The assistant
In short
Why does the assistant return no data from a tool I connected to it?
Check the authorization first; the link to a third-party tool expires like any other, and a lapsed connection tends to come back empty rather than with a clear error. If the connection is healthy, the usual answer is a cap: one request returns a limited number of records, so a broad question gets a partial answer instead of everything. Two further possibilities are a capability the assistant has not picked up yet, because it works from a periodically refreshed list, and a tool that appears in the list but is not connectable yet.
Quick fix
- Re-authorize the connection. This is the single most productive thing to try, and it costs nothing if the connection was fine.
- Narrow the question. Ask about one account, one week or one owner rather than "everything"; a single request returns a capped number of records.
- Confirm the tool is one you can connect today. Not every entry in the list is available yet; see the connector documentation on agents.reply.io for the current list.
- If you enabled something new in the third-party tool minutes ago, give it time. The assistant refreshes what each tool can do periodically, not on every request.
- Check that connector access is switched on for your account; it is a separate setting from the assistant itself.
Didn't work? Contact Reply support; the team can check your account directly.
Symptom
The tool shows as connected. You ask the assistant something that should be answered from it (records, deals, tickets, files) and it reports that it found nothing, or returns a handful of items when you know there are many more.
Why a connected tool comes back empty
| Cause | Tell-tale sign | Where it is fixed |
|---|---|---|
| Authorization has expired | It worked before and now finds nothing at all | Re-authorize in Reply |
| Per-request record cap | You get some records, never all of them | Reword the question |
| The tool is not connectable yet | Connecting it never completes | Nowhere – check the current list |
| Stale list of capabilities | A brand-new capability is invisible | Wait for the refresh |
| Connector access not enabled | Every tool behaves this way, not one | Account settings |
1. The authorization has expired
Connecting a third-party tool grants Reply an authorization on your behalf, and authorizations expire. Vendors also invalidate them when you change your password, revoke app access, or leave and rejoin a workspace.
An expired authorization rarely announces itself as "you are signed out". More often the request runs, returns nothing, and the assistant reports honestly that it found no matching records: which reads as an empty tool rather than a broken connection.
How to recognize it: the same question worked a few weeks ago and returns nothing now, and the tool itself clearly still holds the data when you open it directly.
What to do: re-authorize the connection from the assistant's connector settings. Reconnecting a healthy connection does no harm, so there is no reason to diagnose before trying it.
2. Only a limited number of records comes back per request
A single call to a connected tool returns a capped number of records. This is a property of the connection, not of your plan and not of the tool.
The consequence is that broad questions get partial answers. "List all my accounts" returns the first page of them, and the assistant answers from what it received, so the reply can be accurate about the records it saw and still incomplete about your data.
How to recognize it: you get a plausible, well-formed answer that happens to be short, and the same round number of records keeps coming back regardless of what you ask.
What to do: ask narrower questions. A filter (one owner, one stage, one date range, one account) brings the real answer inside the cap. If you need a complete export, do that in the third-party tool itself; the assistant is built for answering about your data, not for bulk extraction.
3. The tool is in the list but cannot be connected yet
Not every tool in the list is available yet. A couple of entries are visible but are not connectable today, so an attempt to set one up does not end in a working connection.
How to recognize it: the connection never reaches a connected state, and there is no data to query because nothing was ever linked.
What to do: check the connector documentation on agents.reply.io, which carries the current list of what can be connected. If the tool you need is one of the unavailable entries, there is nothing to configure on your side.
4. The assistant is working from a cached list of what the tool can do
When a tool is connected, the assistant learns what that tool is able to do and keeps that list. The list is refreshed periodically rather than rebuilt on every request.
So a capability you enabled in the third-party tool a few minutes ago (a new object, a new permission, a newly granted scope) can be invisible to the assistant for a while, even though the connection itself is healthy and other questions about the same tool work normally.
How to recognize it: everything else about the tool works. Only the newest thing is missing, and you changed it recently.
What to do: wait, then ask again. If it is still missing well after you made the change, re-authorize the connection; that re-establishes what the tool offers.
5. Connector use is not enabled for your account
Being able to use connected tools is a separate setting from being able to use the assistant. An account can have a working assistant and no connector access at all.
How to recognize it: the symptom is not limited to one tool. Nothing you connect produces results, and the assistant answers normally on everything that does not involve a third-party tool.
What to do: contact support to confirm whether connector access is enabled for your account.
The same tool can exist in Reply twice, and the two are different
Some tools are available both as a native Reply integration (with field mapping, scheduled syncing and ownership rules) and as a connector inside the assistant. Pipedrive is the clearest example of both existing side by side.
They are separate paths with separate capabilities, and choosing the wrong one accounts for a fair number of "it returns nothing" reports:
- You want contacts and activities kept in step on a schedule, with fields mapped. That is the native integration. See Pipedrive integration.
- You want to ask questions and have the assistant act in that tool on request. That is the connector.
Connecting one does not configure the other. If your contacts are syncing correctly but the assistant cannot see them, the connector is not set up, and the reverse holds too.
FAQ
Why does my tool appear twice?
Because it exists as both a native integration and an assistant connector. They serve different jobs (scheduled syncing with field mapping on one side, conversational questions and actions on the other) and each is configured on its own.
How do I see which tools are connected?
The connector settings in Reply show the tools you have linked and their state. For which tools can be connected in the first place, the connector documentation on agents.reply.io is the current reference.
Why did the assistant return only some of my records?
Each request to a connected tool comes back with a capped number of records. The assistant answers from what it received, so a broad question produces a partial answer. Narrowing the question is what fixes it.
Still stuck? Contact Reply support
If these steps didn't solve the problem, the Reply support team can look at your account directly. Open the Reply Help Center and send the team a message.
To get an answer faster, include:
- which tool you connected, and when you last authorized it
- the question you asked the assistant, word for word
- what the assistant answered
- whether the same data is visible when you open the tool directly
Don't send passwords, API keys, or access tokens.
Related
- Why is the AI assistant not answering? – the assistant itself is silent, not the tool
- Why did CRM sync stop? – the native integration path
- Why did a contact not sync to my CRM?
Build with Reply
- MCP: docs.reply.io/mcp – the mirror image of this page: connect Reply itself to your own AI assistant
- REST API: docs.reply.io/api-reference – read your Reply data in bulk, with paging you control