BuildAgent

Instruction

View as Markdown

The instruction is what you author on the Canvas to define how the agent behaves. It has two parts:

  • Greeting: the opening message the agent speaks when the conversation starts.
  • Instructions: the agent’s behaviour, written as natural-language sections (Persona, Objective, Context, guardrails, and so on).

You write it in plain, declarative language with variables inserted inline. See Prompt Practices for how to write it well, and Navigating the build interface for the editor (slash commands, mentions, and Genie).

What goes in the instructions

Most instructions are organised into sections like:

  • Persona: who the agent is and its tone.
  • Objective: the goal of the conversation and what “done” looks like.
  • Context: background the agent should know (often filled from variables).
  • Guardrails: what the agent must and must not do.
  • Steps / workflow: how to move through the conversation, and when to call tools.

Writing for voice

  • Keep sentences short and speakable; long paragraphs synthesise poorly.
  • Say how to handle numbers, dates, and code-mixing in Indic languages.
  • Be explicit about what to collect, confirm, and read back.

See Prompt Practices for the full framework and worked examples.