Custom Instructions
One of the most powerful features of Ithy is the ability to guide the AI's writing process using Custom Instructions. This allows you to tailor the tone, style, focus, and format of the articles generated for you, ensuring they meet your specific needs and preferences.
Think of Custom Instructions as a set of standing orders for your personal AI research assistant. They influence how the AI interprets your queries and formats its responses, creating a consistent experience tailored to your preferences.
Why Use Custom Instructions?
Benefit | How it Helps |
Consistency | Bloggers, teachers and corporate teams keep a uniform tone across hundreds of articles. |
Efficiency | Researchers skip repetitive housekeeping—citations, formatting rules, target audience notes. |
Quality Control | Specialists can demand depth (“include peer-reviewed sources only”) while marketers can push storytelling flair. |
Creating Custom Instructions
By saving Custom Instructions, you don't have to type out the same stylistic requests or specific requirements every time you ask a new question. Ithy will always take your Custom Instructions into account.
Sign in and go to Account → Custom Instructions.
Write up to 10,000 characters of guidance. Plain language is best; line breaks and emojis are fine.
Click Save. The change is live instantly.
Submit a new question and watch the difference.
Note: Your instruction counts towards the 1,000-character prompt limit (Free) and 128,000-character limit (Pro).
Remember that Custom Instructions apply to all future articles until you change them, making this feature especially valuable for consistent research projects or content creation.
How to Write Effective Custom Instructions
When interacting with Ithy, think of it as a brilliant but very new employee (with amnesia) who needs explicit instructions. Like any new employee, Ithy does not have context on your norms, styles, guidelines, or preferred ways of working. The more precisely you explain what you want, the better Ithy’s response will be.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Custom Instructions
Give Ithy contextual information: Just like you might be able to better perform on a task if you knew more context, Ithy will perform better if it has more contextual information. Some examples of contextual information:
What the task results will be used for
What audience the output is meant for
The end goal of the task, or what a successful task completion looks like
Be specific about what you want Ithy to do: Vague instructions may not yield the desired results. For example, instead of "make it good," try "focus on the economic impact and provide three supporting arguments."
Provide instructions as sequential steps: Use numbered lists or bullet points to better ensure that Ithy carries out the task the exact way you want it to.
Prioritize: If you have many instructions, the AI will try to adhere to all of them, but it's good to focus on the most important aspects.
Experiment: Don't be afraid to try different instructions and see how they affect the output. You can always update them in your Account settings.
Consider the AI's Nature: While powerful, AI models interpret instructions literally. Avoid overly complex or contradictory requests.
Update as Needed: Your needs may change over time. Remember to revisit and update your Custom Instructions when working on different types of projects or if you find the AI isn't quite hitting the mark.
The Golden Rule of Clear Prompting
Show your prompt to a colleague, ideally someone who has minimal context on the task, and ask them to follow the instructions. If they’re confused, Ithy will likely be too.
Angles to Consider
Tone and Style
Academic: "Write in a formal academic style with proper citations and scholarly language"
Professional: "Use a business-appropriate tone with clear, actionable insights"
Conversational: "Write in a friendly, accessible tone as if explaining to a curious friend"
Technical: "Use precise technical terminology appropriate for experts in the field"
Content Structure
"Begin each article with a brief executive summary of key points"
"Organize content with clear headings and subheadings for easy navigation"
"Include a 'Practical Applications' section in each article"
"End with a concise conclusion that summarizes the main takeaways"
Audience Specification
"Target content for beginners with limited background knowledge"
"Write for an audience of healthcare professionals with clinical experience"
"Explain concepts at a high school education level"
"Address an audience of business decision-makers seeking actionable insights"
Content Emphasis
"Prioritize practical examples over theoretical concepts"
"Include historical context and development of ideas when relevant"
"Focus on evidence-based information with current research findings"
"Emphasize comparative analysis when multiple viewpoints exist"
Special Requirements
"Include relevant statistical data when available"
"Provide step-by-step instructions for procedural topics"
"Suggest further reading or resources at the end of each section"
"Use analogies to explain complex concepts"
Examples
For Academic Research
"Write in a formal academic style with proper citations. Structure content with clear sections including methodology, findings, and implications. Prioritize peer-reviewed sources and current research. Include critical analysis of different perspectives. Target audience is graduate-level researchers with background knowledge in the field."
For Business Professionals
"Write in a concise, action-oriented business style. Begin with an executive summary of key points. Focus on practical applications and business impact. Use bullet points for key takeaways. Include relevant metrics and KPIs when applicable. Target audience is busy executives seeking actionable insights."
For Educational Content
"Write in an accessible, engaging style appropriate for high school students. Explain concepts clearly without assuming prior knowledge. Use relatable examples and analogies. Include visual descriptions where helpful. Structure content to build from basic to more complex ideas. End with summary questions to reinforce learning."
For Technical Documentation
"Write in a precise, technical style with proper terminology. Structure with clear step-by-step instructions where applicable. Include code examples or technical specifications when relevant. Anticipate common issues and provide troubleshooting guidance. Target audience is technical professionals with domain expertise."
Advanced Tips & Tricks
The quality and relevance of the articles generated by Ithy are heavily influenced by the prompts you provide. A well-crafted prompt acts as clear guidance for the AI, leading to more focused, comprehensive, and useful results.
Here are some more advanced practices to help you write effective prompts for Ithy.
Specify Response Length
Since Ithy's sytem prompt has a token/word minimum, you'll need to override it explicitly in your custom instructions if you want a shorter response. Here's an example.
IMPORTANT: As the user, I require a brief response in under 500 words. You must ignore all other response length minimums and produce the most concise response possible.
Customize Visual Elements
You can easily remove visual elements like charts, images, and videos directly in your account page. They can be disabled by toggling them off in your Visual settings. This is the preferred way of removing visual elements, not through Custom Instructions.
Be Clear and Specific
Vagueness is the enemy of good AI output. The more precise you are with your request, the better Ithy can understand your needs.
Avoid Ambiguity: Instead of "Tell me about cars," which is too broad, try "What are the key differences in safety features between 2024 SUV models from Toyota and Honda?"
Define Scope: If you're interested in a particular aspect of a topic, state it. For example, instead of "History of Rome," try "Discuss the economic factors leading to the decline of the Western Roman Empire."
Specify Format if Needed (or use Custom Instructions): If you want information presented in a particular way (e.g., "List the pros and cons of X," "Provide a step-by-step guide for Y"), include that in your prompt. For consistent formatting requests, use the Custom Instructions feature in your account settings.
Provide Sufficient Context
If your topic is niche, complex, or requires a particular viewpoint, give the AI enough context to work with.
Keywords are Good, Sentences are Better: While keywords can help, framing your request as a full question or a clear statement of need is often more effective.
Mention Your Audience (if relevant): If the article is for a specific audience (e.g., "Explain quantum computing to a high school student"), mentioning this can help the AI adjust the language and complexity. This is also an excellent candidate for Custom Instructions.
Include URLs for Analysis (Ithy Feature): Ithy has a unique capability to analyze content from its own platform when you include
ithy.com/page/...orithy.com/export/...URLs in your prompt. This allows you to ask questions about a folder of previously generated articles. For example: "Summarize the key findings from the articles inhttps://ithy.com/page/folder123xyz."
Use Action Verbs to Guide the AI
Different verbs can elicit different types of responses.
"Compare and contrast..." for analyzing similarities and differences.
"Explain..." for detailed descriptions of concepts.
"Summarize..." for concise overviews.
"List..." for bulleted or numbered information.
"Analyze..." for a deeper examination of components or implications.
"Outline..." for a structured overview.
"Discuss..." for a broader exploration of a topic.
Break Down Complex Requests (Iterative Approach)
If you have a very large or multifaceted topic, consider breaking it down into several smaller, more focused prompts. Generate articles for each sub-topic and then synthesize the information yourself, or use Ithy's folder feature to group them and then ask a follow-up question referencing that folder.
This approach can lead to more detailed and manageable pieces of content for each aspect.
Consider Length: While you can use up to 10,000 characters, concise instructions often work better than overly verbose ones.
Prioritize Important Elements: List the most critical requirements first, as there may be character limitations in complex queries.
Specify Desired Output Length (If Important)
While not always perfectly controllable, you can try to indicate if you need a brief overview or a more detailed exploration. For example, "Provide a brief summary of..." or "Write a comprehensive report on..." The choice between "Fast Research" and "Deep Research" mode also plays a significant role here.
Create Diagrams and Charts
Ithy uses Mermaid JS for mind maps and Chart.js for radar charts. Since these libraries are already imported into Ithy, you can ask Ithy to generate other diagrams with Mermaid or other charts with Chart.js
Experiment and Iterate
Don't expect the perfect article from your very first prompt, especially for complex topics.
Review and Refine: Look at the generated article. If it's not quite what you wanted, think about how you could rephrase your prompt to be clearer or more specific.
Try Different Phrasing: Sometimes, small changes in wording can lead to significantly different results.
Use Ithy's "Start Chat" Feature: After an article is generated, you can use the "Start Chat" feature to ask follow-up questions or clarify points about the article with your selected chat provider. This can be a form of iterative refinement.
Be Mindful of AI Limitations
Current Knowledge: AI models are trained on vast datasets but may not have information about very recent events or extremely niche, unpublished data.
Objectivity: While AI aims for neutrality, the data it's trained on can contain biases. Always critically evaluate the information.
Creativity vs. Factual Recall: AI is excellent at summarizing and restructuring existing information. For purely creative or highly speculative prompts, results can vary.
Avoid Overly Leading Questions if Seeking Neutral Info: If you want an unbiased overview, phrase your prompt neutrally.
Select the Appropriate Modes
Remember to choose between "Fast Research" (for quicker, potentially less detailed results) and "Deep Research" (for more comprehensive results). Your prompt might be excellent, but the mode selected will also impact the output.
Update for Different Projects: Consider changing your Custom Instructions when switching between different types of research or content needs.