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What This Covers

This page explains how to write effective instructions for your agents. Clear instructions lead to consistent, accurate results. Where to write instructions:
  • When creating an agent, type your task in the input on the homepage
  • For existing agents, use the chat (left panel) to describe what you want—Incredible updates your agent automatically
  • You can also directly edit the task in the right panel

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The Formula

Every effective instruction has three parts:
  1. Where to get information — Which app, what data, what timeframe
  2. What to do with it — Summarize, copy, calculate, filter, etc.
  3. Where to put the result — Email, Slack, spreadsheet, etc.
Example using the formula: 
1. Get all emails from Gmail with "invoice" in the subject from the last 7 days
2. Extract the sender, amount, and due date from each
3. Add a row for each invoice to my "Invoices" spreadsheet at [link]

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Being Specific

Every morning at 8am, search for news about artificial intelligence 
from the last 24 hours. Find the top 5 stories by relevance. 
Email a summary to [email protected] with the subject 
"AI News - [today's date]".
Why this works:
  • Specific time and frequency
  • Clear search topic
  • Defined number of results
  • Exact email address
  • Defined subject line format

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Details to Include

Detail typeExampleWhy it matters
Linkshttps://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/abc123Agent can’t guess which spreadsheet you mean
Email addresses[email protected]”Email me” requires knowing where
Channel names#sales-updatesSlack has many channels
Time ranges”last 24 hours”, “from Dec 1-7”Prevents unbounded searches
Quantities”top 5”, “all”, “first 10”Sets clear expectations
Column names”the ‘Status’ column”Identifies exact data location
Filters”with label ‘urgent‘“Narrows scope precisely

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Full Example

Get all new rows added to the "Leads" sheet in this spreadsheet 
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1abc123/edit 
from the last 24 hours (the "Created At" column has the timestamp).

For each new lead:
1. Search the web for information about their company (domain is in column C)
2. Find company size, industry, and recent news

Update each row with the research:
- Company size in column F
- Industry in column G  
- One-sentence summary of recent news in column H

After updating all rows, post a message in #sales-leads on Slack:
"Added research for [number] new leads. Check the spreadsheet."
Why this works:
  • Exact spreadsheet link provided
  • Time range and timestamp column specified
  • Clear list of what to research
  • Specific columns for each data point
  • Defined notification channel and message format

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Common Mistakes

MistakeProblemHow to fix
”Check my calendar”Which calendar app?”Check my Google Calendar"
"Send to the team”Who specifically?”Send to #team-updates in Slack"
"Recent emails”How recent?”Emails from the last 48 hours"
"Important items”What criteria?”Items with ‘urgent’ in subject or from @vip.com"
"Add to my spreadsheet”Which one?Include the full spreadsheet URL
”Summarize the data”Deliver where?”Email the summary to me at [address]“
Schedule in taskCauses confusionSet schedule separately using Add Trigger (⚡)

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Checklist Before Running

Task describes where to get data
Task describes what to do with it
Task describes where results go
All links and addresses included
Time ranges specified
Quantities defined (how many)
Conditional logic:
For each email, if the sender domain is in my "VIP List" spreadsheet, 
forward to #urgent-inbox. Otherwise, add to the daily digest.
Multiple outputs:
Create a summary and:
1. Email it to [email protected]
2. Post in #weekly-updates on Slack
3. Add as a new row to the Reports spreadsheet
Handling missing data:
For each lead, find their LinkedIn profile. 
If no LinkedIn found, leave column D empty and continue to the next lead.
Next: Managing Costs →