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Assistants are specialized AI personas that extend your Digital Twin’s capabilities. Each assistant carries its own system prompt (instructions), can override the conversation model, and can be shared with all users or restricted to administrators.
Managing assistants requires the assistants.list, assistants.add, assistants.edit, or assistants.delete entitlements. See Entitlements for details.

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Assistant List

The Assistants tab in the Admin dashboard shows all assistants for your institution. Assistant Settings Each assistant displays:
  • Name and description
  • Status toggle — Enable or disable the assistant for users
  • Sharing indicator — Whether the assistant is shared with all users or admin-only

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Creating an Assistant

1

Open the Assistants tab

Navigate to the Admin dashboard and select the Assistants tab.
2

Click Add

Click the + Add button to open the assistant editor.
3

Configure the assistant

Fill in the assistant details:
FieldDescription
NameA clear, descriptive name for the assistant
DescriptionA compelling description explaining what the assistant does. Users see this when selecting assistants.
IconUpload a custom icon (recommended: 512x512 pixels, WebP format)
InstructionsThe system prompt that defines the assistant’s behavior, personality, and capabilities
ModelOptionally override the institution’s default conversation model for this assistant
RAG Collections(Optional) Restrict RAG retrieval to specific document collections
Tool Mode(Optional) Control which tools this assistant can use — all tools or a selected subset
4

Set visibility

Configure who can access the assistant:
  • Shared — Available to all users in the institution
  • Admin Only — Only visible to administrators
  • Editable by Others — Allow non-admin users to modify the assistant’s instructions
When an assistant is first created, restrict it to Admin Only for testing. Once validated, toggle it to Shared for all users.
5

Save

Click Save to create the assistant. It will appear in the assistant list and, if shared, in the Digital Expert Gallery for users.

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Editing Assistants

Click on any assistant in the list to open the editor. You can modify:
  • Instructions — Update the system prompt to refine behavior
  • Model override — Change which AI model this assistant uses
  • Variables — Add or edit substitution variables used in the instructions
  • Visibility — Change sharing and editability settings
  • RAG & Tools — Configure collection scoping and per-assistant tool access
Assistant Update
Changes take effect immediately for all users. Consider testing significant instruction changes during low-usage periods.

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Enabling and Disabling

Toggle an assistant’s status to control availability:
  • Enabled (blue toggle) — Assistant is active and available to users
  • Disabled (gray toggle) — Assistant is hidden from users but preserved in the system
Assistant Disable Disabling an assistant is useful for:
  • Temporarily removing an assistant during maintenance
  • Hiding seasonal or event-specific assistants when not needed
  • Keeping draft assistants saved but not yet available

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Variables in Assistants

Assistants support substitution variables — placeholders like ${variable_name} that are replaced with dynamic values at runtime. Common uses:
  • API endpoints or webhook URLs
  • Quiz IDs or course identifiers
  • Reusable instruction snippets shared across assistants
  • Sensitive data (API keys, tokens) that should not be embedded in the prompt text
Variables are managed in the assistant editor. For a detailed guide on creating and using variables, see Variables.
Variables provide security by keeping sensitive data out of the static prompt text. If a prompt is ever exposed, the actual values remain protected in the orchestration layer.

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Model Override

By default, assistants use the institution’s configured conversation model. You can override this per assistant to use a different model — for example, a more capable model for complex analysis tasks or a faster model for simple lookups. The model override is set in the assistant editor under the Model field.
If a deprecated model is assigned to an assistant, the system will fall back to the institution’s default model automatically.

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RAG Collection Scope

By default, assistants search across all selected uploads (documents) in the IP Vault during RAG retrieval. You can optionally restrict an assistant to only search within specific collections — subsets of your uploaded documents.
1

Open the assistant editor

Navigate to Assistants and click on the assistant to edit.
2

Go to the RAG & Tools tab

Click the RAG & Tools tab in the assistant editor.
3

Select collections

Use the RAG Collection Scope multi-select dropdown to choose one or more collections. You can select multiple collections — the assistant will search uploads from all selected collections.
  • Type to filter collections by name
  • Click a collection to add it to the selection
  • Click the × on a selected collection tag to remove it
  • Leave empty to search all collections (default behavior)
4

Save

Click Save to apply the collection scope.
Collections are managed in the IP Vault. Organize your documents into collections first, then assign relevant collections to each assistant.
Use collection scoping to create focused assistants — for example, an HR assistant that only searches HR policy documents, or a course assistant that only searches materials for a specific course.

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Per-Assistant Tool Configuration

By default, assistants have access to all enabled tools for the institution. You can restrict which tools an assistant can use and optionally override tool instructions per assistant.

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Tool Mode

Use the Tool Mode dropdown to select how this assistant accesses tools:
ModeBehavior
All Tools (default)Assistant uses all tools enabled at the institution level
Selected Tools OnlyAssistant only uses the tools you explicitly select below
When you select Selected Tools Only, a list of all active tools appears. Each tool is shown as a card with:
  • Checkbox — Toggle the tool on or off for this assistant. Only checked tools will be available during conversations.
  • Instructions Override (optional) — When a tool is checked, a text area appears where you can provide custom instructions that replace the tool’s default instructions for this assistant only. Leave blank to use the tool’s default instructions. A preview of the default instructions is shown as placeholder text.
1

Set Tool Mode to Selected Tools Only

Change the Tool Mode dropdown from “All Tools” to “Selected Tools Only”.
2

Check the tools you want to enable

Browse the tool list and check the checkbox next to each tool this assistant should have access to. Unchecked tools will not be available to the AI during conversations with this assistant.
3

(Optional) Override tool instructions

For any checked tool, enter custom instructions in the Instructions Override text area. These replace the default instructions sent to the AI when it considers using this tool.
4

Save

Click Save to apply the tool configuration.
Institution-level disabled tools cannot be re-enabled at the assistant level. If a tool is disabled in the institution settings, it remains unavailable regardless of assistant configuration.

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Instruction Override Use Cases

  • Restrict a tool’s scope: Override call_rag instructions to say “Only search for budget-related documents”
  • Add domain context: Override get_browser instructions to say “Always search within medical journals”
  • Change tool behavior: Override save_to_file instructions to say “Always save as markdown format”
Instruction overrides only affect the tool’s guidance text sent to the AI. The tool’s name, parameters, and functionality remain unchanged.
Shared assistants appear in the Digital Expert Gallery, where users can browse and select them. The gallery displays:
  • Assistant name and icon
  • Description
  • A quick-start button to begin a conversation with the assistant
For more about how users interact with assistants, see Digital Expert Gallery.

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Required Permissions

ActionRequired Entitlement
View assistantsassistants.list
Create assistantsassistants.add
Edit assistantsassistants.edit
Delete assistantsassistants.delete