Setup Guide

For Salesforce administrators. One-time setup, about 10 minutes.

Until an AI provider API key is configured, users who open the component see "AI provider is not configured." Steps 1–7 clear that; steps 8–10 roll the app out to your team.

Before you start

The app ships with the AI provider endpoints already configured. You never need to create or edit a Named Credential URL.

Step 1 — Install the package

Install from the AppExchange listing and choose Install for All Users, or install for admins only if you prefer to grant access gradually with permission sets.

In a managed package, all components appear with the aiemailreply namespace prefix — for example aiemailreply__AI_Email_Reply_Admin. That is expected.

Step 2 — Assign yourself the admin permission set

Do this before you open the app, or you will see an Admin Access Required screen.

1. Setup → Users → Permission Sets.
2. Click AI Email Reply Admin.
3. Manage Assignments → Add Assignment.
4. Select your own user and click Assign.

Step 3 — Open the app

1. Click the App Launcher (grid icon, top left).
2. Search for AI Email Reply Generator and open it.

You land on Admin Settings, which shows connection status, a Setup Guide section, your current provider settings, prompt templates and available tones.

Step 4 — Add your API key

Your key is stored in an External Credential, managed by Salesforce. It is never written into the app's code or metadata, and the app itself cannot read it back.

1. Setup → Named Credentials → External Credentials tab.
2. Open the External Credential for your provider from the table below.
3. Under Principals, edit the listed principal.
4. Under Authentication Parameters, replace the CONFIGURE_IN_SETUP placeholder with your real key, using the header and value format for your provider.
5. Save.

Anthropic is the exception: its header is x-api-key and the value is the bare key. Adding Bearer in front of an Anthropic key causes a 401 at Test Connection.

Configure only the provider you intend to use. The other three can stay on their placeholder values.

Step 5 — Grant access to the External Credential

Salesforce does not allow editing a managed package's permission sets in your org, so callout access is granted through a small permission set of your own.

1. Setup → Permission Sets → New.
2. Label it something like AI Email Reply API Access. Save.
3. On the permission set, find External Credential Principal Access and click Edit.
4. Move the principal for your provider — for example aiemailreply__AI_Email_Reply_ExtCred_OpenAI - OpenAI_Principal — from Available to Enabled. Save.
5. Assign this permission set to yourself and to every user who will generate replies.

This grants nothing but the ability to call the provider endpoint that already ships with the package.

Step 6 — Choose your provider and model

1. Setup → Custom Metadata Types → AI Reply Config → Manage Records.
2. The package ships one record per provider. Open the one for your provider and set Is Active on it; clear Is Active on the others, so exactly one record is active.
3. Check Provider and Model.

Model must be a model identifier your provider account can actually call. A model name that is retired, misspelled, or outside your plan fails at Test Connection.

Step 7 — Test the connection

Go back to Admin Settings and click Test Connection. It checks both that the key authenticates and that the model name is valid for your provider.

If it fails, see Troubleshooting.

Step 8 — Give your team access

Assign both of these to each end user:

• AI Email Reply User — use the component and generate replies.
• Your AI Email Reply API Access permission set from step 5 — without it, that user's replies fail even though yours work.

Assign AI Email Reply Admin only to admins who should change configuration.

Step 9 — Add the component to your pages

1. Open any Case record.
2. Click the gear icon (⚙) → Edit Page.
3. In Components, search for AI Email Reply Generator.
4. Drag it onto the layout — a right sidebar or its own tab works well.
5. Save, then Activation if the page is not yet active, and choose a scope: Org Default, App Default, or app/record type/profile for finer control.
6. Save, then Back.

The component needs email activity for context, so Case record pages are the primary use case. It can also go on a Home or App page via Setup → Lightning App Builder → New.

Step 10 — Sandboxes and trial orgs only: email deliverability

In a sandbox or trial org, sending often fails silently because the org's email deliverability is restricted by default.

1. Setup → Email → Deliverability.
2. Set Access Level to All Email.
3. Enable Use a substitute email address for unverified domains.
4. Save and retry.

Production orgs normally need no change here.

Optional configuration

Generation settings

On the active AI Reply Config record:

What goes into the prompt

Four checkboxes control how much of the email metadata is sent to the AI provider. All four are off by default, so out of the box only the message bodies and your tone choice leave the org.

Turn one on only if it measurably improves replies for your use case. See the Privacy Policy.

Prompt templates

Setup → Custom Metadata Types → Prompt Template → Manage Records. Three ship with the package: General Reply, Support Reply and Sales Reply.

Templates support two merge fields:

In the formatted thread, each message is labelled [CUSTOMER] (inbound) or [AGENT] (previously sent by your team). If you write your own template, keep a role block immediately after {emailThread} and before your instructions, or the AI may address the reply to the wrong person:

Role context:
- [CUSTOMER] messages were sent by the person you are assisting.
- [AGENT] messages were previously sent by the support agent.
- Write your reply FROM the Agent, addressed TO the Customer.

All three built-in templates already include it.

Next: the User Guide for your team, or the FAQ.