System tools for Content Recommendations

  • Updated

System tools are built-in features that help Optimizely Opal take action. Each tool performs a specific task, such as creating a campaign, uploading files, or generating images. Think of tools like attachments on a Swiss Army knife. Each one has a distinct purpose that helps you get work done.

In addition to the system tools available in Opal, Optimizely Content Recommendations includes a set of system tools designed to help you find high-performing content items and topics and analyze recommendation widget performances. 

You can ask Opal what tools it has at any time. For example, enter "Please list the tools you have with a brief description of what they do and the parameters" into Opal Chat.

Click a tool's name to expand it and learn when to use it, its required and optional parameters, and example prompts to calling the tool. If you do not provide a required parameter, Opal prompts you for it.

To enable the Content Recommendations tools, go to Connections > Content Recommendations and select one or more product instances. When you enter a prompt in Chat, select the instance from the Set Product Instance drop-down list to get data for that instance. You can access data for the past 30 days. 

contentrecs_top_content – Retrieves the highest-performing content items ranked by user interactions within a specified date range. Helps identify which articles, posts, or content pieces resonate most with your audience. 
  • When to use
    • Understand which content drives the most engagement.
    • Identify successful content patterns and formats.
    • Discover content worthy of promotion or repurposing.
    • Measure content engagement rates. 
  • Parameters
    • from_date – Start date in ISO 8601 (YYYY-MM-DD) format. 
    • to_date – End date in ISO 8601 (YYYY-MM-DD) format. 
    • limit – (Optional) Maximum number of results (10 – 1000, default: 200).
  • Example prompts
    • Show me the top-performing articles from last week.
    • Could you please provide me with the top 5 articles for each month in 2025? 
contentrecs_top_topics – Retrieves performance metrics for the most engaging topics based on user interactions. Identifies trending topics and reveals which topics resonate most with your audience.  
  • When to use
    • Discover high-performing topics for content creation.
    • Identify content gaps where popular topics are underrepresented or lack coverage.
    • Find underperforming topics that need improved content quality.
    • Guide content strategy decisions. 
  • Parameters
    • from_date – Start date in ISO 8601 (YYYY-MM-DD) format. 
    • to_date – End date in ISO 8601 (YYYY-MM-DD) format. 
    • limit – (Optional) Maximum number of results (10 – 1000, default: 200).
  • Example prompts
    • What are the trending topics my audience engaged with in the last 30 days?
    • Based on the previous month's data, what should we focus on writing next?
    • Could you please provide me with the top 5 articles for each month in 2025? 
contentrecs_top_recommendation_widgets – Analyzes recommendation widget performance with detailed A/B testing metrics comparing personalized and unpersonalized recommendations.  
  • When to use
    • Evaluate ROI of recommendation strategies.
    • Identify the widgets that benefit most from personalization.
    • Optimize widget placement and configuration.
    • Measure the lift from personalization investment. 
    • Make data-driven decisions on enhancing recommendation algorithms.
  • Parameters
    • from_date – Start date in ISO 8601 (YYYY-MM-DD) format. 
    • to_date – End date in ISO 8601 (YYYY-MM-DD) format. 
  • Example prompts
    • How did our recommendation widgets perform last month?
    • Could you please provide me with the top 5 articles for each month in 2025? 
If you use Opti ID, administrators can turn off generative AI in the Opti ID Admin Center. See Turn generative AI off across Optimizely applications.