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Your Agent’s Brain and Tools

The Instructions box is where you tell your agent what to do and how to behave. Write in plain English - no coding required! This is like having a detailed conversation with a really smart assistant about exactly how you want them to help your customers.

What to include:

  • What your agent does: Clearly explain the main purpose and goals
  • How it should behave: Define the tone, personality, and approach
  • Step-by-step processes: Walk through your methodology or workflow
  • Important context: Include key information your agent needs to know
Screenshot2025 07 23at12 19 32PM Pn
In the example above, the builder has given clear instructions for an article summary agent

Tips for Great Instructions
  • Be specific about what you want your agent to accomplish
  • Include examples of good responses when possible
  • Mention any important rules or limitations
  • Write like you’re training a new team member
On the right side, you’ll see Skills & Tools - these give your agent the ability to actually do things beyond just chatting. Screenshot2025 07 23at12 18 26PM Pn

Tools: Built-in Superpowers

Tools are ready-made capabilities we’ve built for you, like:
We have provide some default tools to begin, like ‘userChat’, ‘fileSystem,’ ‘googleSearch’, and ‘websiteScraper’. Simply click to add or remove tools so your agent has what it needs to accomplish its goals.
Click on the name of a tool within builder.appy.ai to learn that tool’s purpose

Skills: Your Custom Capabilities

Skills are custom capabilities you create when you need your agent to do something specific that requires detailed instructions. Create a new skill when:
  • You have a complex sub-process that needs lots of detailed guidance
  • You want to isolate a specific, repeatable task
  • The main instructions are getting too long and complex
Think of skills as specialized tasks your agent can do - like “analyze a business proposal” or “create a workout plan.”
For many agents, custom skills are unneccessary - all instructions can remain under behavior

How It All Works Together

Your agent reads its instructions, then automatically decides which skills and tools to use based on what the user needs. You don’t have to manage when or how - just give good instructions and select the right capabilities.

Testing Agent Behavior

Testing your agent is always one click away. Click the “Preview” button to open a separate tab and begin using your agent. You can make real time adjustments to behavior, skills, and tools and see how it impacts the preview. For skills, test just that specific task by clicking the preview skill icon in the toolbar.

Getting Started

  1. Start with clear instructions about your agent’s main purpose
  2. Add essential tools like userChat and googleSearch
  3. Test your agent to see how it performs
  4. Refine and add skills as needed for complex tasks
Start simple and adjust based on testing! It’s easier to start with basic instructions and refine based on observation than to over-instruct to begin with.