Building effective assistants

This guide walks you through building AI assistants on Deputise — and, more importantly, how to make them good. Assistants help guide people through questions, and only when the assistant can't answer does it come to you.

For example:

An assistant to help your family fix the WiFi
An assistant to help your Dad with his phone
An assistant to explain to your guest how to use the heating
An assistant to handle the same five questions your customers always ask

Anything where a chat would be helpful, you can build it here. The trick is in how you build it — a vague assistant frustrates people, but a well-configured one feels like having you on call.

Overview

Creating an assistant is quick. Before you start, have a quick think about:

What is the assistant for? e.g. "Help Dad use his iPhone 16" or "Help my guest use the heating".
What specifics will help? e.g. for a heating system: the thermostat make and model, where the boiler is, where the overrides live.
Who is it for? One specific person, or anyone who happens to chat with it?

Step 1: Choose an assistant type

Each type comes with its own setup questions to guide you:

Helping a family member with their phone — tailored for tech support: addressee, phone make and model, confidence level, common issues, fallback message.
Personal Tutor — focused on learning: subject, age or grade level, teaching style.
General Help & Information — open-ended. Use this when nothing else fits.

If you're not sure, General Help & Information is a good default. The more specific types ask more focused questions.

Step 2: Configure your assistant

Once you've picked a type, you'll move into a guided chat. This is the core of the work.

Explain who the assistant is for

You'll be asked how the assistant should address users:

Use their name — a good default. Works well if you'll share with more than one person.
Use a specific term — like "Dad", "Bro", "Valued Guest" or a nickname. Best when the assistant is for one person.

Answer the configuration questions

A handful of questions teach the assistant what it needs to know. Typically:

What tone to use
How experienced the person is
What common issues they have
What products, devices, or systems are involved
How to handle situations it can't resolve

You'll often get suggested answers to pick from, and can always type your own. A "Finish up" option appears once you've answered enough — use it when the assistant has what it needs.

Pick a name and intro message

The assistant will suggest names and intro messages. Pick whatever fits, or write your own. The intro is the first thing the user sees — make it warm and clear about what the assistant helps with.

Set up escalation guidance

Finally, set what happens when the assistant can't answer:

Use the default — it offers to escalate to you and lets the person know you'll be in touch.
Provide custom guidance — e.g. "If they ask about billing, tell them to ring the office on 01234 567890."

Guidelines for writing good config

This is where good assistants are made. The quality of what you write determines how good the assistant feels.

Be specific

Vague input produces vague answers. Be concrete.

Instead of "Not good with technology" → "Gets confused by multiple steps. Prefers one instruction at a time. Doesn't know what 'the cloud' means."
Instead of "Phone issues" → "Often can't find apps after rearranging the home screen. Struggles with text size. Forgets how to switch between WhatsApp and the phone app."
Instead of "Help with the heating" → "Hive thermostat in the hallway. Boiler in the airing cupboard. Hot water 6–8am and 5–7pm. Override is the small button on the side of the thermostat."

Consider the user's perspective

Step into the shoes of whoever will use this:

What words do they use for things? ("the box", "the WhatsApp", "the streaming thing")
What frustrates them most?
What's worked when you've helped them before?
What do they already know? Don't have the assistant explain basics they're comfortable with.

Think about edge cases

A good assistant knows its limits.

What should happen when it doesn't know something?
Who should the user contact for complex issues, and how?
Are there topics it should avoid? (Medical, legal, anything that costs money?)
Are there urgent scenarios it should escalate immediately? (e.g. "If they say there's a smell of gas, tell them to leave the house and call the gas emergency line.")

Keep the tone right

Tell the assistant how to talk, not just what to say:

"Be patient and don't use jargon — explain like you would to your grandmother."
"Be direct and brief — busy people, no fluff."
"Be warm and a bit playful — use first names, not formal."

Choosing Premium or Standard AI

Every assistant runs on either the Standard or Premium model.

Standard — works well for most cases. Costs 1 credit per response.
Premium — generally the latest generation of models, better at complex reasoning. A bit slower, doesn't always produce a better answer. Costs 2 credits per response.

Choose Premium when the topic is genuinely complex (technical troubleshooting, multi-step diagnosis) or you want the most polished answers. Stick with Standard for well-defined topics (FAQ, simple how-to) or when keeping credit use low matters.

You can change the model later from the assistant's Settings (gear icon).

Premium is available on the Basic plan and above. Free-tier creators are restricted to Standard.

Capabilities

You can enable extra capabilities per assistant from Settings:

Image attachments — let people send photos (e.g. "here's a picture of the error message"). Useful for tech support. Costs 2 credits per use.
Web search — let the assistant look things up live. Useful when answers might be out of date. Costs 2 credits per use.

Both require the Standard plan or above.

Testing your assistant

Before sharing, test it. From the assistant list, open the menu and choose Test Chat — a sandbox conversation that won't be saved.

What to try:

Common questions — does it answer them well?
Awkward questions — what if someone asks something off-topic?
The tone — does it sound right for the person you're building for?
Escalation — say "can you get [your name] to help?" and check it offers to escalate properly.
Edge cases — try the specific things you wrote into the config.

If something's off, edit before sharing.

Editing and iterating

You can update an assistant any time. From the assistant list, choose Edit to enter the change chat — describe what needs to change, review the summary, and click Save and Exit.

For quick changes, Settings lets you rename, switch model, toggle capabilities, or disable the assistant without going through the chat.

Use escalations as feedback

Escalations are gold. If the same topic keeps coming up — the assistant didn't know how to handle WiFi resets, say — that's a clear signal to add that information.

Notice the recurring topic in your escalation emails
Open the assistant and click Edit
Describe the new information the assistant needs
Save — future conversations on that topic should be handled without escalation

Tips for good edits

Be specific — "add information about how to restart the router" beats "make it better".
Test after editing — use Test Chat to confirm before the next person hits the same issue.
Don't over-tune — every edit makes the assistant a bit more rigid. If something is genuinely rare, escalation is fine.

Sharing with people

When you're happy, share from the assistant list using the Share option:

Enter the recipient's name (how the assistant will address them, if you chose "Use their name")
Enter their email address
Send the invitation

The recipient gets an email, signs in, and gets access. Invitations expire after 7 days — if they don't accept in time, send another. You can share with as many people as you like, and revoke access from the sharing view.

Tips for specific scenarios

Helping older relatives with tech

Use their name as the addressee, or just "Mum"/"Dad"
Tell the assistant to use simple, single-step instructions with no jargon
Include the exact make and model — "iPhone 14, iOS 18" beats "an iPhone"
List the specific apps they use and the things they regularly forget
The default escalation usually works well — they just want a real person if stuck

Customer support FAQ

Use General Help & Information for flexibility
Be specific about what you offer, hours, prices, policies
Include exact wording for things you don't help with ("We don't refund after 30 days — direct them to example.com/returns")
Set custom escalation guidance like "Tell them I'll respond within one working day"
Consider Premium if your domain is technical

Household systems (heating, WiFi, etc.)

One assistant per system works better than one for the whole house
Include make, model, and physical location of every relevant device
Document override paths — "if the thermostat won't respond, the manual switch is on the boiler, top right"
Include the things you've explained to guests before — those are the real questions
Add web search if your products change firmware often

Tutors and learning helpers

Use the Personal Tutor type for the right setup questions
Be clear about age and ability — a tutor for a 7-year-old is very different from one for an A-level student
Tell it the teaching style — "explain through examples first", "don't give the answer, ask leading questions"
If helpful, tell it to push back when the learner asks for the answer too quickly

Keep going

A great assistant doesn't appear on the first attempt. Build something simple, share it with one person, watch the escalations, edit, repeat. Over a couple of weeks you'll have something that genuinely takes work off your plate.