Instructions are the core prompt that tells your Agent what to do — what to extract, how to handle ambiguity, and what the goal of each document is. A well-written set of instructions is the single biggest factor in how accurately your Agent performs.
Where to find instructions
Go to Manage Team > Agents and open the Agent
On the General tab, find the Instructions field under Details
Write or edit your instructions and click Save
Instructions can be up to 5,000 characters. A counter at the bottom of the field tracks your usage.
What to include
1. The Agent's role and document type
Start by telling the Agent what it is and what it processes. Be specific about the document type.
Example: "You are a purchase order processing agent. Your job is to extract line item data from customer POs and prepare them for entry into Epicor."
2. What to extract
List the key fields you need and any guidance on where to find them or how to interpret them.
Example: "Extract: customer name, PO number, requested delivery date, ship-to address, and all line items (part number, description, quantity, unit price). The PO number is usually at the top right of the document."
3. How to handle missing or ambiguous data
Tell the Agent what to do when something is unclear or missing — flag it, make a best guess, ask the user, or leave it blank.
Example: "If the delivery date is missing, leave it blank and flag it for review. If a part number is not found in Epicor, do not guess — flag it and ask the user to confirm."
4. Business-specific rules
Include anything unique to your operation that the Agent can't infer from the document alone.
Example: "This customer always sends quantities in cases, not units. Multiply line item quantities by 12 to get the unit count. Freight charges should be captured as a separate misc charge line, not as a line item."
Tips for better instructions
Be specific, not exhaustive. You don't need to describe every possible scenario — focus on the cases that actually come up in your documents.
Describe the goal, not the steps. Tell the Agent what outcome you want ("match the part number to an Epicor record") rather than prescribing how to do it.
Use plain language. Write as if explaining the task to a new team member. Clear and direct is better than formal or technical.
Iterate. Start with the basics, process a few real documents, and refine based on what the Agent gets wrong.
Feedback instructions
Below the main Instructions field there is a separate Feedback instructions field. This tells the Agent's memory system what to learn from — and what to ignore — when you make edits to extracted documents.
Example: "Ignore changes to tax rates or exchange rates — those vary seasonally and are not extraction errors."
If you leave this blank, the Agent will learn from all edits.
Not seeing the results you expect? The most common cause is instructions that are too vague. Add a concrete example of a tricky document and how it should be handled — the more context you give, the better the Agent performs. Contact support@fluenterp.com if you need help tuning your instructions.