Guides

Custom instructions

Add up to six short, titled behavior tweaks per assistant without editing the main prompt.

Custom instructions are short, titled behavior rules attached to a single assistant — a lightweight way to adjust behavior ("Always mention the daily special", "Never quote prices over the phone") without editing the assistant's prompt or developerPrompt.

Each assistant can have at most 6 custom instructions.

Method	Path	Purpose
GET	`/custom-instructions?assistantId=...`	List an assistant's custom instructions
POST	`/custom-instructions`	Create a custom instruction
PATCH	`/custom-instructions/{id}`	Update title and description
DELETE	`/custom-instructions/{id}`	Delete a custom instruction

List custom instructions#

GET /custom-instructions — the assistantId query param is required:

bash

curl "https://core-api.heysadie.ai/custom-instructions?assistantId=ASSISTANT_ID" \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey YOUR_API_KEY"

Create a custom instruction#

POST /custom-instructions

Field	Type	Required	Description
`assistantId`	UUID	Yes	The assistant to attach the instruction to (ownership is validated)
`title`	string	Yes	1–36 characters
`description`	string	Yes	1–500 characters — the actual instruction text

bash

curl -X POST https://core-api.heysadie.ai/custom-instructions \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "assistantId": "ASSISTANT_ID",
    "title": "Mention the special",
    "description": "Whenever the caller asks about the menu, mention today'\''s special before anything else."
  }'

Limit: 6 per assistant

Creating a seventh instruction for the same assistant fails with a validation error: "Maximum number of custom instructions (6) reached for this assistant."

Update a custom instruction#

PATCH /custom-instructions/{id} — the body takes title (max 36 chars) and description (max 500 chars). Both keys are expected in the PATCH body.

Terminal

curl -X PATCH https://core-api.heysadie.ai/custom-instructions/INSTRUCTION_ID \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "title": "Mention the special",
    "description": "Mention today'\''s special only when the caller asks about food."
  }'

Delete a custom instruction#

Terminal

curl -X DELETE https://core-api.heysadie.ai/custom-instructions/INSTRUCTION_ID \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey YOUR_API_KEY"

Next steps#

Prompts — for larger behavior changes, swap or edit the assistant's prompt.
Capture forms — when the tweak involves collecting structured data.

PreviousCapture forms NextVoice assistants