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Guidelines are instructional rules that define how your agent communicates — its voice, tone, format, and style.

What are Guidelines?

Guidelines tell your agent how to write responses. They cover:

How Agents Use Guidelines

When generating a response, agents:
  1. Gather context from knowledge search
  2. Apply guidelines to shape the response
  3. Format according to your specifications
  4. Validate against guardrails before sending
Guidelines act as instructions that influence every response the agent generates.

Guideline Sections

Guidelines are organized into sections for easier management. Common sections:

Tone & Voice

How the agent should sound:

Response Format

How responses should be structured:

Brand Guidelines

Your company’s specific standards:

Domain-Specific

Instructions for particular topics:

Example Guidelines

Customer Support Agent Guidelines

Testing Guidelines

Use the playground to test how guidelines affect responses:
  1. Configure guidelines on your agent
  2. Open Test → Playground
  3. Send test messages
  4. Review responses for tone and format
  5. Adjust guidelines and retest

Guidelines vs Guardrails

Guidelines: “Be friendly and use the customer’s name” Guardrail: “Never promise refunds without approval”

Next Steps

Create Guidelines

Write effective guidelines

Guardrails

Set safety constraints