Create a Custom Agent

A custom agent is a specialist you set up once: you brief it, give it the tools and skills it needs, and pick a model. Then you can start a chat with it, or let it do a task, without setting anything up again. Everything happens on one page, with a live preview on the right.

The example on this page is Client Update Writer, an agent Alex uses to turn project notes into short status emails for clients such as Maria at Brightside Bakery.

Open the agent editor

1. Click Agents in the left rail.
2. Click Add your own agent (top right). On your first visit you can also choose Create a custom agent in the introduction.

The New agent page opens: "Describe what it should do. Use the preview on the right to see it and try it before you create it."

Basics

• Upload image: optional picture for the agent.
• Name: for example, Client Update Writer.
• One-line intro: "Shown in your agent list and at the top of a new chat." For example, Turns my project notes into short, friendly status emails for clients.

Instructions

Write what the agent is responsible for. The page suggests: "Brief it like a new colleague: what it's responsible for, the rules to follow, and what to hand back. It follows this in every chat."

• Under the text box, Add a section offers four ready-made headings: Check before starting, Rules to follow, Don't do and What to hand back. Click one to add that heading, then write the points under it.
• To start from a prompt you already saved, click Import from prompt library. See Prompt library.

Alex's instructions:

You write short status update emails to my clients. Use only the facts I give you.

Rules to follow
- Always include a clear subject line.
- Keep the email under 100 words.
- End with one specific question or request for the client.

Conversation starters

Starters are "Shown in a new chat; one click sends it. Up to 4." Click Add a starter and type a message, for example Here are this week's notes for a client update.

Capabilities

Choose the "Tools and skills it can use in a chat. Add only what it needs; fewer means fewer mistakes."

1. Click Add capabilities. A panel opens with a Tools tab and a Skills tab.
2. Search or filter the list (Preset / Custom, Ready to use / Needs setup / Connected, Starred), then switch on what the agent needs.
3. To start from your usual set, click Use my default capabilities. See Default capabilities.

If you add nothing, the agent "can still chat and write from what you give it." Manage Tools at the bottom of the panel opens Capabilities in a new tab; your draft stays where it is.

More settings: model and memory

Which model to use:

• Auto select (recommended): "Picks a suitable model for each question, so you don't have to."
• Choose a model: "For when you know the differences and want to always use one." Pick the model from the list that appears.

Remember what I ask it to remember turns on memory for this agent only. For example, say "Remember: always quote prices with tax" and it keeps doing so in later chats with this agent.

Preview and try it

The Preview panel on the right has two views:

• How it looks: the start of a new chat with your agent, with its image, name, intro and starters.
• Try it: chat with the agent as it is set up on the page, including unsaved changes ("Trying your unsaved changes").

Test chats aren't saved, use credits like any chat, and don't use memory.

Create the agent

Click Create agent (top right or at the bottom of the page). The agent appears in the Custom tab of the Agents page. Start a chat with it from its card, pin it, or choose it in a task under Done by → Agent. See Use agents.

Edit, share, duplicate or delete

On your agent's card, click More actions (the … button):

• Edit agent: change any of its settings.
• Share agent: share it with other people. Agents shared with you appear in the Shared with me tab.
• Duplicate: make a copy to build a variation.
• Delete: remove the agent.