Instructions

Teach an agent how to treat a specific scenario.

What Is an Instruction?

An instruction is a rule you give an agent: in this scenario, do this. Categories cover the common cases out of the box. Instructions let you handle the ones that are specific to your organisation, such as always blocking a project codename, or allowing a scenario your team has already reviewed.

Instructions are forward-looking. Once you add one, the agent applies it to every trace from then on.

What an Instruction Is Made Of

Part	Description
Name	A clear label, for example “Block credit card numbers (PCI)”.
Category	The category it relates to, such as Personal data or Credentials. Choose Other if none fit.
Trigger	When the instruction should apply.
Action	What the agent does in this scenario: Allow or Block.
Criticality	Low or High. High criticality additionally notifies your connected channels when the instruction fires.

There is no separate “Escalate” action. Notification is the high-criticality setting, not a third action.

Triggers

The trigger decides when an instruction applies. Pick the approach that fits the rule.

Semantic

Matches a scenario by meaning, even when the wording differs. Describe the situation in plain language.

Example: “Customer is discussing their account balance or transaction history.”

Regex

Matches a precise pattern. The fastest and most exact option, and best for structured data such as card numbers or reference codes.

Example: a pattern for a 13 to 16 digit card number.

String match

Matches an exact list of terms. Best for known codenames, vendor names, or product identifiers.

Example: “Project Aurora”.

Instructions saved from an assessment can also be example-based: they are anchored to that assessment automatically. You do not pick this trigger when writing an instruction from scratch.

Create an Instruction

1. Open Instructions

   Go to Agents → Instructions and start a new instruction.

2. Describe the scenario

   Name it, pick a category, and choose the trigger that matches the rule.

3. Set action and criticality

   Choose Allow or Block, then Low or High criticality.

4. Assign it to an agent

   Assign the instruction to the agent that should use it. Instructions appear grouped by category on the agent.

Save an Instruction From an Assessment

You do not have to write every instruction from scratch. When you review an assessment and decide how a scenario should be treated in future, you can save it as an instruction directly from that decision. The new instruction keeps a link back to the assessment it came from, so you always know where it originated.

Test Before You Save

Open the testing environment from the flask icon in the top navigation. You can test a single instruction in isolation, or dry-run a Data Protector configuration (role, categories, and instructions) against a sample prompt. Nothing you test touches live traffic. See Configuring agents.

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Assessments

Review verdicts and save instructions from them.

Data Protector

See how instructions sit alongside categories.