Building Effective Assistants

Assistants answer questions on a topic you define, and pass a question to you when someone asks for a person. For example:

An assistant to help your family fix the WiFi
An assistant to help your Dad with his phone
An assistant to explain the heating to a guest
An assistant to help a new colleague with the questions your customers always ask

A vague assistant frustrates people. A well-configured one feels like having you on call.

Before you start

Have a think about:

What is the assistant for? "Help Dad use his iPhone 16" or "Help my guest use the heating".
What specifics will help? For a heating system: the thermostat make and model, where the boiler is, where the overrides are.
Who is it for? One specific person, or anyone you share it with?

Then choose Create Assistant on your assistants. You need a plan first; see subscribing for the first time.

Step 1: Choose an assistant type

Types are grouped into eight categories, and choosing a category narrows the list. Each type tells the setup chat what to find out, starting with each thing the person needs help with:

Phone Helper asks which kind of phone it is, and records the model if you give it.
Subject Tutor asks what stage they are studying at, and the subject if you know it.
General Helper asks about each thing the person needs help with, whatever the area, and covers anything the other types do not.

If you're not sure, General Helper is a good default.

Step 2: Configure your assistant

After picking a type, you move into a guided chat. The Settings tab beside the chat sets the model and capabilities before you save.

Say who the assistant is for

You'll be asked whether the assistant is for someone specific or for anyone you share it with. What it calls each person is set when you share it with them.

Tell the setup chat what the assistant should know

The setup chat asks what the person needs help with, then about each of those things in turn: when it comes up, what's involved and what you usually do about it. Each thing becomes a topic, such as "Video calls with the grandkids" or "Online banking". The chat saves what you tell it in two forms:

Facts are details the assistant works from, such as the phone model, where the boiler is or the opening hours.
Additional instructions are rules for how it behaves, such as giving one step at a time or never giving medical advice.

Most of these belong to one topic, and the assistant looks that topic up when a question touches it. A few apply everywhere because they matter in every conversation, such as who the person is or the phone they use for everything. Up to five facts can apply everywhere. You can see and change the topics, and move anything between them, in the Manual tab when you edit the assistant later.

Answer in your own words; one reply can cover several details. If you are stuck, choose Suggest answers: they are examples to pick or edit, and nothing is saved until you send it. Once the important details are covered, the chat keeps asking about things worth adding. Finish setup appears once the chat has covered one of the things the person needs help with well enough to help with it. Choose it whenever you are ready, or tell the chat you are done at any point.

Setup messages are included up to a daily allowance. Beyond it, each one costs 1 credit and the chat says so.

Pick a name and intro message

The setup chat suggests names, then intro messages. Pick one, or choose Other to write your own. If suggestions fail, setup keeps your details and offers a fallback name. The intro is the first thing the person sees, so make it clear what the assistant helps with.

Set up escalation guidance

Choose what happens when the assistant can't answer:

The default tells the person it will check with you and that you'll get back to them.
Or say when it should come to you, such as "If they ask about billing, tell them to ring the office on 01234 567890."

Review and save

The Assistant Summary shows the name, description, intro message, escalation guidance, facts and additional instructions, with the facts used in every conversation marked. To change anything, type the change into the chat. Choose Create Assistant to save, or Discard changes to leave without saving.

Writing good configuration

The quality of what you write determines how good the assistant feels. An assistant holds up to 15 topics, 50 facts and 10 additional instructions of up to 200 characters each, counting the instructions under topics.

Be specific

Vague details produce vague answers.

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."

Think from the user's side

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.

Cover the edge cases

What should happen when it doesn't know something?
Who should the person contact for complex issues, and how?
Are there topics it should avoid? Medical, legal, anything that costs money?
Are there urgent scenarios that need emergency services instead of waiting for you? For example "If they say there's a smell of gas, tell them to leave the house and call the gas emergency line."

Set the tone

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."

Each assistant also has a default communication style, which you can change from the Manual tab when you edit it, and you can choose a different style for each person you share it with. Styles you can reuse are listed under Communication profiles in the sidebar.

Choosing Premium or Standard AI

Every assistant runs on either the Standard or Premium model. Standard suits most routine questions and clearly defined tasks. Premium can help with complex reasoning, such as technical troubleshooting or multi-step diagnosis, but may be slower and does not always produce a better answer. Stick with Standard for well-defined topics or when keeping credit use low matters.

You can change the model later from Settings in the assistant's menu. See billing and plans for plan availability and credit basics for response costs.

Capabilities

Settings lets you enable extra capabilities per assistant:

Image attachments let people send photos, such as a picture of an error message.
Web search lets the assistant look things up live, useful when answers might go out of date.

Both need the Standard plan or above and add to the cost of responses that use them. See credit basics.

Testing your assistant

Before sharing, choose Test chat from the assistant's menu. It's a sandbox conversation that isn't saved, though responses use your credits like any other. Try:

Common questions, to see whether it answers them well
Off-topic questions, to see what happens
The tone, to check it sounds right for the person you're building for
Escalation, by saying "can you get [your name] to help?" and checking it offers to pass the question on
The specific things you wrote into the configuration

If something's off, edit before sharing.

Editing and iterating

Choose Edit from the assistant's menu, or select the assistant in the sidebar. The editor has three tabs and opens on Manual:

Manual changes the name, intro message, escalation guidance, communication style, topics, facts and additional instructions, and where each fact and instruction applies
Chat lets you describe a change in your own words and review the updated summary
Settings covers the model, capabilities and whether the assistant is enabled

Select Update Assistant to save, or Discard changes to leave it as it was. For quick changes, Settings in the assistant's menu renames, switches model, toggles capabilities or disables the assistant without opening the editor.

Use escalations as feedback

If the same topic keeps coming up in escalations, say the assistant not knowing how to handle WiFi resets, add that information.

When you answer an escalation, the Save this answer panel keeps the answer in one step: add it to the facts for everyone, under a topic or everywhere; remember it for the person who asked; or both. Something about one person, such as which router they have, belongs in their memory. Something true for everyone belongs in the facts.

For bigger changes:

Notice the recurring topic in your escalations
Choose Edit from the assistant's menu
Add the missing information as a fact, or describe it in the Chat tab
Select Update Assistant, and 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, before the next person hits the same issue.
Add recurring missing information, and let unusual questions reach you through escalation.

Choose Share from the assistant's menu:

Enter what the assistant should call them, such as "Dad" or "Alex"
Enter their email address
Optionally choose a communication style for them
Send the invitation

The recipient gets an email, signs in and has access. Invitations expire after 7 days. Manage access in the assistant's menu lists pending invitations, which you can resend or delete, and the people with access, whose access you can remove. You can share with as many people as you like.

Reviewing what the assistant remembers

The assistant keeps short memory notes for each person it's shared with: answers you saved for them from an escalation, notes they agreed to when the assistant offered one, and notes either of you added. It reads them at the start of every chat with that person, and your facts win where the two disagree. To review them, open Manage access from the assistant's menu and choose the Memory button beside the person. You can edit, delete or add notes, or clear them all. The person sees and can change the same notes. Each person's memory holds up to 30 notes, and removing someone's access deletes theirs.

Tips for specific scenarios

Helping older relatives with tech

Tell the assistant to use single-step instructions with no jargon
Include the exact make and model. "iPhone 14, iOS 18" beats "an iPhone"
List the apps they use and the things they regularly forget
The default escalation usually works well, since they want a real person if stuck

Helping someone who deals with your customers

Use Customer & Client Helper, which covers what the business offers and how orders and bookings work
Be specific about what you offer, hours, prices and policies
Include exact wording for things you don't help with ("We don't refund after 30 days, so direct them to our returns page")
Set escalation guidance such as "Tell them I'll respond within one working day"
Consider Premium if your business is technical

Household systems (heating, WiFi, etc.)

One assistant per system works better than one for the whole house. Use a type such as Heating & Energy Helper or Home Internet Helper
Include the make, model and location of every relevant device
Document override paths, such as "if the thermostat won't respond, the manual switch is on the boiler, top right"
Include the things you've explained to guests before, because those are the real questions
Add web search if your products change firmware often

Tutors and learning helpers

Use Subject Tutor so setup finds out the learner's stage and subject
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

Build something simple, share it with one person, watch the escalations, edit, repeat. Over a couple of weeks you'll have something that takes work off your plate.