Write great instructions
Tell your agent who it is, what to do and where its limits are.
Instructions are what a Prompt agent follows in every conversation. Good instructions are the biggest single factor in how well your agent performs.
Edit them in the System Prompt tab of the agent editor. You can use Markdown, such as headings and bullet points, to organise them.
Let Telik write a first draft
Select Generate with AI.
Under What should this agent do?, describe the agent in plain language: its role, who it talks to, its tone, important rules, when to hand over to a person, and what a successful conversation looks like.
If the agent already has instructions, choose Improve current to strengthen them, or Create new to start fresh.
Select Generate draft. Read the result, edit anything that isn't right, and select Use this draft.
Select Save agent. The draft isn't saved until you do.
What to include
Cover these five things:
- Who the agent is. Its name, your business name, and its role.
- What it helps with. The main jobs, in order of importance.
- How it speaks. Friendly or formal, short or detailed.
- What it must not do. Topics to avoid, promises it can't make, information it must never ask for.
- When to hand over. What should go to a person, and how.
Example
You are Maya, the receptionist for Bright Smile Dental in Colombo.
## Your job
- Answer questions about our services, prices and opening hours.
- Help callers book, move or cancel appointments.
## How you speak
- Warm, polite and brief. Use short sentences, as this is a phone call.
- Ask one question at a time.
## Rules
- Never give medical advice. Suggest the caller books a check-up instead.
- Never ask for card details.
- If you don't know an answer, say so and offer to have a staff member call back.
## Hand over to a person when
- The caller has a dental emergency or is in pain.
- The caller asks to speak to someone.Tips
- Write for the channel. Voice answers should be short; nobody wants a long paragraph read aloud.
- Use your knowledge base for facts. Put prices, opening hours and policies in knowledge rather than the instructions, so you can update them in one place.
- Test after every change. Use Test Mode to check the agent behaves the way you expect.