Write and test assistant instructions

A useful prompt describes what the assistant should accomplish and how to recognize completion. Give it a small, testable job before adding more instructions.

Write the prompt

Open the assistant’s prompt in the builder. Organize your instructions around:

Identity: the business and role the assistant represents.
Task: the steps needed to help the customer.
Response style: language, tone, length, and how many questions to ask at once.
Limits and recovery: what to do when information is missing or an action fails.

These headings are a writing pattern, not a requirement to find four separate settings screens.

Example: appointment enquiry

You are Emma, the receptionist for Acme Services.

Help visitors understand the available services and request an appointment.
Ask one short question at a time.

1. Find out what service the visitor needs.
2. Answer business questions using the assigned knowledge base.
3. If they want to book, collect the required details and check the connected calendar.
4. Offer only availability returned by the booking tool.
5. Confirm the appointment only after the tool reports that booking succeeded.

If information is missing, ask for it. If a tool fails, explain that the action has not been confirmed and offer the configured next step.

Use booking instructions only after configuring the calendar and tools. A prompt does not create the integration or permission to perform the action.

Use known variables

A supported variable such as {{contact.first_name}} can personalize the conversation when contact data is available. Include a natural fallback for missing values and test on the actual channel. Avoid inserting unverified account IDs or assuming a standalone test has every CRM field.

Improve one behavior at a time

Write several representative customer messages, including a missing-information and failure case.
Run them in Chat Lab.
Compare each response with the intended outcome.
Change the smallest relevant instruction.
Repeat the same cases.
Publish the version you intend to use and verify the customer channel.

If you use a flow, put shared rules in its Global Prompt and the immediate task in each Conversation node. See flow conversation nodes.

Prompt editing controls

Control	Options and behavior
Prompt editor	Edit the current assistant instructions. Wait for saving before testing or publishing. The workspace shows an advisory above 8,000 characters; this warning is not a hard prompt field limit.
Variable picker	Insert exact supported placeholders. Use the complete assistant variable reference for names, channel availability, defaults, and custom fields.
Generate Prompt	Enter a description and choose a language; generate, review/edit the result, then save it. Back to Description lets you change the input before generating again.
Enhance Prompt	Available when enabled for the account. Choose Targeted edits (default) or Full rewrite, enter optional instructions, and choose language. Requires an existing prompt; additional instructions are limited to 4,000 characters.
Enhancement focus shortcuts	Clear tool use, Fix conflicts, Better on calls, Handle edge cases, and Warmer tone. These populate guidance; they do not configure tools or phone settings.
Enhancement review	Review changes or final text; accept, reject, or edit proposed changes, then save the accepted result or discard it. Closing the drawer does not stop an ongoing enhancement.
Version History	Review prior snapshots, copy their prompt, or choose Revert to this version. Revert restores the supported assistant configuration from that snapshot, not only the prompt; inspect the resulting settings and test before publishing. A backup snapshot is made before reverting.
Find & Replace	Separate output rules with Find and Replace text. An empty replacement deletes a match. These rules do not rewrite the saved prompt or substitute for a system-variable definition.

Generate Prompt and Enhance Prompt offer these language choices: Auto (default), English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Arabic, Hindi, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Auto keeps the existing language for enhancement; generation uses its default language behavior unless the description requests another language. This selector changes the written prompt, not the voice’s transcription language or available voice catalogue. Enhancement saves check whether the stored prompt changed while you were reviewing. If the editor reports a conflict, reload the current prompt and reconcile your edits before saving again. A generated prompt still needs real tool, knowledge, and channel tests.

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Write and test assistant instructions

Write the prompt

Example: appointment enquiry

Use known variables

Improve one behavior at a time

Prompt editing controls

​Write the prompt

​Example: appointment enquiry

​Use known variables

​Improve one behavior at a time

​Prompt editing controls

Write the prompt

Example: appointment enquiry

Use known variables

Improve one behavior at a time

Prompt editing controls