Variables

Variables let your agent remember and reuse information during a conversation — things like a user’s name, account details, or selections they’ve made. They act as your agent’s short-term memory, letting it personalize responses, make decisions, and pass data between steps. Variables are scoped to individual users via user_id. If ten users are talking to your agent simultaneously, their variable values are completely independent.

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Creating variables

You can create a variable from anywhere your can insert them — type { in most text inputs across Voiceflow to see your existing variables or create a new one inline. You can also manage variables from the Variables tab in the sidebar. Click New variable in the top right to create one, or click an existing variable to edit it. When creating a variable, you can optionally set a default value — this gives your agent a fallback if the variable hasn’t been set yet during a conversation. By default, variables are initialized automatically and set to 0.

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Using variables

Reference a variable by typing { and selecting it from the searchable menu. Variables work inside playbook instructions, API tool URLs and headers, condition steps, response messages, and more. If you’re in a place where you need to use a variable, type { and it the menu will pop up.

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Setting variable values

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Built-in variables

Every project has access to built-in variables that are automatically set when a conversation begins or when certain events occur.