Compare

The Compare step evaluates two values and returns true or false. Use it to build conditional branches in your agent — route a conversation based on a classification result, check whether a score exceeds a threshold, or verify that a date falls within range. Compare automatically detects whether the values are numbers, dates, booleans, or strings and applies the appropriate comparison logic. No manual type casting required.

Configuration

Left operand

The first value to compare. Accepts plain text or an expression like {{Steps.Classifier.Value}}.

Operator

The comparison to perform. See the full operator table below.

Right operand

The second value. Not required for Is Empty and Is Not Empty operators.

Case sensitive

Toggle for string comparisons. Off by default — "hello" matches "Hello". Turn on when exact casing matters.

Operators

Universal
Ordering
String-only
Existence

These work with all detected types — numbers, dates, booleans, and strings.

Operator	What it checks
Equals	Left is exactly equal to Right
Not Equals	Left differs from Right

These work with numbers, dates, and strings (lexicographic). They are not valid for booleans — the step will throw an error if both values are true/false.

Operator	What it checks
Greater Than	Left > Right
Greater Than or Equal	Left ≥ Right
Less Than	Left < Right
Less Than or Equal	Left ≤ Right

For strings, ordering uses lexicographic comparison (dictionary order) and respects the case sensitivity toggle.

These only work when both values are strings. If the values are detected as numbers or dates, the step throws an error.

Operator	What it checks
Contains	Left string includes Right as a substring
Not Contains	Left string does not include Right
Starts With	Left string begins with Right
Ends With	Left string ends with Right

All four respect the Case sensitive toggle.

These only inspect the left operand. The right operand is ignored.

Operator	What it checks
Is Empty	Left is null, whitespace, or an empty array `[]`
Is Not Empty	Left has a non-empty value

Automatic type detection

Compare inspects both values and picks the best type in this order:

Priority	Detected as	Example values	Notes
1	Boolean	`true`, `false`	Only Equals / Not Equals are valid
2	Number	`42`, `3.14`, `-100`, `1e-5`	Parsed as decimal for precision
3	Date	`2026-03-26T14:30:00Z`	ISO 8601 with timezone required
4	String	Everything else	Fallback — all operators available

Type detection runs on the resolved values, not the raw expression text. If {{Steps.Score.Value}} resolves to "85", it will be detected as a number, not a string.

Output

The step returns a boolean: true if the comparison passes, false if it does not. Use the output to drive conditional routing downstream:

{{Steps.Compare.Value}}  →  true / false

Use case: route by customer tier

An e-commerce agent receives an order and needs to apply different handling based on the customer’s annual spend. Agent flow:

Input → Fetch Customer (HTTP) → Compare → [Branch]
                                   ├─ true  → VIP Handler (AI Model)
                                   └─ false → Standard Handler (AI Model)

Compare configuration:

Field	Value
Left	`{{Steps.Fetch_Customer.Output.Body.annualSpend}}`
Operator	Greater Than or Equal
Right	`10000`
Case sensitive	— (not applicable for numbers)

When the customer’s annual spend is 10,000 or more, the Compare step returns true and the agent routes to the VIP handler. Otherwise, it routes to the standard handler.

Tips

Combine Compare with a conditional {{ if }} block in a downstream prompt to act on the result:

{{ if Steps.Compare.Value == 'True' }}
This customer qualifies for priority support.
{{ else }}
Follow standard support procedures.
{{ end }}

String-only operators (Contains, Starts With, Ends With) will fail at runtime if the resolved values are detected as numbers or dates. If you need substring matching on a value that looks like a number (e.g., a product SKU like "12345"), ensure at least one value contains non-numeric characters so it falls through to string detection.

Overview

Agent Fundamentals

AI & Prompts

Agent Behaviours

Workflow Steps

Lifecycle & Quality

Interface Options

Sharing Agents

Configuration

Operators

Automatic type detection

Output

Use case: route by customer tier

Tips

​Configuration

​Operators

​Automatic type detection

​Output

​Use case: route by customer tier

​Tips

Configuration

Operators

Automatic type detection

Output

Use case: route by customer tier

Tips