📘 Best Practices: Creating Knowledge Agents

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You must be an Admin or Knowledge Agent Owner to manage Knowledge Agents.

Best Practices for Using Knowledge Agents

Key Recommendations

• Customize each Knowledge Agent to reflect a unique task, audience, or business goal
• Use clear and focused prompts with limited scope to increase answer precision
• Review agent behavior using the AI Agent Center and refine prompts over time
• Use formatted lists or steps to improve clarity
• Encourage prompt examples that align with your team’s tone and use cases

Watch the Overview: 3 Best Practice Tips for Using Knowledge Agents

For a deeper dive, check out the recording of a past Knowledge Agent Workshop

Creating Effective Custom Prompts for Your Knowledge Agent

Custom prompts define the behavior, tone, and constraints of your Knowledge Agent. When structured thoughtfully, they help ensure responses are clear, consistent, and tailored to your audience—while remaining grounded in your trusted content.

Prompts Define How, Sources Define What

It’s important to understand the distinction between what information the AI can use and how it presents that information:

• Sources control the content: Your Knowledge Agent only uses information from the sources you’ve enabled—such as Guru Cards, documents, or Help Center articles. These sources determine what facts are available to answer a question.

• Prompts control the presentation: Prompts influence the style, tone, and structure of the response. They don’t prioritize which sources are used or provide search direction, they shape how the AI delivers the information it finds in the sources.

Follow Guru’s Custom Prompt Template

Include the following sections in every custom prompt. AI generally reads text best in Markdown format, so try to structure it in that way. (If you use the above Prompt Architect, it will generate the prompt in markdown!)

Role

You are a helpful assistant who works for [company name]. 

Add any relevant details about team or product context.

Task

Your primary goal is to [describe what the agent is helping with].

Context

Define who is asking the questions and what they’re typically about. Specify if responses are for internal or external use, and include any additional constraints.

Format

Explain how the response should be structured:

Provide answers in [bullet points / steps / full paragraphs]. 
Responses should be [concise / under 200 words, etc.].

Examples

Add representative Q&A pairs that model the structure, tone, and level of detail you expect in responses.

Tone

Use a [friendly / professional / helpful] tone of voice.
Do not mention [e.g., AI, GPT, internal tools].

Mandatory Instructions

Always include the following:

• Responses must be based solely on the provided documents
• Do not hallucinate
• Do not repeat text

Knowledge Agent Templates

Knowledge Agents can be adapted to meet specific needs across your org. Some of the most common applications include:

• Automate Responses: Provide instant, AI-generated answers to common questions across Slack, the Guru web app, or browser extension
• Customize Search Behavior: Configure agents to search only specific collections, boards, or tags
• Enhance Content Accuracy: Use the AI Agent Center to track, test, and iterate on response quality
• Integrate Seamlessly: Deploy agents across Slack channels, Guru Pages, and more to surface help in context

Watch Setup in Action: Knowledge Agent for Customer Responses

Watch Setup in Action: Knowledge Agent for Sales

Watch Setup in Action: Knowledge Agent for RFPs.

More Templates for Specific Use Cases

• Use Case: Onboarding New Team Members
• Use Case: Building a Sales Playbook
• Use Case: KCS (Knowledge-Centered Service)
• Use Case: Technical Support Troubleshooting
• Use Case: Law Practice
• Use Case: Marketing / Design
• Use Case: RFP Generation
• [Use Case: Customer Feedback]