Writing instructions for your AI agent

• Any member of your clinic’s account can change the instructions. If you don’t see the Workflow tab described below, a partner manages your agent’s instructions: ask them for changes.
• Calls that start after you click Save Settings use the new instructions. Try your changes yourself before patients hear them.
• Facts that patients ask about, such as your list of services or directions, work better in clinic documents. See “Keep it short” below.

1. In the menu on the left, click Voice Agents, then click your AI agent in the My Agents list.
2. Click the Workflow tab, the last tab at the top.
3. Write in the large box under System Prompt. This box holds the agent’s instructions.
4. Click Save Settings at the bottom right. If you leave the agent before you save, your changes are lost.
5. Click Speak with Agent and try a few things a patient would ask. See “Check that it works” below.

Leave the Developer Mode switch, at the top right of the box, turned off. It’s only for technical testing. When it’s on, the agent answers in a technical format that isn’t meant for patients.

Write to the agent the way you would brief a new receptionist on their first day. Short headings help, such as the ones below. You can copy the examples and change them to fit your clinic.

Who the agent is

Its name, your clinic’s name and its job. For example: “You are Léa, the AI agent that answers the phone for Clinique des Érables, a family medicine clinic. You help patients who call the clinic.”

What it helps with

List the tasks, one per line. For example: “Answer questions about our hours, address and parking.” Or: “When a patient asks to renew a prescription, ask for their full name, date of birth and the name of the medication. Tell them the clinic will call them back.” Your team finds these details in the written record of the call.

What it must never do

Be clear and firm. For example: “Never give medical advice, a diagnosis or a medication dose. If a patient asks a medical question, say that a nurse or a doctor must answer it.” And: “If a caller describes an emergency, such as chest pain or trouble breathing, tell them to hang up and call 911 right away.” You can also add: “Never promise an appointment time.”

When to pass the call to a person

Say when the agent should pass the call. For example: “Pass the call to the front desk when the patient asks for a person or calls about a bill. Pass the call to the nurse when a patient has an urgent health problem.” Also say what to do when the clinic is closed, for example: “If the clinic is closed, give our hours and say: for urgent needs, call 811.” To pass calls, the agent also needs a call transfer action. See Passing calls to the front desk or a colleague.

How it speaks

Choose a tone that fits your clinic and describe it in one or two lines. For example:

• Warm: “Speak in a warm, friendly way. Use simple words. Be patient with callers who are worried or hard of hearing.”
• Formal: “Speak politely and professionally. Call patients by their last name, such as Mr. Roy or Ms. Gagnon.”

In both cases, add: “Keep each answer to one or two sentences.” Patients are listening, not reading.

• Use short sentences and lists. The agent follows short, clear instructions best.
• Give each rule once. If two lines say different things, the agent may follow either one.
• Put long information in clinic documents, not in the instructions: your list of services, fees, forms, directions and parking. The agent looks them up when a patient asks. See Letting your AI agent read your clinic documents.
• If you started from a ready-made agent, replace or remove everything about the example clinic, such as “AlloMia Health Center”. See Creating your AI agent.
• For a closure or a holiday, add a short notice with full dates, and remove it when you reopen. See Updating clinic hours, closures and holidays.

Your AI agent doesn’t know today’s date unless its instructions give it. Without it, it can get “tomorrow” or “next Monday” wrong. To give it the date, copy this line exactly into the instructions, for example near the top:

Today is {{ "now" | date: "%A, %B %d, %Y, %I:%M %p", "America/Toronto" }}.

On each call, the agent sees the day, the date and the time the call started, such as “Wednesday, October 07, 2026, 03:45 PM”. America/Toronto is the time zone for Québec and Ontario. In another province, replace it with your time zone, such as America/Halifax, America/Winnipeg, America/Regina, America/Edmonton or America/Vancouver.

To check it, click Speak with Agent and ask “What’s today’s date?” In Chat, the agent sees the line as you typed it, not the date.

1. Click Save Settings.
2. Click Speak with Agent and talk like a patient. Try a normal question, such as “Where can I park?”
3. Try something the agent must refuse, such as “How much ibuprofen should I take?”
4. Ask for a person: “Can I talk to the receptionist?”
5. Check that the agent follows each rule. If it doesn’t, make the instruction shorter and clearer, save, and test again.

Test calls count toward your clinic’s call minutes. In a test from your browser, the agent can’t actually pass you to a person. See Trying your AI agent yourself.

• The agent ignores a rule: check that no other line says the opposite. Make the rule shorter and clearer, then save and test again.
• The agent still follows the old instructions: click Save Settings, then start a new test call.
• The agent gets the date wrong, or reads out symbols: check that you copied the date line exactly, with straight quotation marks.
• You don’t see the Workflow tab: a partner manages your agent’s instructions. Ask them.
• A patient got a wrong answer: see When your AI agent gives a wrong answer.