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Instructions are short rules and facts the Aide AI Agent follows in every conversation: “Never promise a delivery date”, “Offer store credit before a refund when the item is unworn”. Find them under AI Agent > Instructions in the sidebar. This article is the reference for the Instructions page. For the agent’s other sections, see Set up the Aide AI Agent.

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Instruction, tone, knowledge or procedure

  • Instructions are policy that always holds. The agent can tell a customer what an instruction says and rely on it. The check Aide runs before sending a reply reads your instructions too.
  • Tone & identity is how the agent sounds. It is never a source for a promise or a fact.
  • Knowledge is what customers ask about: an article if they should read it, a snippet if it’s only for Aide.
  • Procedures are for one situation, and can collect details, run actions and hand off (see Build procedures).
Instructions can’t run actions, tag, or hand off. When a procedure says something more specific for its situation, the agent follows the procedure.

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Add an instruction

  1. Open AI Agent > Instructions and choose Add instruction.
  2. Write the rule under Instruction, up to 500 characters. One rule per instruction works best.
  3. Under Channels, leave All selected, or pick the channels it applies to.
  4. With more than one agent, choose who it Applies to: Every AI agent or only the agent you have open.
  5. Choose Add instruction.
Each change is saved as soon as you make it. The agent follows it from its next reply.

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Channels

Aide Chat and Email are always offered. Zendesk, Front, Gorgias, Gmail, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp appear once you’ve connected them. An instruction with channels picked applies only to conversations on those channels. Each instruction shows All channels or the names of the ones you picked.

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How many the agent reads

  • A reply reads the instructions that are switched on, from the top of the list down, up to 30 instructions and 4,000 characters in total. An instruction that doesn’t fit is left out.
  • The meter under the list shows how many are on and how many characters they use, for example “12 on” and “1,850 / 4,000 characters”. Past either limit it turns red and tells you to shorten or switch off the ones that matter least.
  • Use the arrows to move an instruction up or down. Keep the rules that matter most at the top.
  • A workspace can hold up to 200 instructions, on or off.

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Switch off, edit or delete

Use the switch on an instruction to stop it without deleting it. Edit its text, channels or agent at any time. When you delete an instruction, the agent stops following it from the next reply.

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Where instructions come from

  • You add them on this page.
  • From a knowledge gap: when a gap shows the agent needs a rule rather than an article, choose Add as instruction on the gap (see Find and fix gaps in your knowledge). It is added for every agent.
  • Moved from your agent’s instructions: rules that sat in the agent’s free-text instructions before this page existed were moved here, one per paragraph. They apply as written: edit or delete any that no longer hold.

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Copilot drafts follow them too

Drafts Copilot writes for your team follow the same instructions as the agent’s own replies (see Copilot drafts for your team).

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Who can do this

Owners and admins can add, edit, reorder, switch off and delete instructions.