they want to apply or discard the previewed change.
• Restart the execution of the AI agent - by clicking (Refresh AI suggestions).
  This action may result in receiving different content or page suggestions as the AI agents can adapt and learn from the rejected suggestions.

Use custom agents through the integrated chat experience

NOTE: DX Assistant provides an AI-powered chat experience integrated in Sitefinity CMS backend starting with version 15.4.8633.

DX Assistant serves as the interaction hub for Sitefinity AI agents, enabling authorized users to engage with AI through natural language and perform advanced AI-driven actions across Sitefinity content, pages, and analytics.

DX Assistant uses the custom agents enabled in your Sitefinity CMS backend to generate content suggestions and perform a wide range of content operations supported by its configured system instructions and MCP tools. The custom agents accessible by the chat assistant and their behavior depend on how they are configured individually.

In general, you interact with the chat assistant integrated directly in Sitefinity CMS backend without mentioning any specific custom agent.
Based on your instructions in submitted prompts and the available conversation context, the underlying AI model interprets the intent and determines the appropriate action to take.
The chat assistant executes the decision by invoking the relevant AI agents (configured as available in the chat assistant) and MCP tools.

In addition, you can explicitly mention a custom agent in your conversation when you need that specific agent to handle your request, or you want to directly interact with it.
Custom agents are best used for specialzed tasks that match their configured system instructions. For more information about this scenario, see Use a specific AI agent.

AI agents workflow orchestration and conflict handling

When custom AI agents are configured in your Sitefinity backend, multiple AI agents (including the built-in agents) can be activated to analyze the same content item. These agents interact with each other while performing their own tasks in parallel.
In this scenario, AI agents workflow orchestration is introduced to coordinate the execution order of your multiple agents, manage conflicts between them, and prevent repetitive loops of AI-generated suggestions.

When AI content suggestions from different active agents overlap, they are aggregated into a single suggestion before being surfaced. Each aggregated content suggestion on the UI indicates which AI agents contributed to it.

The AI agents track which content suggestions were applied or dismissed by content editors (the content suggestions are persisted as accepted and rejected). This way, with each run they adapt and avoid re-generating the same suggestions that the content editor has already acted on.

AI agents execution order

When multiple AI agents are invoked to analyze the same content item or page, they are executed in parallel according to the following priority order:

• First in order are the custom AI agents
• Next in order is the built-in Search engine optimization Agent
• Last in order is the built-in Brand voice and style Agent

Built-in AI agents take priority over custom agents and their suggestions override those from the custom agents when conflicts occur. The final unified content suggestions are then merged and surfaced on the UI.