Units

Last updated: February 2026

Units are a higher-level organisational concept that exists independently of Micro Dialogs.
They represent thematic modules within a coaching and enable structured reuse, progress management, and controlled resets.

Typical examples of Units are:

  • 🩸 bloodPressure
  • 🫀 heartHealth
  • 🏃 activity
  • 🧠 stressManagement

Units are created once and can then be assigned to multiple Micro Dialogs.

1 What Is a Unit?

A Unit defines what topic a set of dialogues belongs to.

While Micro Dialogs define how a conversation is structured and executed, Units define the thematic context in which those dialogues operate.

Units are primarily used to:

  • group related Micro Dialogs under one topic
  • manage user progress at a thematic level
  • allow topics to be restarted cleanly
  • support modular and reusable coaching design

2 Creating Units

Units are created separately from Micro Dialogs.

Best practices for naming Units:

  • Use clear, topic-based names (e.g. bloodPressure)
  • Use CamelCase for consistency
  • Use emojis to improve orientation (e.g. 🩸 bloodPressure)

Once created, Units become available for assignment in the Micro Dialog editor.

3 Assigning Units to Micro Dialogs

Each Micro Dialog has a metadata field called Assigned Units.

Using this field, one or more Units can be assigned to a dialogue via dropdown selection.

Important characteristics:

  • Units can be assigned to any Micro Dialog (parent or sub-dialogue)
  • Assigning a Unit does not change the dialog flow
  • The assignment is purely semantic and structural

4 Variable Prefixes and Units

Each Micro Dialog can define a Variable Prefix in its metadata.

Variable Prefixes are closely related to Units and are typically aligned with the Unit’s topic.

Example:

Variable Prefix: bloodPressureGoal1_

If a dialogue stores a variable like:

$systolicValue

it will be stored as:

$bloodPressureGoal1_systolicValue

Why this matters in the context of Units:

  • Variables stay clearly associated with a specific topic
  • Name collisions across Units are avoided
  • Resetting a Unit can safely reset all related variables
  • Dialogues become easier to reuse across coachings

Best practice:

Use Variable Prefixes consistently whenever a Micro Dialog belongs to a Unit.

5 Why Units Matter: Resetting User Progress

The primary purpose of Units is to enable controlled resets of user progress.

Example:

A user completes several Micro Dialogs related to the Unit:

🩸 bloodPressure

Later, the user decides to work on the same topic again.

By resetting the bloodPressure Unit, the system can:

  • clear all answers and variables associated with this topic
  • allow the user to experience the dialogues again from the beginning
  • avoid conflicts with previously stored responses

This makes Units especially valuable for iterative goals, recurring programs, or repeated assessments.

6 Units and Modular Coaching Design

Units support modular coaching design by allowing topics to be:

  • developed independently
  • reused across different coachings
  • restarted without affecting unrelated content

This enables a clean separation between:

  • topic structure (Units)
  • conversation logic (Micro Dialogs)

7 Units vs. Micro Dialogs

Concept Responsibility
Unit Defines thematic scope and reset boundaries
Micro Dialog Defines conversational flow and logic

In simple terms:

  • Units answer “What topic is this?”
  • Micro Dialogs answer “How does the conversation work?”

8 When to Use Units

Use Units when:

  • a topic may be revisited or restarted
  • multiple dialogues belong to one conceptual module
  • progress should be reset without side effects
  • coaching content is built modularly

Avoid Units only if:

  • the coaching is strictly linear
  • content is never repeated or restarted

9 Local vs. Global Variables in the Context of Units

Variables used in Micro Dialogs can be either local or global.

Local variables

  • are created and used within a specific Micro Dialog
  • are typically prefixed using a Variable Prefix
  • are conceptually bound to a Unit or topic
  • can be safely reset via Units

Global variables

  • are not bound to a specific dialogue or Unit
  • can be accessed and reused across multiple dialogues and topics
  • are not automatically reset when a Unit is reset

Units primarily operate on local variables, which makes them the preferred mechanism for managing repeatable or restartable content.

10 Resetting Units via Decision Points

Units are reset through Decision Points.

In the Decision Point configuration, the following setting is available:

  • Assigned units to reset if TRUE
  • Select one or more Units from the dropdown

When the Decision Point condition evaluates to true, the selected Unit is reset.

This means:

  • all local variables associated with the selected Units are cleared or reset
  • the affected Micro Dialogs behave as if the user is encountering them for the first time

This mechanism allows Units to be reset conditionally and intentionally, rather than automatically.

11 What Happens When a Unit Is Reset

When a Unit is reset:

  • all local variables associated with that Unit are reset
  • the reset value depends on the variable configuration

Reset behavior:

  • if a variable has no default value, it is reset to an empty value
  • if a variable has a default value, that default value is restored

Important:

  • historical values are not deleted
  • all previous values remain available for analytics and evaluation
  • resets only affect the active coaching state, not stored data history

This ensures that:

  • coaching logic can restart cleanly
  • data integrity and historical analysis remain intact

12 Why This Matters

Combining Units, local variables, and Decision Points enables:

  • controlled repetition of coaching topics
  • clean restarts without side effects
  • modular coaching logic that adapts to user decisions
  • separation between learning history and active coaching state

In practice, this allows users to revisit goals (e.g. 🩸 bloodPressure) multiple times, while still preserving all past interactions for evaluation.