Briefing an agent well

An agent writes like a brilliant new hire who knows nothing about your situation; give it context, constraints and examples.

Treat it like a new colleague

Anthropic's guidance for prompting its models puts it well: think of the model as a brilliant but new employee who lacks context on your norms and workflows. A new hire asked to "reply to Sam" would ask: who is Sam, what do we want, how formal are we with them? An agent can't always ask, so tell it.

What a good brief contains

Who it's for: the relationship and what they care about.What it should achieve: "Get a yes or no on Thursday's call", not "reply".Why: the guidance notes that explaining why a behaviour matters helps the model apply it sensibly.Constraints: length, tone, deadlines, and anything that must not be said.

Show, don't describe

"Write like me" means nothing to a model. Two or three real messages you wrote do. The same guidance recommends a handful of examples; three to five is its suggestion for best results.

The colleague test

Before sending a brief, imagine handing it to a colleague with no background. If they'd be confused, the agent will be too.

Fix the brief, not just the draft

When a draft is wrong, it's tempting to fix the words and move on. Fix the instruction as well: add the missing context or rule, so the next draft starts closer. Research on "workslop", polished AI output that doesn't do the job, recommends building exactly these skills: prompting, giving feedback and sharing context.

The short version

Brief the agent as you'd brief a capable new colleague.Say who it's for, what it should achieve and why.State constraints: length, tone, deadlines, what not to say.Give a few real examples of your writing instead of describing your style.When a draft misses, improve the brief so the next one doesn't.

Try it in Kanvo

Put your standing rules in Settings → Assistant → Workspace instructions ("Always sign off with my first name; never promise delivery dates"). Everything the assistant writes for you follows them, and What the assistant remembers shows what it has learned.

Sources

Treat the model as a brilliant but new employee lacking context; show a prompt to a colleague with minimal context as a test; explain why a behaviour matters; include 3 to 5 examples for best results.