Create an agent

An agent is a configured AI persona with a name, a role, optional tools, and optional knowledge. Employees interact with one main assistant. The main assistant can delegate work to specialist agents when a request matches their configured purpose.

Instructions determine how an agent behaves. The title and description help determine whether the main assistant selects a specialist. Instructions determine what the specialist does after it is selected. Clear configuration helps the assistant use the appropriate specialist, knowledge, or tool.

For information about connecting systems and configuring tools, see Agent Tools and Tools available and what they do.

The agents you will create

Workflow agents are created from the workflow rather than the agents workspace. They remain part of that workflow and are not available as everyday chat specialists.

You need the Experience Designer or Tenant Admin role to create and edit agents.

Before you create an agent

Define the following before you create a specialist:

• Who the agent is for, such as employees, managers, HR, a country, or a specific process.
• When the main assistant should hand work to the agent, including the relevant requests and situations.
• What systems the agent needs to use, including the required Agent Tools and knowledge.
• What the agent must not do, such as guess policy, update another employee’s record, or skip a required confirmation.

Create a specialist agent

A specialist agent is a focused helper that the main assistant can use to handle a specific domain or task.

1. From Applaud admin, select Agents.
2. Select Add.

Define the name and description

The main assistant uses the title, description, instructions, and attached tool names to identify an appropriate specialist. Write the description as a clear when to use me statement.

Good title:

UK parental leave specialist

Good description:

Use when an employee in the United Kingdom asks about maternity, paternity, shared parental, or adoption leave entitlements, forms, or next steps. Do not use for US FMLA or payroll queries.

Avoid:

HR helper

or

Answers questions about leave and other HR topics.

Use unique titles so the assistant can distinguish between specialists such as: UK parental leave specialist. Avoid creating several agents with almost identical purposes.

Write the instructions

Tell the agent the important things it needs to know to complete its job:

• What its role is - the area or task it is responsible for.
• What it should do - the outcome you want it to achieve.
• What knowledge to use - when it should search approved knowledge.
• What tools to use - which tools it should call and when.
• What information to ask for - details it needs before it can complete the request.
• What it must not do - for example, guess policy, use another employee’s information, or skip confirmation.
• When to hand off or escalate - situations it should not handle itself.

Keep instructions clear and specific. Short numbered rules or bullet points are easier to maintain than long paragraphs.

For example:

Role: You handle UK parental leave questions.
Do: Search approved knowledge for policy information and use the leave tool for current balances.
Ask: Get the employee’s leave dates when they are needed to answer the question.
Don’t: Guess entitlements or use policy for another country.
Escalate: Refer complex or disputed cases to HR.

Attach tools

Attach only the tools the specialist needs to complete its job.

Make sure tool names and descriptions clearly explain what each tool does. This information also helps the main assistant choose the right specialist.

If a tool requires the employee to sign in to another system, explain what the agent should do when the connection is not available. For example:

If Connect account appears, wait for the employee to connect the account. Do not invent data.

For more information, see Agent Tools overview and Attach tools to an agent.

Set the audience filter

Use an audience filter when a specialist is intended only for managers, a specific country, or another defined audience.

Employees who do not match the filter cannot use the specialist, even when their request otherwise matches its purpose.

Activate and test the agent

Inactive and deleted agents are not used.

After you save the agent, open the main chat window and test it with:

• A question that should use the specialist.
• A user who does not match the audience filter.
• A request that requires one of the specialist’s tools.

Confirm that the correct specialist is used, and the employee receives a complete response.

Configure the main assistant

Employees interact with the main assistant, so use it to define the experience you want them to have.

You can set:

• Title, description, and avatar: How the assistant appears to employees.
• Knowledge: The content the assistant can use to answer employee questions.
• Conversation starters: Prompts that help employees get started. Keep them short, and use them to highlight useful tasks or specialist capabilities.

The main assistant already provides core behavior, including HR and workplace scope, knowledge citations, privacy, escalation, and language matching. You do not need to recreate these behaviors in your own instructions.

Use specialist agents when a particular area needs its own knowledge, tools, or instructions. Use workflows when a request needs a defined, multistep process.

Configure workflow agent steps

In the workflow designer, an Agent step has its own Instructions and Tools.

Keep these instructions focused on the specific step:

• What information the agent needs to collect.
• Which tool it should use.
• What the agent needs to complete before the workflow can continue.

See Understand agentic workflows.

Related articles

• Agent Tools overview
• Tools available and what they do
• Understand agentic workflows