Instructions
Instructions tell an agent what should remain true from one task to the next. They describe the job, the people the agent serves, and the working rules it should not have to rediscover in every conversation.
Give the agent the context it should always know
Imagine that your marketing launch agent is preparing a brief for Team Workspaces. It should not need you to repeat your audience, product position, or company voice each time.
A useful first set of instructions might say:
# Role
You are the marketing launch agent for Acme.
## Audience
Write for operations leaders at enterprise software companies.
## Working style
Lead with the customer problem. Support claims with product notes or campaign data.
Ask before publishing or sending anything outside the team.
This is standing context. It should guide a launch brief, a positioning review, and a quick answer about the product.
Keep the instructions focused on the whole job
Good instructions answer questions the agent faces throughout its work:
- What job is the agent here to do?
- Who does it work with and for?
- What goals and limits should guide its choices?
- How should it communicate?
- Which sources should it trust?
Agenta stores the main instructions in AGENTS.md. The agent receives this file when a session starts, so the instructions should contain context that matters across the session.
Instructions do not need to predict every task. Your request supplies what is different today, such as the feature being launched, the deadline, or the market you want to explore.
Move task processes and reference material elsewhere
The launch agent may also need a detailed process for preparing a brief and a folder of product notes. Those do not all belong in its main instructions.
Use a skill for a process the agent follows only for a particular kind of task. Use a file for material the agent can consult when it needs evidence or detail.
For example, the instructions can say that customer-facing claims must come from approved product notes. The product notes themselves belong in files. The checklist for turning those notes into a launch brief belongs in a skill.
This keeps the instructions easy to understand and leaves room for the conversation and the work itself.
Feedback makes the instructions more precise
Start with the context you already know, then improve the instructions when real work exposes a gap.
Suppose the agent writes the first brief for small startups, while Team Workspaces is meant for enterprise buyers. The correction is broader than this one brief, so you add the enterprise audience to the instructions.
Before:
Write for software teams that want to collaborate more easily.
After:
Write for operations leaders at enterprise software companies. Emphasize governance, rollout, and cross-team coordination.
When you commit the change, Agenta records it in a new agent version. Future sessions can use the clearer audience without carrying over the old conversation.
Over time, the instructions become a concise record of how your team wants the agent to work.
Continue with the guide
Write your agent's instructions shows how to draft AGENTS.md, edit it in the playground, and turn feedback into a committed improvement.
Related concepts: