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A system prompt is your agent’s instructions—it defines the persona, tone, guardrails, and behavior your agent will follow. Think of it as the briefing your agent reads before every conversation. A well-crafted system prompt is the single biggest lever for making your agent helpful, on-brand, and trustworthy. Your system prompt can be anything from a few sentences to a detailed playbook. The default is a friendly, concise assistant, but you can customize it completely to match your client’s needs, industry, or personality.

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Steps

1

Open the agent editor

Go to the agent you want to configure and click the System prompt section on the left side of the editor.
2

Write or edit the system prompt

Type your instructions in the text field. Your prompt might cover:
  • Role: “You are a customer support specialist for an insurance company”
  • Tone: “Be professional but friendly, never robotic”
  • What to do: “Answer questions about policy coverage, claim status, and billing”
  • What not to do: “Never make promises about coverage; always refer to the policy”
  • How to handle unknowns: “If you don’t know, say so and offer to connect them with a human agent”
  • When to escalate: “If the customer is frustrated or asking for something outside your scope, offer a warm transfer”
Type {{ to insert custom variables from your first message—useful for personalizing the prompt with client name, timezone, or other dynamic data.
3

Set your timezone (optional)

At the bottom right, use the timezone picker to set the default timezone. Your agent will use this to answer questions about times and schedules. This can be overridden per conversation if needed.
4

Test in the playground

Switch to the chat or phone playground (on the right side) to test your agent with the new prompt. Try a few realistic scenarios to make sure the tone and behavior feel right. Your edits are drafts until you publish.
5

Publish when ready

Once you’re happy, publish the agent to make the new system prompt live. Drafts stay in draft mode—they don’t affect your live agent or your clients’ experience.

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Best practices

Be specific, not vague. Instead of “Be helpful,” say “Answer questions about our wireless plans, data add-ons, and billing. Don’t promise speeds or coverage—refer to our coverage map.” Define the scope clearly. Tell the agent what it can and cannot do. This prevents it from trying to handle questions outside its wheelhouse. Handle edge cases. Anticipate questions the agent might not be able to answer, and tell it what to do: escalate to a human, offer an alternative, or explain a limitation. Keep tone consistent. If your brand is playful, say so. If it’s serious and trustworthy, make that clear. The agent will mirror the tone you describe. Use examples sparingly. A few concrete examples can help (“If asked about our return policy, explain we offer 30-day returns”) but too many make the prompt noisy. Avoid contradictions. If you tell the agent to be helpful but also to be cautious, make it clear how to balance those. “Helpful within the bounds of our policy” is better.

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Example: customer support prompt