Hi Shishir,
Yes, AVA can receive this information at runtime through Start Context, and this is the mechanism I would use to make the agent aware of whether this is the first or a subsequent invocation.
However, I would separate two concepts:
-
Passing runtime state to AVA
-
Making a deterministic flow decision
For the first part, Start Context is exactly the right mechanism.
In AI Studio, I would create a Boolean Start Context variable such as:
is_first_ava_entry
with a clear description such as:
True only when this is the first AVA invocation for the current customer journey. When false, the customer has already interacted with this AVA during the current call.
Then, in Architect's Call Agentic Virtual Agent action, populate that input dynamically:
First invocation:
is_first_ava_entry = true
Subsequent invocation:
is_first_ava_entry = false
I would prefer a Boolean over call_sequence = 1/2 because the business meaning is clearer to both the flow author and the agent.
Then add an explicit AVA guideline such as:
If is_first_ava_entry is true, greet the customer once using customer_name before beginning complaint handling. If is_first_ava_entry is false, do not greet or welcome the customer again. Continue directly with the complaint journey.
This should allow the same AVA to behave differently based on the runtime context passed by Architect.
There is one important architectural consideration, though.
If "never repeat the greeting" is a strict deterministic requirement, I would keep that decision in Architect rather than relying exclusively on generative instructions.
For example:
Inbound Flow
→ validate registration
→ determine whether this is the first AVA invocation
→ if first invocation, play the personalized greeting
→ Call Bot Flow / AVA
→ AVA handles complaint journey
On the second pass:
Validate new registration
→ first invocation = false
→ skip greeting
→ invoke the same AVA
In that design, I would remove the initial greeting responsibility from AVA entirely.
That is the approach I would recommend for production because Architect remains responsible for deterministic state and branching, while AVA remains responsible for the conversational complaint handling.
If you prefer to keep the greeting inside AVA, then passing a Boolean Start Context variable and using a very explicit guideline is a supported and reasonable implementation.
So I would summarize the two options as:
Context-driven AVA behavior
Architect → is_first_ava_entry → AVA guideline → greet/skip
Suitable when some conversational flexibility is acceptable.
Deterministic behavior - my preferred design
Architect → Decision → greeting only on first invocation → AVA
Suitable when the greeting must never be repeated.
In both cases, I would keep the invocation state in Architect and pass only the information AVA actually needs through Start Context.
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Gabriel
NA
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