Getting started with Instructions

The instructions below are for desktops and laptops only.

Instructions are the central set of directions that tell your AI agent how to behave during conversations.

Use Instructions (previously Base Prompt) to define your AI agent’s tone, priorities, and simple decision rules so it consistently represents your brand, and supports your business goals.

With Instructions, you can:

• Keep responses aligned with your brand voice and service style
• Reduce incorrect or off-topic replies by defining clear boundaries
• Create a more predictable escalation path for complex or sensitive conversations

Instructions are written as plain text (each instruction starts with “-”) that your AI agent uses as guidance when generating replies.

Think of Instructions as your AI agent’s operating guide. They tell the agent:

• Which tone to use
• What to prioritize
• When to ask follow-up questions
• How to respond if it cannot answer

What Instructions control

You can use Instructions to influence:

• Tone and personality — friendly, professional, concise, etc.
• Topic boundaries — what the AI agent should and should not answer
• Actions — provide links, show suggested messages, request contact details, and more

Why customize Instructions?

Every business has different goals. Well-written Instructions help your AI agent support those goals consistently — whether you focus on customer support, sales, lead capture, or onboarding.

If you use multiple AI agents, each AI agent can have its own Instructions, allowing you to tailor behavior for different channels and use cases.

1. Log in to your tawk.to account., and select the correct property.

2. Click Automation in the left navigation bar.

3. Click Agents in the left submenu.

4. Select your AI agent.

5. The Instructions tab will open. Edit the instructions and use the preview on the right to test your AI agent’s responses. Click Save when you’re done. Your changes take effect immediately.

Key details

• The Instructions editor supports up to 2,000 characters. 
• You can always click Use default to revert to the default instructions.

• Be concise and explicit. Short rules are easier for the agent to follow.
  
  
• Avoid contradictions. Conflicting instructions can cause loops or unpredictable replies.
  
  
• Use suggested messages and shortcuts when you want the agent to show clickable options or trigger shortcuts. Learn more about suggested messages with these guides:
  An introduction to suggested messages
  Suggested Messages and AI Questions
  Using Suggested Message and AI Assist to create scripted chat sequences
  
  

• Enable escalation settings if you want the AI to hand off to a human agent. Note: Escalation requires the correct settings and a paid AI Assist plan. Learn more about escalations with these guides:
  Using Instructions for escalation
  How to train AI Assist to transfer chats to human agents
  
  

• Save and test. Run 10–20 real sample chats (on- and off-topic) to test behaviour. If the agent is too generic, add specific details; if it refuses too often, relax restrictions.

Your AI agent first searches your configured data sources for relevant information, including:

• Knowledge Base
• Documents
• Shortcuts
• Spreadsheets

After gathering relevant information, the AI agent applies your Instructions to shape the final response.

Because of this flow, avoid writing instructions that tell the AI agent to inspect specific data sources directly. Instead, make sure the correct information already exists in your data sources.

Important
If AI Assist finds a strong match with one of your shortcuts, it prioritizes the shortcut over Instructions.

This means instruction-based workflows — such as asking welcome questions, collecting names, or starting lead capture — may not run when a shortcut triggers.

Review your shortcuts and Instructions together to create a smooth conversation experience.

The examples below can be copied and adapted. Each example stays within the 2,000-character limit.

Friendly, professional tone with quick answers

- Maintain a friendly and professional tone.

- Keep answers short and focused: 1-3 sentences for simple questions.

- If the question requires detailed steps, provide up to 5 short steps and offer a link to our help page.

Lead capture (start with name and email)

- If a visitor asks about buying or pricing, ask: "May I have your name and best email so we can help you with pricing?"

- Once they provide a name and email, ask: "What is your budget and timeline?"

- After collecting name, email, budget, and timeline, say: "Thanks — one of our specialists will contact you within one business day."

Suggested messages (create clickable buttons)

This gives visitors suggested responses that they can select in chat to help move the conversation forward.

- When a visitor expresses interest in products, include suggested message options:

"[option] Mobile phone"

"[option] Tablet"

"[option] Laptop"

"[option] Accessories"

Learn more about suggested messages with these guides:
An introduction to suggested messages
Suggested Messages and AI Questions

Using Suggested Message and AI Assist to create scripted chat sequences

Escalation

- If a visitor expresses frustration, requests a refund outside policy, or asks for advanced support, offer to connect them with a human agent and create a support ticket.

Note: Available on paid AI Assist plans only. Ensure the AI Agent’s escalation settings are enabled. 

Restrict replies to specific topics

- Only answer questions about product availability and shipping.

- If a visitor asks a question outside these topics, reply: "Sorry — I can only help with product availability and shipping. Would you like help with either of those?"

Handle language preferences

This trains your AI agent to respond in the customer's preferred language.

- if a customer indicates they prefer 'Spanish', respond in Spanish

Calculate estimated cost

Your AI agent can calculate estimated costs based on order quantity. It can also collect essential information from the customer to provide accurate estimates.

Example (generate a fencing quote):

- If visitors mention fencing quote, fencing price, fence quote, or fence price, ask the following in number form, and wait for answers to all questions before answering. Always ask to separate answers by comma or space

1. Total number of meters to cover

2. Please choose your preferred length of panels: 2.365m OR 3.125m

3. What is the height of the fence: 1200mm, 1500mm, 1800mm or 2100mm?

- Once the visitor has confirmed measurements ask for their choice of fence look: Trimclad OR Metzag OR Metline

- Thank the visitor for providing their details using their first name.

- Once the visitor confirms the fence look, say that the estimated number of panels you will need to order is: (Number of meters to cover divided by the preferred length. If this is a decimal, use the next whole number)

Say: The cost will be (calculate the price by multiplying the number of panels needed by the cost of the panels)

Say: Here is the link to place the order (send the relevant link for the product chosen)

Say: Delivery for fencing is 5-7 business days.

Do not provide the calculation. 

• Review Instructions regularly
  Update Instructions as your products, workflows, FAQs, and website content evolve.

• Avoid over-restricting responses
  Rules that are too strict can make your AI agent less helpful. Balance consistency with flexibility.

• Protect privacy
  Only collect personal information when appropriate safeguards and legal requirements are in place.

• Shortcuts and Instructions work together
  Shortcuts can trigger actions and guide conversations. Design them alongside Instructions to avoid conflicts.

Modifying your AI agent's Instructions

Using Instructions for escalation

Using Instructions for lead capture
Using Instructions to direct visitors to search result pages
Using Instructions for escalation
Using Instructions to restrict AI Assist's responses

How to set up a custom API integration with AI Assist

An introduction to suggested messages
Suggested Messages and AI Questions

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