Personality and Operating Prompt
Every agent has two distinct fields that together define how it behaves. Knowing which one to edit when is the single most useful concept for tuning an agent.
The split
| Field | What it controls | Where to edit |
|---|---|---|
| Personality | The agent's voice, tone, and style. | Agent Settings → Personality tab |
| Operating prompt | How the agent uses its tools, memory, and rules. The long-form instructions. | Pick one in Agent Settings → Operating Prompt tab; edit the body in Library > Prompts |
Personality is per-agent and never shared. The operating prompt lives in your Library so you can re-use the same instructions across multiple agents.
Personality
A short paragraph. One or two sentences. Voice, tone, style -- no behaviour rules.
Good personality paragraphs:
"I'm a tax-and-compliance specialist with a dry sense of humour. I cite the section number, then explain it like a human."
"Warm greeting, fast escalation, no over-promising on timelines."
Recommended length: 400 characters or fewer (600 is the hard limit). Keep it short.
Editing: Agent Settings → Personality tab. Changes take effect the next time you click Apply changes in the Settings header.
Operating prompt
The long body -- when to use which tool, what to search before answering, formatting conventions. Stored in your Prompt Library so the same instructions can power multiple agents.
Picking one
Three options, available in both the wizard and Agent Settings → Operating Prompt tab:
- Use platform default -- sensible default that works for most agents.
- Pick from my Library -- re-use a system prompt you or a colleague has shared with you. Search the list, order it by name or last update, and page through all of them.
- Author a new one -- write a prompt inline; it's saved to your Library so you can re-use it later.
When changes take effect
Choosing a different operating prompt for a running agent takes effect when you click Apply changes in the Settings header, like other settings. Editing the text of the prompt the agent already uses, in Library > Prompts, reaches the running agent within a minute, without Apply changes.
When to put something where
| You want to change… | Edit this |
|---|---|
| How the agent sounds (friendly / formal / sarcastic) | Personality |
| Bullet-point output format | Operating prompt |
| Always confirm before sending email | A must rule |
| Use web search before answering about current events | Operating prompt |
| Never call delete tools | A must-not rule |
| Cite the source for tool-derived facts | Operating prompt |
When in doubt: if the change is about style, personality. If it's about what tools to use, when, and how, operating prompt. Hard constraints belong in rules, not either prompt.