Shared instructions let you define how your agents communicate once, and have that guidance apply across every agent and workflow in your workspace. Instead of repeating the same tone, terminology, or restrictions in each agent's configuration, you set them in one place.
Where to find shared instructions
Go to Settings and open the Instructions tab. You'll see it alongside Channels, Persona, and MCP credentials.
What shared instructions cover
Instructions are organized into categories. Each one addresses a different part of how your agents communicate:
Tone and style: How the agent should sound.
Length and format: How much the agent should say, and how it should format responses.
Terminology and pronunciation: What words the agent should use, and how it should pronounce them.
How to communicate facts: How the agent should present factual information.
What to never say: Topics, phrases, or claims the agent should avoid.
Other: Anything that doesn't fit the categories above.
Instructions you add here apply to every agent and workflow in your workspace, across email, phone, and chat.
Add a shared instruction
Go to Settings > Instructions.
Find the category that matches what you want to specify. If none of them fit, use Other.
Select Add instruction.
Write the instruction as a single, specific direction. For example: "Refer to our students as Owls, never as kids."
Save.
Write one idea per instruction rather than combining several into one long entry. Shorter, specific instructions are easier for your agents to follow and easier for your team to audit later.
💡 Shared instructions take effect as soon as you save them. Your agents will begin following them on the next conversation, with no separate publish step. If you want to test the wording first, review it with your CollegeVine rep before saving.
Moving your existing agent-level instructions
If your agents already have instructions configured individually, you don't need to move them right away. Nothing breaks if you leave them where they are.
Over time, we recommend consolidating instructions that apply everywhere into the Instructions tab, so you stop copying the same guidance into each new agent and workflow.
A practical way to work through it:
Review the instructions on each of your agents and note which ones say the same thing.
Move the repeated ones into the matching category under Settings > Instructions.
Remove the duplicates from the individual agents, so you have one place to edit that instruction going forward.
Leave instructions that are genuinely specific to one agent or workflow where they are.
What to keep at the agent level
Shared instructions are for guidance that should hold true everywhere. Keep an instruction on the individual agent or workflow when it only makes sense in that context, for example a rule about how to handle one specific topic during one specific outbound campaign.
Facts about your institution (deadlines, program details, policies) belong in your knowledge base as assets, not in instructions.