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Visual Data Masking is a Beta feature currently being rolled out. If you don’t have access yet, contact your sales representative.
The AI model used for PII detection can occasionally miss sensitive information. Do not rely on Visual Data Masking as your sole privacy control for highly sensitive data. This is a known limitation of the beta.
Visual Data Masking is a front-end privacy feature that automatically masks standard PII (Personally Identifiable Information) fields in conversation histories and task views. This protects confidential information when viewing agent interactions in the UI, during screen sharing, or when reviewing tasks with your team.

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How Visual Data Masking works

Visual Data Masking operates at the UI layer only. When enabled, sensitive information is masked in what you see on screen, but agents continue to access and process the actual, unmasked data.

What you see

Masked values like ***@***.com or ***-***-1234 in conversation histories

What agents see

Full, unmasked data for processing, reasoning, and tool execution
This approach ensures privacy during UI viewing while maintaining full agent functionality. The backend data remains completely unchanged—Visual Data Masking only affects the display layer.

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When to use Visual Data Masking

Enable Visual Data Masking when you need to protect sensitive information from being visible in the UI:
When agents process customer information like email addresses, phone numbers, or payment details, Visual Data Masking prevents this data from being visible to team members reviewing conversations.
During product demonstrations, training sessions, or customer calls where you’re sharing your screen, Visual Data Masking ensures sensitive information isn’t accidentally exposed.
When multiple team members review agent conversations for quality assurance or training purposes, Visual Data Masking protects customer privacy while allowing evaluation of agent performance.
For organizations with regulatory requirements around data visibility, Visual Data Masking adds an extra layer of protection when viewing agent interactions. However, it should be used alongside other privacy controls, not as the sole protection mechanism.

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Supported PII types

Visual Data Masking automatically detects and masks the following types of sensitive information:

Email addresses

Masks email addresses like user@example.com → ***@***.com

Phone numbers

Masks phone numbers like (555) 123-4567 → ***-***-1234

Credit card numbers

Masks credit card numbers like 4532 1234 5678 9010 → ****-****-****-9010

Person names

Masks person names like John Smith → **** *****
Detection happens automatically in real-time as conversations are displayed in the UI using AI-powered pattern recognition.

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Configuration options

Visual Data Masking is a simple toggle feature with no advanced configuration options. When enabled:
  • All four PII types are automatically masked - You cannot select which types to mask
  • Masking format is fixed - You cannot customize the placeholder text or masking pattern
  • No detection sensitivity controls - You cannot adjust the AI detection threshold or rules
  • No custom PII types - You cannot add organization-specific sensitive data patterns
  • Same rules for all data - All detected PII is masked using the same approach
This simplicity makes Visual Data Masking easy to enable, but limits flexibility for organizations with specific masking requirements.

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Enabling Visual Data Masking

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For agents

To enable Visual Data Masking on an agent:
1

Open agent settings

Navigate to your agent in the Agent Builder.
2

Access Advanced settings

Click Advanced in the bottom-left navigation panel.
3

Open the General tab

In the Advanced settings panel, click the General tab.
4

Enable Visual Data Masking

Toggle on Visual Data Masking to enable the feature for this agent.
5

Save changes

Your changes are saved automatically. Visual Data Masking will now apply to all conversation histories for this agent.

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For workforces

To enable Visual Data Masking on a workforce:
1

Open workforce settings

Navigate to your workforce and click the Settings icon in the top right.
2

Access Advanced settings

Click Advanced in the settings panel.
3

Enable Visual Data Masking

Toggle on Visual Data Masking to enable the feature for this workforce.
4

Save changes

Your changes are saved automatically. Visual Data Masking will now apply to all task views and conversation histories for this workforce.

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What is and isn’t masked

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What IS masked

Visual Data Masking applies to these UI elements:
  • Agent conversation histories in the Task View
  • Workforce task displays showing agent interactions
  • Message content displayed in conversation logs
  • Tool inputs and outputs visible in the UI conversation flow
  • Any front-end conversation data display in the Relevance AI platform

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What ISN’T masked

Visual Data Masking does NOT apply to:
  • Backend data storage - Data is stored unmasked in the database
  • Agent processing - Agents always work with unmasked, actual data
  • Tool execution - Tools receive and process unmasked data
  • LLM requests - Language models receive unmasked data for processing
  • API responses - Data returned via API is unmasked
  • Data exports - Exported data contains unmasked information
  • Backend logs - Internal system logs contain unmasked data
  • Event streaming - OTEL events exported to S3 contain unmasked data (unless PII Redaction is enabled)
Visual Data Masking is a UI-only feature. It does not modify, encrypt, or redact data at the storage or processing level. Backend data remains completely unchanged. For backend data protection, see PII Redaction.

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Visual Data Masking vs PII Redaction

Visual Data Masking and PII Redaction are complementary features that protect sensitive information at different stages. They serve different purposes and are designed to work together for comprehensive privacy protection.
FeatureVisual Data MaskingPII Redaction
AvailabilityBeta (all tiers)Enterprise only
Where it appliesFront-end UI displayBackend data export to S3
What it doesVisual masking onlyData is scrubbed before export
Data modificationNo - backend data unchangedYes - PII removed from exports
Use caseUI privacy, screen sharing, team reviewsCompliance, audit logs, observability
Applies toTask View, conversation UIS3 event streaming (OTEL)
ConfigurationToggle only (no options)Advanced (entity types, actions, thresholds)
Detection methodAI detection (can miss PII)Presidio-powered ML engine
Agent accessAgents see unmasked dataAgents see unmasked data

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Complementary use

These features are designed to work together, not replace each other:

Visual Data Masking

Protects privacy when humans view agent conversations in the UI. Use for screen sharing, team collaboration, and internal reviews.

PII Redaction

Protects data exported to your observability infrastructure. Use for compliance, audit logs, and external data analysis.
Recommended approach: Enable both features for comprehensive protection:
  • Visual Data Masking protects what your team sees in the platform UI
  • PII Redaction (Enterprise) protects what gets exported to your S3 bucket for compliance
Together, these features provide defense in depth: UI privacy for internal collaboration and backend data protection for external systems.
Learn more about PII Redaction for Event Streaming.

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Best practices

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Enable Visual Data Masking when:

  • Your agents handle customer PII regularly
  • Multiple team members review agent conversations
  • You frequently share your screen during demos or training
  • You need an extra layer of privacy protection in the UI
  • Compliance policies require limiting PII visibility

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Consider NOT enabling when:

  • You need to see actual values for debugging or troubleshooting
  • Your agents don’t process sensitive information
  • You’re the only person accessing the agent
  • Masked values would make conversation review difficult

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Important limitations to consider:

  • Do not rely solely on Visual Data Masking for critical privacy requirements
  • Test with sample data to understand detection accuracy for your use case
  • Combine with PII Redaction (Enterprise) for comprehensive privacy protection
  • Remember AI detection can miss PII - this is not a foolproof solution

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Beta limitations

As a Beta feature, Visual Data Masking has current limitations that users should understand:
The AI model used for PII detection can occasionally miss sensitive information. Detection accuracy varies based on data format, context, and PII type. This is a known limitation of the beta. Do not rely on Visual Data Masking as your sole privacy control for highly sensitive data.
Visual Data Masking is a simple toggle with no advanced configuration. You cannot choose which PII types to mask, customize the masking format, adjust detection sensitivity, or add custom PII patterns. All four supported PII types are automatically masked when enabled.
The masking format (e.g., ***@***.com) is fixed and cannot be customized. Future versions may offer configurable masking patterns, but currently all PII is masked using the same placeholder style.
Only four standard PII types are supported: email addresses, phone numbers, credit card numbers, and person names. Custom sensitive data types specific to your organization cannot be configured for masking.
Visual Data Masking only affects the UI display. Backend data storage, agent processing, API responses, and data exports all contain unmasked data. This is by design to ensure agents can function properly, but means the feature provides no backend data protection.
On very long conversations with extensive PII, there may be a slight delay in rendering masked content. This is typically imperceptible but may be noticeable in extreme cases with thousands of messages.
We’re actively improving Visual Data Masking based on user feedback. If you encounter issues or have feature requests, contact your sales representative or reach out to support.

Security overview

Learn about Relevance AI’s comprehensive security features and compliance

PII Redaction

Protect sensitive data in exported OTEL logs and audit trails (Enterprise)

User Level Authentication

Enable users to authenticate with their own credentials for integrations

Workforce Task View

Monitor and manage workforce tasks with Visual Data Masking enabled

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Frequently asked questions

No. Visual Data Masking only affects what you see in the UI. Agents continue to process unmasked data with no performance impact. The masking happens during UI rendering, not during agent execution.
The AI model can occasionally miss PII, especially with non-standard formats, international data, or context-specific sensitive information. Detection accuracy is optimized for standard US formats. Do not rely on Visual Data Masking as your sole privacy control for highly sensitive data. Always test with your specific data formats to understand detection accuracy.
No. Visual Data Masking is a simple toggle feature with no configuration options. All four supported PII types (email, phone, credit card, person names) are automatically masked when enabled. You cannot select specific types or add custom patterns.
No. The masking format is fixed (e.g., ***@***.com for emails). You cannot customize the placeholder text or masking pattern. This may be available in future releases.
No. Visual Data Masking only applies to the UI. Data returned via API calls is unmasked. If you need to protect data in API responses, implement masking in your application layer.
Yes. You can toggle Visual Data Masking off in agent or workforce settings at any time. Changes take effect immediately for new page loads.
Visual Data Masking applies to the Relevance AI platform UI only. If you’ve embedded agents on external websites, Visual Data Masking does not apply to those embedded interfaces.
Visual Data Masking protects what you see in the UI (front-end only). PII Redaction protects what gets exported to your S3 bucket for audit logs and observability (backend data scrubbing). Visual Data Masking is a simple toggle available in Beta; PII Redaction is an Enterprise feature with advanced configuration. Use both together for comprehensive protection.
When you enable Visual Data Masking, it applies to all conversation histories immediately, including past conversations. The masking is applied during rendering, so historical data is protected retroactively in the UI. However, the backend data remains unchanged.
Yes. Visual Data Masking only affects the UI display. Data exports, API responses, and backend storage all contain unmasked data. If you need masked exports, you’ll need to implement masking in your export pipeline or use PII Redaction (Enterprise) for S3 event streaming.
No. Visual Data Masking is UI-only. Agents send unmasked data to LLMs for processing. This is necessary for agents to function correctly. If you need to protect data sent to LLMs, you must implement pre-processing to scrub data before it reaches the agent.