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Main Instructions

Main Instructions are the agent's standing orders. The agent reads them before every single reply, so they decide who it is, how it talks, what it must always do, and what it must never do. Knowledge entries tell the agent facts; Main Instructions tell it how to behave with those facts. They are the first item on the Agent Knowledge page and cannot be deleted.

What are Main Instructions?​

A plain-text brief, written by you, that Mojeeb places in front of the agent on every message together with your knowledge and the conversation. Think of it as the page you would hand a new employee on their first day: who we are, how we speak to customers, what we promise, what we never say, and when to call the manager. The agent follows it in every channel and every language.

A new agent starts with at most a line or two. Mojeeb reads your country from your browser's time zone when the agent is created: Cairo adds a line asking the agent to answer Arabic speakers in Egyptian Arabic; Riyadh, and any time zone Mojeeb does not recognize, adds a Saudi Arabic line; other recognized time zones, such as Dubai or London, add none. Edit or remove it like any other line.

What should they contain?​

Six things, in this order, each in short plain sentences. Everything else belongs in knowledge entries.

  1. Identity — The business name, what it sells, and the agent's name if it has one.
  2. Tone and language — Formal or friendly, how to address customers, which language or dialect to use, whether to use emoji.
  3. Standing rules — What to always do: greet once, ask for the name before booking, confirm orders back, offer alternatives when something is out of stock.
  4. Limits — What to never do: quote prices not in the knowledge, promise delivery dates, discuss competitors, reveal internal notes, invent answers.
  5. Hand over — When to stop and bring in a human: complaints, refunds, anything the knowledge does not cover; and what to say while doing so.
  6. Tool rules — If the agent has tools, the facts they need: working hours and appointment length for calendar booking, what to collect before adding a row or capturing a lead, what never to reveal from a tool's reply.

How do I write good instructions?​

Write rules, not prose. The agent follows short, specific sentences far better than paragraphs of description, and it treats examples as rules too. Keep the whole text to what a new employee could hold in their head; every word is read on every reply, so bulk slows nothing but dilutes attention.

Patterns that work:

  • One rule per line, starting with a verb: "Ask for the delivery area before quoting a delivery fee."
  • Say what to do instead of what not to do where possible: "If the price is not in your knowledge, say you will check and hand the chat to the team."
  • Give the exact sentence for moments that matter: "When a customer complains, reply: I'm sorry about this, I'm passing it to our team right now."
  • Name the facts the agent must never guess: prices, stock, delivery dates, medical advice.
  • Keep facts out: put prices, hours and policies in knowledge entries, and refer to them: "Use the Prices entry; never quote other prices."
  • Keep secrets out: never put passwords, margins, staff phone numbers or internal notes here or in knowledge; anything the agent reads can be repeated to a customer.

What to avoid: contradictions between lines, rules that depend on information the agent cannot see, and vague adjectives such as "be professional", which mean nothing to the agent without an example.

What do good instructions look like for an online shop?​

You are the assistant of Layla Fashion, an online shop for women's abayas and dresses in Egypt.
Speak in friendly Egyptian Arabic when the customer writes in Arabic, and in simple English otherwise. One short emoji at most per message.
Greet once at the start of a conversation only.
Prices, sizes and delivery fees are in your knowledge. Never quote a price or a size that is not there.
Before placing an order, collect: the product and color, the size, the customer's name, phone number, city and address. Repeat the full order back and wait for a clear yes.
Delivery takes 2 to 4 working days. Never promise a specific day.
Payment is cash on delivery only. If a customer asks for another method, say we only accept cash on delivery for now.
Exchanges are allowed within 14 days if the item is unused. Refunds are handled by the team: say you are passing the request to the team and stop.
If a customer complains or is angry, apologize once, do not argue, and say the team will contact them today.
Never mention other shops or compare prices.

What do good instructions look like for a dental clinic?​

You are the receptionist of Smile Dental Clinic in Riyadh. Your name is Sara.
Answer in Saudi Arabic when the customer writes in Arabic, and in English otherwise. Be warm and brief.
The clinic's services, prices, doctors and working hours are in your knowledge. Use only those.
You can book appointments with the calendar tool. Working hours are Sunday to Thursday, 10:00 to 21:00, and appointments last 30 minutes. Before booking, ask for the patient's name, phone number and the reason for the visit. Offer only free times inside working hours, then confirm the date and time.
Never give medical advice, diagnoses or medication names. If asked, say the doctor will advise during the visit.
For emergencies such as severe pain or bleeding, give the clinic's phone number from your knowledge immediately and ask them to call.
Cancellations and reschedules: use the calendar tool, then confirm the new time.
If you cannot answer from your knowledge, say so and tell the patient the clinic will reply by phone.

How do I edit the Main Instructions?​

Open Agent Knowledge, pick the agent at the top of the dashboard, and click Edit on the Main Instructions row. Change the text and save; the next customer message uses the new rules. Then type a few typical questions into the test chat beside the list, including one that should trigger a hand-over, to check the agent behaves as written before customers see it.

How do instructions interact with knowledge and tools?​

The agent reads them right after Mojeeb's own style rules, before the knowledge and the tools, in one briefing. Instructions set behavior; knowledge supplies facts; tools supply live data and actions. A rule such as "never quote a price not in your knowledge" works because the agent sees both at once. A tool's own instruction says when to use it; the Main Instructions carry the facts it needs, such as working hours. Contradictory lines are followed unpredictably, so keep rules unambiguous.

Common questions​

Is there a length limit?​

No hard limit, but the agent reads the whole text on every reply, so a long, repetitive brief makes it slower to weigh the rules that matter. Most businesses need 15 to 40 lines. Move facts to knowledge entries; keep rules here.

Arabic or English?​

Either; the agent reads both. Write in the language your team edits most comfortably, and state the language and dialect the agent should answer in explicitly, because customers will write in both.

Can I have different instructions per channel?​

Not per channel, but you can write channel rules inside the text: "On WhatsApp keep replies under three lines." The agent knows which channel each conversation comes from.

What if the agent ignores a rule?​

Make the rule more specific and give an example sentence, remove any line that contradicts it, and test again in the test chat. A fact the agent keeps getting wrong usually means the knowledge entry, not the instruction, needs fixing.