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Ethan Palm
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* docs: style pass on assistant skills page Align the assistant skills page (added in #6363) with docs style standards: tighter intro without promotional language, language tag on the directory tree code block, active voice, prose instead of a behavior bullet list, and action-oriented headings. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com> * 💅 --------- Co-authored-by: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
49 lines
2.4 KiB
Plaintext
49 lines
2.4 KiB
Plaintext
---
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title: "Customize assistant behavior"
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description: "Customize the AI assistant by adding an Assistant.md file with system instructions that shape its tone, persona, focus areas, and response behavior."
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keywords: ["assistant", "custom instructions", "Assistant.md", "system prompt", "persona"]
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---
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Add a `.mintlify/Assistant.md` file at the root of your documentation project to give the assistant custom instructions that shape how it responds (`ASSISTANT.md` is also an accepted filename). The assistant uses these instructions as system-level context for every response.
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<Warning>
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Place your `Assistant.md` file inside the `.mintlify/` directory, not at the root of your project. If you store the file at the root of your project, your custom instructions are publicly accessible by the `/assistant.md` path. The `.mintlify/` directory is not served publicly so your `Assistant.md` file is not accessible when in that directory.
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If you must store your `Assistant.md` file at the root of your project or any other directory, add it to your [`.mintignore`](/organize/mintignore) file to exclude it from your documentation site.
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</Warning>
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Instructions in an `Assistant.md` file add to the assistant's system prompt. They do not replace or override the assistant's default instructions.
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To remove the custom instructions, remove the `Assistant.md` file.
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Use `Assistant.md` to:
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- Adjust the assistant's persona and tone
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- Provide product-specific context
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- Define support escalation paths
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- Specify terminology preferences
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- Restrict or scope the assistant's focus areas
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- Provide version-specific guidance
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<Tip>
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Use assistant [skills](/assistant/skills) for topic-specific guidance that the assistant loads only when a user asks a relevant question.
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</Tip>
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## Example `Assistant.md` file
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```markdown .mintlify/Assistant.md
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You are a helpful assistant for Acme Corp's developer platform.
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## Tone
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- Be concise and direct. Getting to the point helps people more than being exhaustive.
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- Use technical language appropriate for software developers. Most people asking you questions are familiar with Acme's products.
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## Product context
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- Acme SDK v3 is the current stable release. v2 is deprecated. If people ask about v2, remind them it's deprecated but answer their questions.
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- Direct billing questions to support@acme.com.
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## Terminology
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- Use "workspace" instead of "project" or "organization".
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- Use "access token" instead of "API key".
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```
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