Building your own assistants

If you often explain the same thing, you have a starting point for an assistant. It might be the steps for using a relative's phone, the practical details of a holiday home or the questions your customers ask before booking.

You supply the context. The assistant gives people a place to ask questions, and they can ask for you when they need a person.

Choose one useful job

Start with a task you know well and someone you want to help. A focused brief is easier to test and keep current than an assistant meant to answer everything.

For a device, choose a relevant helper and give the make and model, then add what only you know about how it is set up. For a general helper or tutor, describe the topic, the audience and how you want it to explain things. The examples walk through both approaches.

How to get started

Choose a plan. Select Build your own in the sidebar, or compare the plans and pricing first. The Free plan lets you try building; paid plans add capacity and capabilities.
Select Create assistant in the sidebar.
Choose a type, say who it is for and tell the setup chat what the assistant should know, including the questions that should be passed to you.
Try a few questions in Test chat. Check the answers, the tone and what happens when you ask for a person.
When you are happy with it, send an email invitation to the person you built it for.

Keep the brief useful

An assistant does not need every answer on day one. Start with the common questions, then use requests for help to notice what is missing. Add a detail when it will help again, and leave one-off decisions with a person.

The building guide covers configuration, testing, sharing and editing. For plan limits and credit costs, see billing and plans.