Custom AI Agent Design Brief
Spec out a custom AI assistant or GPT tailored to your specific business function — system prompt, knowledge base requirements, tool integrations, guardrails, and testing plan. Produces a build-ready specification you can hand to a developer or implement yourself.
Pro tip
Start with the single highest-volume repetitive task in your business. One focused agent that handles 80% of cases beats a general assistant every time.
How to use this prompt
- Pick your AI model. Choose the tab for Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot — each variant is tuned for that model.
- Copy the full prompt. Click Copy Full Prompt to copy the text to your clipboard.
- Paste into your AI tool. Open your chosen model and paste the prompt into a new chat.
- Replace the
[placeholders]. Swap any bracketed fields for your company name, audience, product or tone. - Run and refine. Review the output. If anything is off, ask the AI to tighten tone, length or format.
Prompt Variants by Model
Claude
Claude 4.x
UPDATED APR 2026
You are an AI systems designer. Help me spec out a custom AI agent for my business.
<agent_requirements>
Business function: [e.g., "customer support triage", "lead qualification", "invoice...You are an AI systems designer. Help me spec out a custom AI agent for my business.
<agent_requirements>
Business function: [e.g., "customer support triage", "lead qualification", "invoice processing"]
What it should do: [describe the task in plain language]
Current volume: [how many times per day/week this task happens]
Who does it now: [role and approximate time spent]
Success looks like: [what does a perfect result look like?]
Failure looks like: [what should NEVER happen?]
Tools it needs access to: [e.g., email, CRM, database, calendar]
Users who will interact with it: [customers, team members, both]
</agent_requirements>
Design the agent specification:
1. **System prompt** — write the complete system prompt including persona, capabilities, constraints, tone, and escalation rules. Make it production-ready.
2. **Knowledge base** — what documents, FAQs, and data should the agent have access to? List each source and why.
3. **Tool integrations** — what APIs or tools does it need? For each, describe the exact action (read, write, trigger).
4. **Guardrails** — what it must never do, when to escalate to a human, confidence thresholds, and data it should never share.
5. **Conversation flows** — the 5 most common scenarios, mapped as decision trees.
6. **Testing plan** — 10 test cases (5 happy path, 3 edge cases, 2 adversarial) with expected outputs.
7. **Success metrics** — how to measure if this agent is working (resolution rate, time saved, escalation rate, user satisfaction).
Notes: Claude is particularly strong at writing system prompts — it understands its own constraints well. The resulting system prompt can be used directly in Claude, ChatGPT custom GPTs, or any agent framework.
ChatGPT
GPT-5
UPDATED APR 2026
Act as an AI systems architect. I want to build a custom AI agent for my business. Help me create a complete specification.
What the agent should do: [TASK DESCRIPTION]
Business function: [e.g.,...Act as an AI systems architect. I want to build a custom AI agent for my business. Help me create a complete specification.
What the agent should do: [TASK DESCRIPTION]
Business function: [e.g., customer support, lead qualification, invoicing]
Task volume: [times per day/week]
Who does this now: [role, time spent]
Perfect result: [describe]
Must never happen: [describe failures]
Needs access to: [tools/systems]
Who interacts with it: [customers / team / both]
Design:
1. Complete production-ready system prompt with persona, capabilities, constraints, tone, escalation rules
2. Knowledge base requirements — documents, data, FAQs it needs
3. Tool integrations — APIs needed with read/write/trigger specifications
4. Guardrails — things it must never do, escalation triggers, confidence thresholds
5. The 5 most common conversation flows as decision trees
6. 10 test cases (5 normal, 3 edge, 2 adversarial) with expected outputs
7. Success metrics — resolution rate, time saved, escalation rate, satisfaction
Notes: Use this to spec out a Custom GPT directly. ChatGPT can also generate the Custom GPT configuration (instructions, conversation starters, knowledge files) as an immediate next step.
Gemini
Gemini 3 Pro
UPDATED APR 2026
I want to build a custom AI agent for my business. Help me design the full specification.
**Task:** [WHAT THE AGENT DOES]
**Business function:**...I want to build a custom AI agent for my business. Help me design the full specification.
**Task:** [WHAT THE AGENT DOES]
**Business function:** [support / sales / operations / etc.]
**Volume:** [times per day/week]
**Currently done by:** [role, hours spent]
**Perfect output:** [describe success]
**Must never happen:** [describe failures]
**Tool access needed:** [systems and tools]
**Users:** [customers / team / both]
Research current best practices for AI agents in my business function, then design:
1. Production-ready system prompt
2. Knowledge base requirements
3. Tool integrations (APIs, read/write/trigger)
4. Guardrails and escalation rules
5. Top 5 conversation flows
6. 10 test cases with expected outputs
7. Success metrics
Notes: Gemini can research real-world examples of similar AI agents and pull current best practices. Ask it to find case studies of businesses your size that deployed similar agents.
Copilot
Copilot (Microsoft 365)
UPDATED APR 2026
Help me design a custom AI agent for my business.
Task: [WHAT IT DOES]
Business function: [support / sales /...Help me design a custom AI agent for my business.
Task: [WHAT IT DOES]
Business function: [support / sales / operations]
Volume: [times per day/week]
Currently done by: [role, time spent]
Success: [what perfect looks like]
Failure: [what must never happen]
Tool access: [systems needed]
Users: [customers / team / both]
Design:
1. Complete system prompt — persona, capabilities, constraints, tone, escalation
2. Knowledge base — what documents and data it needs
3. Tool integrations with specifications
4. Guardrails and human escalation triggers
5. Top 5 conversation flows
6. 10 test cases with expected results
7. Success metrics
Notes: Copilot can help implement the agent directly in Microsoft Copilot Studio. Use the system prompt output as the starting point for a Copilot Studio agent with Teams integration.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Custom AI Agent Design Brief prompt do?
Spec out a custom AI assistant or GPT tailored to your specific business function — system prompt, knowledge base requirements, tool integrations, guardrails, and testing plan. Produces a build-ready specification you can hand to a developer or implement yourself.
Which AI models is this prompt tested on?
This prompt is field-tested on Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot. Each model has its own optimized variant above.
Do I need a paid AI account to use this prompt?
No. This prompt is written to run on the free tier of Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot. Paid tiers simply give you longer context windows and faster responses.
Can I customize this prompt for my business?
Yes. Any text inside square brackets is a placeholder you replace with your own business details, such as company name, audience, product or tone. You can also ask the AI to adjust format, length or style after the first output.
When was this prompt last verified?
Each model variant above shows its own freshness stamp. AlignAI re-verifies every prompt at least monthly and rebuilds when a major model changes.
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