The AI Chat Bot answers customers well out of the box, but it does not know your store’s own policies: who to send billing questions to, when to hand a conversation to a human, what it should never claim. AI Custom Instructions is where you write those rules down. This guide covers what belongs in the field, what to leave out, and how to keep it short enough to work.
Prerequisites
- A paid StoreAgent plan. AI Custom Instructions is not available on the free plan.
- An account at app.storeagent.ai with at least one site connected.
- The field itself, at My Account → AI Custom Instructions.
What AI Custom Instructions are for
Use this field for business policies and behaviour, the store-specific rules you want the assistant to follow in every conversation. Good examples:
- How to handle account and billing questions. For example, send them to your support team.
- When to connect a customer with a human.
- Rules about what the assistant should and shouldn’t claim.
- Topics to stay focused on, and how to handle requests that have nothing to do with your store.
Your instructions are applied on top of the built-in assistant, and they take priority over its default behaviour for these kinds of business rules.
What they are not for
StoreAgent already handles the following. Adding them here is unnecessary, and it can work against the assistant.
- Persona, or “who the assistant is”. StoreAgent picks the right role for each conversation on its own: customer service, order support, sales, or escalation. You don’t need to write “you are a support agent”.
- Tone and voice. Set this in your chat tone settings instead. See the StoreAgent AI Chat Bot settings reference. Putting tone here can flatten the built-in roles.
- Technical or internal setup. You don’t need to describe how the assistant searches your knowledge base or how escalation works. That is built in. Just describe the outcome you want.
How to write good instructions
- Use plain language. Write the rules the way you’d brief a new support hire.
- Describe outcomes, not mechanics. Say “for account changes, direct the customer to our support team”, not how to do it.
- Keep it focused. One clear rule per line, in a short list you can scan.
- Mind the limit. The field holds up to 2,000 characters. A policy-only instruction fits comfortably. If you’re running out of room, you’re probably adding things StoreAgent already handles, like persona, tone, or technical steps.
An example that works well
Our store & support policies:
- Answer questions about our company and products using only our own information. If you don't have the answer, say so and offer to connect the customer with our team. Never guess or make up details, prices, or features.
- Account & billing (subscriptions, plans, cancellations, refunds, invoices, payments, usage or credit counts, license or activation issues, account deletion): if it's a general "how does this work" question, answer it. If it's specific to the customer's own account or needs a change on our side, acknowledge the issue, ask for their account email, and direct them to our support team.
- If a customer asks for a person, is frustrated, or has a problem you can't resolve, connect them with support.
- Only present a price, plan, or feature as ours if our own information says so. If our content mentions another product, make clear it belongs to that other product.
- Stay on topic: help only with our store, products, orders, and policies. Politely decline unrelated requests.Common mistakes to avoid
- Starting with “You are a customer support agent”. The role is already set for you.
- Adding a tone line like “Be friendly and concise”. Use the tone settings instead.
- Scripting step-by-step reasoning or internal tools. This doesn’t help, and it eats your character budget.
- Pasting a giant prompt that hits the 2,000-character limit. Trim it down to business rules only.
Using it across multiple sites
If you connect StoreAgent to more than one site, your custom instructions apply everywhere. Keep them brand-neutral, so rules and policies only, and let each site’s own settings handle the site-specific details. Don’t hardcode a support URL in your instructions. StoreAgent uses the correct one for each site automatically.
Saving and clearing
- Click Save Instructions to apply your changes. They take effect on new conversations.
- Click Clear All to remove your instructions and go back to StoreAgent’s default behaviour.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need custom instructions at all?
No. StoreAgent works out of the box. Use this field only when you want to enforce specific store policies or behaviours.
Why isn’t my tone changing?
Tone comes from your chat tone settings, not this field. Update it there instead.
My instruction won’t fit in 2,000 characters.
That usually means it includes things StoreAgent already does, like persona, tone, or technical rules. Remove those and keep only your business policies.
Can I tell the assistant to send customers to a human for billing questions?
Yes, add it as a rule. Make sure support escalation is configured first, so the assistant has somewhere to hand off to. See How to set up chat feedback and escalation in StoreAgent.
How is this different from AI Chat Documents?
AI Custom Instructions set rules and behaviour, so how the assistant should act. AI Chat Documents add knowledge, so what the assistant can answer from. See How to use AI Chat Documents in StoreAgent.
Need help?
If you have a question or run into any issues, we’re here to help.
- Premium users: Open a support ticket
- Free users: Visit our community forum
