2026 Optimizely Opal release notes

  • Updated

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March 18

  • Removed the creativity setting in the specialized agents configuration. Newer AI models no longer support user-configuration of this. Existing specialized agents that had a creativity value set continue to function normally. The setting is ignored by new models that do not support it.

March 16

March 13

Opal platform

  • Released Commerce Connect as a product connection in Opal. This lets an Opal Administrator connect your Optimizely Commerce Connect instance with an Opal instance.

Workflow agents

Specialized agents

March 12 

Effective March 12th, 2026 Optimizely may allocate Opal workloads to any of its approved LLM models. Currently, Optimizely's Opal utilizes Google Gemini's family of models as its LLM.

As of March 15th, 2026, Opal's LLM models will include Anthropic Claude's family of models accessed via Google Vertex AI. For the purposes of Optimizely's Data Processor Agreement, Anthropic will become an Optimizely Sub-processor as from March 15, 2026. Optimizely reserves the right to add, remove, and/or substitute Opal's underlying LLMs. All approved LLMs for Opal are detailed in Optimizely's Software Service Services Description. Optimizely Opal's allocation of workloads to different LLMs and the associated model will not alter how Opal credits are consumed from Opal usage.

March 4

Released a new version of the AI variation development agent for Web Experimentation which helps you modify and update existing website elements, create new ones, and generate and apply enhancement suggestions, while maintaining brand consistency by automatically retrieving page styles.

March 3

Released a new version of the Competitive Insights agent, which provides a thorough review of competitive intelligence and market research on competitors. This version updates the tools called in the agent. See New version available to update the agent if already installed. 

March 2

Released a new version of the GEO Auditor agent, which audits any web page for AI search readiness. This version adds the browse_web tool to the agent. See New version available to update the agent if already installed. 

February 24

Opal platform

  • Introduced the new Agent Builder role, letting users create and manage specialized and workflow agents. This role is for users who need to customize or extend Opal's AI capabilities without requiring administrator privileges.
  • Released customizable permissions to create custom roles for Opal users for more precise access control.
  • Added user names for the Created By, Triggered By, and Modified By fields for agents and instructions.
  • Released the Optimizely Opal app as a verified application in the Slack Marketplace, streamlining integration and enhancing collaboration for teams. See Optimizely Opal in Slack.

Opal Chat

  • Standardized terminology, replacing references to threads and conversations with chats for a cleaner experience. See step 6 in the Through the Opal app section or step 8 in the In an Optimizely product section in the Optimizely Opal chat documentation. 
  • Improved the responsiveness of the chat interface by showing a thinking... message immediately after you send a message.

  • Added the ability to upload Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) and Word (.docx) files in Opal Chat, eliminating the need for file conversions.

Canvas

  • Added the ability to download canvases letting you access your canvas content offline and share with stakeholders. The file types you can download depend on the canvas' MIME type. See Available download formats.
    • text/markdown
      • Microsoft Word – .docx
      • PDF document – .pdf
      • Plain text – .txt
      • Rich text format – .rtf
      • Markdown – .md
    • text/html
      • HTML – .html
      • PDF document – .pdf
      • Plain text – .txt
    • application/x-reactjs
    • JavaScript – .js
    • JavaScript JSX – .jsx
    • application/x-nextjs
      • JavaScript – .js
      • JavaScript JSX – .jsx
    • text/csv
      • Comma Separated Values – .csv
      • Microsoft Excel – .xlsx
      • PDF document – .pdf
    • application/vnd.ms-powerpoint
      • Microsoft PowerPoint – .pptx
      • PDF document – .pdf
  • Added an Edit in canvas button directly within Opal's response on the last message in a chat, as long as that message is not an agent output or canvas output already. See Create a canvas.

Agents

  • Updated the Agent Directory to show a second description line on agent tiles, making it easier to understand what each agent does at a glance.
  • Added the ability to copy variables directly from the execution log sidebar, making it easier to reference and debug agent runs. See step 7 in the Workflow agent log overview section of the workflow agent logs and step 11 in the specialized agent log overview section.
  • Launched the ability to add Example shots to your agent's prompt template. Example shots help the agent better understand the desired output format, tone, style, and specific requirements of the task. This reduces ambiguity and can lead to more accurate and relevant responses, especially for complex or nuanced tasks.
  • Released the following agents to the Agent Directory:
    • Competitive Webpage Analysis agent – Scans your competitors' websites, captures screenshots, and delivers an actionable report with recommended changes to outperform competitors so you can easily see what is working in your market and how to stay ahead.
    • Email Content Translation agent – Retrieves and translates the full content (body, subject, preview, and alt-texts) of a specific email in Optimizely Campaign, ensuring accuracy, cultural relevance, and consistent brand voice. It provides the original and verified translated versions side-by-side in a two-column format.
    • Email Optimization agent – Analyzes provided newsletter content in Optimizely Campaign to give structured feedback and detailed recommendations for improvement. It evaluates readability, engagement, and visual appeal, offering specific sections for optimization tips, brand consistency checks, A/B testing suggestions, and a dynamic Content Score.
    • GEO Auditor agent – Audits any web page for AI search readiness. You can get a comprehensive Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) report covering AI crawler accessibility, Core Web Vitals, schema markup, content structure, and citation readiness, with a prioritized action plan to improve your visibility in AI-powered search engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews.
    • Subject & Preview Text Ideation agent – Analyzes provided email content from Optimizely Campaign to create three highly effective pairs of subject lines and preview texts (focusing on urgency, curiosity, and benefit). It optimizes these pairs to boost open rates, adheres to character limits, and provides a marketing rationale for each suggestion.

Web Experimentation and Personalization tools

Released the following tools in Opal to help you use the AI variation development agent in Web Experimentation and Personalization. 

  • exp_ve_apply_change – Applies a pending change to the Visual Editor.
  • exp_ve_element_glob – Finds elements in the Visual Editor DOM that match a glob pattern.
  • exp_ve_element_grep – Searches for elements in the Visual Editor DOM whose content or attributes match a regular expression.
  • exp_ve_element_read – Reads the content or attributes of a specific element in the Visual Editor.
  • exp_ve_element_tree – Retrieves a partial DOM tree for a specified element and its descendants in the Visual Editor.
  • exp_ve_get change_schema – Retrieves the JSON schema for a specific type of Visual Editor change.
  • exp_ve_get_selector – Generates a robust CSS selector for a given element in the Visual Editor.
  • exp_ve_list_pending_changes – Lists all pending Visual Editor changes for the current experiment or personalization.
  • exp_ve_revert_change – Reverts a specific pending Visual Editor change, undoing its effects.
  • exp_ve_validate_change – Validates a Visual Editor change object against its schema to ensure it is well-formed.

Content Marketing Platform (CMP) tools

Released the following tools in Opal to help you orchestrate and streamline your content marketing workflows in CMP:

  • create_campaign_from_work_request – Creates a new campaign in Opal based on an existing work request.
  • create_milestone – Creates a new milestone within a specified campaign or project in CMP.
  • create_task_from_work_request – Creates a new task in CMP based on an existing work request.
  • create_work_request – Create a new work request in CMP using a specified template.
  • get_form_template_by_id – Retrieves a specific form template using its unique identifier.
  • get_form_templates  – Retrieves a list of all available form templates in CMP.
  • get_object_templates – Retrieves a list of available object templates in CMP.
  • get_saved_view_resources – Retrieves resources associated with a specific saved view in CMP.
  • search_cmp_resources – Searches for various resources within CMP based on specified criteria.
  • canvas_to_structured_content – Converts the content of an AI canvas into a specified structured content (an asset type) within a specified CMP task.
  • update_asset – Updates various properties of an asset in the CMP Library, including metadata, tags, location, and archival status, using partial updates.
  • update_library_asset_field – Update a single field value on a CMP library asset, supporting various CMP field types and value formats.
  • update_milestone – Modifies the details of an existing CMP milestone, such as its name, due date, status, or description.
  • update_work_request_resource_link – Modifies an existing resource link associated with a specific work request, such as updating its URL, description, or type.

Optimizely Analytics tools

Released the following tools in Opal to help you create explorations in Optimizely Analytics:

  • oa_find_metrics – Searches and finds existing metrics from Optimizely Analytics. Uses fuzzy matching on metric names and semantic search on descriptions to find relevant metrics.
  • oa_list_apps – Lists all available applications in Optimizely Analytics.
  • oa_get_metric_data – Retrieves and executes a specific saved metric in Optimizely Analytics, returning its calculated table data.
  • oa_find_datasets – Searches and lists available datasets in Optimizely Analytics. It uses fuzzy matching on dataset names and semantic search on descriptions to find relevant datasets.

February 5

  • Added the ability for you to upload .xlsx and .docx files to Opal Chat, letting you directly share and collaborate on common document types without having to switch between applications. See the Opal Chat section in the Supported file types in Optimizely Opal documentation.
  • Added the Status column to the Instructions page to quickly see if an instruction is active or inactive. 
  • Updated instructions to be inactive by default. You must now toggle Active to On when creating an instruction. This prevents unintended activation of instructions and ensures only fully prepared and reviewed instructions go live. 

Agent Directory

  • Updated the organization of agents in the Agent Directory to be structured by use cases, improving the discoverability and navigation while making it easier to find the right agent for a specific task.
  • Added a visual indicator displaying if an agent is new. This indicator helps you quickly identify and explore newly added agents, ensuring you are aware of the latest features available to you.

January 27

Agents

Released the following agents to the Agent Directory: 

  • Content Refresh Analysis – Identifies, sorts by last edit date, and helps resolve duplicate and outdated content (in terms of content guidelines as reference) across a website in CMS (SaaS) to improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO) performance, site credibility, compliance, and content maintenance efficiency. 
  • Experimentation Program Overview – Creates a report on how your Optimizely Experimentation program is performing using top experiment and win rate data. 
  • FAQ Creation – Analyzes existing content to generate contextually relevant, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)-optimized Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
  • GEO Schema Optimization – Lets you enhance your CMS (SaaS) content's visibility and (LLM) discoverability by automatically identifying opportunities for structured data markup.
  • Product Promotion – Builds and configures product promotions in Commerce Connect, seamlessly handling the assignment of products and variants and the application of specific promotion types. 
  • Profound Citation Gap Analysis – Analyzes competitive citation performance for any topic using Profound's AI search tracking data.
  • Real-Time Audience Inspection – Answers expert questions about an Optimizely Data Platform (ODP) real-time audience, its purpose, how it overlaps with other audiences to achieve your stated goal, and other general troubleshooting queries.
  • SEO Metadata Implementation – Evaluates existing SEO properties, identifies optimization opportunities, recommends improvements, and upon your approval, creates or updates SEO metadata fields in your CMS (SaaS) instance.
  • SEO Metadata Optimization – Evaluates a URL for existing SEO properties, identifies optimization opportunities, and recommends improvements. 

OCP connector tools

  • Released the Crunchbase connector tools in Opal, which provide AI-powered access to the world's most comprehensive dataset of companies, investors, funding rounds, and key business personnel.
  • Released the Zoom Webinar connector tools in Opal, which let you summarize webinar transcripts, get and update webinar details, and get poll results. 

CMS (SaaS) tools

Released the following tools in Opal to help you manage your CMS (SaaS) content. See Content items section in the System tools for Content Management System (CMS) documentation for more information.

  • cms_create_content_item – Creates a new empty content instance in CMS (SaaS) based on an existing content type.
  • cms_get_content_data – Retrieves CMS (SaaS) content data for a specific content item.
  • cms_delete_content_item – Deletes a content item from CMS (SaaS) using its unique content key
  • cms_publish_content_item – Publishes a specific content version in CMS (SaaS), making it visible to site visitors.
  • cms_update_content_item – Updates the value for any property of a content item using a "JSON Merge Patch" algorithm.

Optimizely Graph tools

Released the following tools in Opal to help you manage your Optimizely Graph content in CMS (SaaS) and CMS 12.

  • graph_content_type_schema – Your starting point to understand the content structure within your Optimizely Graph instance. The tool lets you and Opal discover available content types and their fields, which is crucial for constructing accurate GraphQL queries.
  • graph_content_graphql_executor – Lets you execute custom GraphQL queries against your Optimizely Graph instance. You can retrieve specific content items, filter results, sort, and get aggregated data (facets).
  • graph_content_search_tool – Use as a simpler alternative for searching content in Optimizely Graph when constructing complex GraphQL queries might be excessive. It lets you search for content based on a search phrase across a specified content type.

January 22

Personalization

Released the following system tools in Optimizely Opal to help you with your Personalization projects:  

  • exp_get_schemas – Retrieves detailed schemas for various Optimizely entities relevant to Personalization. This is a mandatory first step before using the exp_execute_query tool to retrieve actual data about these entities.
  • exp_execute_query – Executes a template-based query to fetch specific data from your Optimizely Personalization instance. It lets you retrieve detailed information about various entities. 

Experimentation

Released the following Feature Experimentation and Web Experimentation system tools in Optimizely Opal to help you with your Experimentation projects:  

  • exp_get_schemas – Retrieves detailed schemas for various Optimizely entities relevant to Experimentation.  This is a mandatory first step before using the exp_execute_query tool to retrieve actual data about these entities.
  • exp_execute_query – Executes a template-based query to fetch specific data from your Experimentation instance. It lets you retrieve detailed information about various entities such as feature flags, rules, environments, attributes, and events, based on your specified criteria.
  • exp_program_reporting_top_experiments – Retrieves experiments that have generated the highest positive or negative lift values within a specified timeframe. It focuses on the performance of individual tests, letting you see which variations of your features are performing best (or worst) against your chosen metrics.
  • exp_program_reporting_underperforming_experiments – Helps you identify A/B tests that are not yielding significant or positive results, letting you quickly decide whether to stop, re-evaluate, or iterate on them.
  • exp_program_reporting_win_rate – Gives you a high-level overview of the success of your experimentation program by calculating the win rate over a specified period. It is a key metric for understanding the efficiency and impact of your product development cycle.

January 14

Opal platform

Opal Chat

Tools

  • Updated the Opal platform to disable new tools and registries by default, requiring Opal administrators to explicitly enable them. 
  • Released system tools for Campaign, helping you easily get information about your Smart campaigns. 
  • Updated the analyze_pagespeed tool's results to display the title of the score returned. 

Agents

Product connections

Product Information Management (PIM)

  • Released Opal Chat, letting you interact with Opal from PIM.
  • Released system tools for PIM, which help you retrieve general statistics from the Dashboard.

January 12

Optimizely Reporting for Opal

  • Added Opal Agent, the primary agent for chat and feature interaction, to the Opal Agent Usage dashboard.