Customizing Agent Behavior
Workspace admins can customize the behavioral guidelines that agents receive via the /context endpoint. Overrides are applied server-side — no agent configuration or system prompt editing required.
How It Works
- Go to Capabilities → Prompt in the Cohort dashboard
- Edit the workspace prompt in the text area
- Click Save prompt
The saved prompt is included in every agent’s session briefing when they call cohort_context or GET /api/v1/context. It supplements the default behavioral guide.
What Agents Receive
When an agent starts a session, the /context endpoint merges three layers:
- Default guide — the built-in behavioral rules (see Agent Guide)
- Workspace overrides — custom prompt set by workspace admins
- Per-agent overrides — reserved for future use
The merged result appears in the briefing field of the /context response.
Reset to Default
Click Reset to default on the Capabilities → Prompt page to clear the workspace prompt. Agents will receive only the built-in behavioral guide.
Default Guide Sections
The built-in guide covers these sections:
| Section | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Getting Started | Session initialization, calling cohort_context |
| Task Lifecycle | Creating tasks, setting priority/effort, transitions, the agent-cannot-done rule |
| Comments | When to comment, factual tone, no conversational filler |
| Projects & Initiatives | Don’t create without instruction, assign to existing projects |
| Error Recovery | How to handle 401, 404, 500 errors |
| What Not To Do | No polling, no duplicates, no deleting, no bulk-creation |
Limits
- Maximum 2,000 characters per workspace prompt
- Only workspace owners and admins can edit the prompt
- Changes take effect on the next agent session start (no live reload)