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Creating an Agent

This guide shows you how to build an agent. We will use an example of an onboarding agent, but the steps and considerations can be used with any use case.

Getting Started

Access the Agent Builder

Navigate to the agent overview page and click "Create agent".

The Agent Builder chat opens. Describe your agent in natural language, start from a template, or click Go to editor to open the configuration editor. This guide covers the manual configuration.

Plan Your Agent

Before diving into configuration, consider these key questions:

  • Purpose: What specific task should this agent help with?
  • Process: What are the steps to achieve this task?
  • Resources: Do you need to attach files or connect to knowledge sources?
  • User guidance: How will you guide users to provide the right information?
  • Examples: Do you have examples that demonstrate the expected style and output?

For our onboarding agent, we want to:

Help new employees get familiar with the company and their role Guide users through the onboarding process Ask for missing information when needed Never assume information that wasn't provided

Basic Configuration

Icon, Name, and Description

Upload an Icon

Choose an emoji or upload a custom icon that represents your agent's purpose.

Set Name and Description

  • Name: Onboarding Agent
    • Description: Helps new team members to get started in the company by answering frequently asked questions.

Writing Instructions

The instructions are the most critical part of your agent configuration. Use the prompt engineering guide to craft effective instructions using the PTCF framework (Persona, Task, Context, Format).

Persona

Define who your agent is:

text
    You are a friendly and helpful onboarding agent dedicated to guiding new employees as they familiarize themselves with ajan and their specific roles.

Tasks

Specify what the agent should do and how:

text
    Your primary objective is to support new joiners in understanding ajan's mission, the company processes and teams, their job responsibilities, and key resources available to them, ensuring a seamless transition into the company.

Context

Provide relevant background information:

text
    Direct employees to specific resources, such as sections in the handbook, or key contacts for further assistance. Encourage sharing feedback to Lennard as the owner for onboarding and company processes overall to help improve the organization continuously. Suggest an ideal timeline for completing onboarding tasks and tailor information to each employee's role or department. Ask the user if they would like to learn more about a specific topic if appropriate.

    For more detailed information about ajan, please refer to the attached document. The different sections in the handbook are:
    Chapter 1: Getting Started
    Chapter 2: Strategy
    Chapter 3: How we got here
    Chapter 4: Sales & Marketing
    Chapter 5: Customer Success
    Chapter 6: Product & Engineering
    Chapter 7: Business Model
    Chapter 8: Team & Stakeholders
    Chapter 9: How We Work, Values, and Principles
    Chapter 10: Business Operations
    Chapter 11: Meetings, and Feedback
    Chapter 12: Hiring

Format

Specify the expected output structure:

text
    Maintain an empathetic and engaging tone while providing concise and clear information. Cover key topics such as company culture, policies, essential tools, and systems.

Advanced Configuration

Conversation Starters

Conversation starters help users get started quickly and reduce friction. Use them for:

If your agent can perform different tasks, let users choose:

  • I want to write a new text
  • I want to correct a text I have written

For frequently asked questions or common use cases:

  • How do I request holidays?
  • Who do I contact for tech support questions?

Use conversation starters to quickly test your agent during development instead of retyping the same prompts.

Knowledge Integration

Upload documents directly from your computer via drag and drop, or select files from connected integrations like in chat.

Use Folder Sync for synced SharePoint, Google Drive, OneDrive, or Confluence Cloud folders. In the Agent editor, select Add folders in the Folders row. Add Knowledge bases and Library Folders the same way.

Capabilities

Enable additional tools your agent can use:

  • Web Search — Access real-time information from the internet
  • Create & work with files — Create files, edit content, and analyze tabular data
  • Image Generation — Create images based on text descriptions
  • Canvas — Dedicated editing screen alongside your chat

For detailed information about these capabilities, see our chat tools guide.

Agent Actions

Actions enable your agent to interact with external tools and APIs. They can:

  • Retrieve information from other systems
  • Update, delete, or create entries in external tools
  • Automate workflows across platforms

Model Selection & Creativity

Choose the AI model that best fits your use case:

Creativity (Temperature)

Adjust the creativity level to control response variability:

  • Lower creativity: More focused, consistent responses
  • Higher creativity: More varied, creative responses

Testing and Iteration

Switch the Build and Test toggle to Test to chat with your agent and:

  • Test different conversation flows
  • Verify the agent asks for missing information
  • Ensure output format consistency
  • Check response quality across various inputs

Sharing Your Agent

Share with Others

Click the Share button in the upper right corner to control access:

Sharing options might be restricted in your workspace based on your admin's security settings.

Share with your entire workspace for broad access.

Copy a direct link to share with specific people.

Grant access to specific groups or individuals with either:

  • User access: Can use the agent
  • Editor access: Can modify the agent configuration

Additional Options

Use the agent configuration to:

  • Duplicate: Create a copy for experimentation
  • Delete: Remove the agent
  • Analytics and Feedback: View usage data and user feedback

Best Practices

Iterative Improvement

  1. Start Simple: Begin with basic functionality and add complexity gradually
  2. Test Extensively: Try various scenarios and edge cases
  3. Gather Feedback: Monitor analytics and collect user feedback
  4. Refine Instructions: Update based on real-world usage patterns

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Next Steps

Now that you've created your agent, consider:

FAQ

Create an agent when users repeatedly need the same role, instructions, knowledge, or tools. Agents are useful for specialized assistants, team workflows, and repeatable processes that benefit from saved configuration.

Review the instructions, attached knowledge, tools, model, and example prompts. Start with a focused scope, test common cases, and add complexity only after the agent handles the core task reliably.