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Custom AI Agents

Create custom AI agents to automate tasks and boost productivity.

Updated over 2 weeks ago

What Are Custom Agents?

AI Agents are specialized assistants designed to automate activities like research, data analysis, and content creation. You can create custom AI Agents and use them in your projects to save time and get more done faster and smarter.

πŸ’‘ Note: Custom AI Agents are part of Taskade AI. Jump here to learn more.


When to Create Agents?

Creating AI agents is a practical decision based on the frequency and duration of tasks you perform. That said, there are a few rules that may help you decide if you need one:

  • You repeat specific tasks multiple times a week.
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  • You spend over two hours a week on particular activities.
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  • You perform tasks that can be easily automated or follow a set pattern.
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  • You need to streamline processes to focus on more strategic work.

Still trying to decide? Here are a few things agents can help you with:

πŸ€Ήβ€β™‚οΈ Area

βœ… Tasks

Task Automation

  • Auto-categorize tasks

  • Prioritize by keywords

  • Estimate duration

  • Recommend task owners

Knowledge Retrieval

  • Fetch relevant documents

  • Answer team questions

  • Recommend reading material

  • Suggest internal resources

Feedback & Improvement

  • Collect and analyze feedback

  • Offer improvement insights

  • Benchmark against past projects

  • Highlight success stories

Meetings

  • Summarize the discussions

  • Recommend next steps

Creative Assistance

  • Offer writing/editing aid

  • Brainstorm content ideas

  • Provide content inspiration

  • Suggest out-of-the-box approaches


Create a Custom Agent

The process of creating an AI agent takes less than a few minutes. Here's how it works:

  • Go to the Agents tab at the top of your workspace/folder.

  • Click βž• Create agent to open the agent creator.

  • Use one of the available options:
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Step 1: Fill Out General Details

Think of each AI agent as a digital team member β€” it can have a unique name, skills, set of objectives, and even a tone of voice it will use in conversations.

  1. Choose the General tab on the left and add agent details:
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    • Name: A unique name will help you identify your AI agent.
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    • Description: Describe the core behavior and personality of your agent.
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    • Persona: Give your agent a unique personality.
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    • Tone: Tailor agent interactions with a specific tone of voice.
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    • Tools: Enable additional tools like web browsing or plugins.

Step 2: Train Your Agent

Agents have a basic understanding of the world. You can make their responses more relevant to your work by "training" them using various resources.

  1. Choose the Knowledge tab in the sidebar on the left.
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  2. Enable the Knowledge toggle on the right.
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  3. Use one of the available options to train your agent:
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    • 🀏 Drag & drop: Drag files from your device to upload.
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    • πŸ“„ Add Media: Choose files from the Media Manager.
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    • πŸ“„ Add Project: Select projects from a workspace/folder (see below).
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    • 🌐 Add link: Choose external resources like websites and blogs (see below).
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    • 🎞️ Add YouTube: Choose one or multiple YouTube videos for transcription.
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    • πŸ“¦ Add with Google Drive, Dropbox, or Box
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  4. The agent will use the source to provide contextual answers to your queries.

πŸ’‘ Note: Visit Agent Knowledge & Data to learn more.

Step 3: Add Custom Commands

Each agent can include multiple custom/commands. Think of them as "levers" that allow you to interact with the agent, and the agent to interact with the world.

  1. Choose the Commands tab on the left.
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  2. Click βž• New command and define the prompts:
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    • πŸ”€ Name: This will pop up when you type / + "command name".
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    • ⏩ Prompt: Define the behavior of the custom command.
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    • 🚦 Comand Mode: Decide how the agent should approach tasks.
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      • 🟒 Default: Agent operates based on your prompt without setting goals.
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      • πŸ”΅ Plan & Execute: Agent sets structured goals based on your prompt.
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  3. Click Create to save the changes.

πŸ’‘ Note: Not sure where to start? Visit our Guide to Writing Agent Prompts.


Create an AI Team

An AI Team is a group of AI agents working together. You can create a team to collaborate with all agents at once and use their combined expertise.

  1. Navigate to the AI Teams menu in your workspace/folder.
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  2. Click βž• Create Team.
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  3. Customize your AI team.
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    • πŸ”€ Choose a name for the team.
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    • πŸ‘₯ Add individual AI agents.

πŸ’‘ Note: Visit our AI Teams guide to learn more.


Enable Agent Tools

Agent Tools give your agents the ability to create projects and tasks, seamlessly exchange information with external platforms, and interact with each other.

Here's how to enable and use tools with your agents:

  1. Go to the πŸ”§ Tools tab in the sidebar on the left.
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  2. Click βž• Add tool and choose one of the available options.
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  3. Prompt the agent to use a specific tool during a conversation, e.g.
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    • "Send a message to #general channel: 'Team meeting at 3 PM.'"
    • "Send an email to [email protected] titled 'Meeting Reminder.'"
    • "Draft a new post in WordPress titled 'Productivity Tips.'"

πŸ’‘ Note: Visit Tools for AI Agents for a full list of tools.


Use Your AI Agent

There are several ways you can use your custom AI agents:

  • (method 1): Chat with the agent:
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    1. Navigate to the Agents tab.
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    2. Select your custom AI agent.
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    3. Click βž• New chat and start a conversation.
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    4. Click Copy to save the output.

πŸ’‘ Note: Type "/" to show the list of custom agent commands in the chat.

  • (method 2): Use custom agent commands:
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    1. Open a project in the workspace/folder where you created the agent.
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    2. Type / + the name of your custom command, e.g. "/task breakdown"
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      • You don't need to type the entire command.
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    3. Press ⌨️ Enter to execute the command.

  • (method 3): Access the Add-Ons menu:
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    1. Select a task or paragraph.
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    2. Click the βž• Add-Ons button on the right ➑ πŸ€– AI Agent.
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    3. Choose a custom agent command from the list.

  • (method 4): Use agents in a shared project chat:
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    1. Open the chat box (see the previous sections).
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    2. Choose an agent from the drop-down at the top.
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    3. (optional) Click the ⁺ πŸ‘€ button to invite people to the conversation.
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    4. Type a prompt to start a conversation.

πŸ’‘ Note: When you start a shared AI chat, a tooltip at the bottom of the chat box will let you know if the chat is public or private, so you can see who has access.​ Read our guide to the AI Agent Chat for Teams to learn more.

  • (method 5): Use the agent toolbar:
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    • Create agents following the steps in this article.
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    • Agents will be added to a sidebar on the right.
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    • Click avatars in the sidebar to interact with your agents.
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      • To hide the sidebar, click profile image ➑ β–’ Hide Agent Sidebar.

πŸ’‘ Note: You can decide if the agent should provide answers based on general knowledge or pull information from the active project. Open an agent inside a project using the Agent Toolbar (1), and click the drop-down next to the Commands button (2) at the bottom of the chat to change the setting (3).


Organize the Agent Sidebar

The agent sidebar lists your agents within a workspace. Here's how to customize it:

  • Navigate to your workspace or folder.
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  • Click the ⊞ Manage agents button.

  • Hover the cursor over any of your agents.
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  • Click the start next to the agent's name to add it to the sidebar.
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  • Click & hold an icon representing an agent to reorder it.
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  • Release the mouse button to drop the agent in its new place.


Edit Your Agents

With your agent in place, you can now customize it:

  1. Open the Agents tab again and select your AI agent.
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  2. Click ··· next to an agent and select ✏️ Edit agent from the list.


Use AI Agent Templates

Taskade features a collection of AI agent templates designed for various use cases. Each agent has a unique prompt and set of commands. To use agent templates:

  1. Go to the Agents tab at the top of your workspace/folder.
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  2. Pick one of the available templates.
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  3. Click Create to save the new agent.
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  4. (optional) Customize the new agent.


Custom Commands Multi-Select

You can apply custom commands to multiple tasks/paragraphs using multi-select.

  1. Go to your project and select multiple tasks/paragraphs.
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  2. Click the πŸ€– AI Agent button in the main toolbar.
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  3. Choose a custom command from the list.


Choose a Language for AI Responses

AI responds in the language of a prompt. You can change that in several ways:

  • Method 1: Use the language selector:
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    • Select your agent in the Agents tab or use a template.
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    • Navigate to the General tab.
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    • Scroll down and click the Language drop-down.
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    • Choose a language and click Update to save the changes.
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  • Method 2: Specify language in the prompt:
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    • e.g. "Respond in Spanish: What's the weather like in Madrid?"
  • Method 3: Provide context in the target language:
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    • e.g. "ΒΏCΓ³mo estΓ‘ el clima en Madrid?"


Deploy Multiple AI Agents

Scaling up your projects? Deploy multiple AI agents simultaneously, each with unique knowledge, skills, and role to play in your workflow.

  1. Select the first task you want your agent to work on.
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  2. Type / + custom command associated with your agent.
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    • You don't need to type the entire command.
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  3. Press ⌨️ Enter to execute the command.
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  4. Click anywhere in the project to minimize the agent window.
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  5. Repeat steps 1-3 to assign the agent to additional tasks.
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  6. Click the agent name underneath a task to see the results.

πŸ’‘ Note: Read the Multi-AI Agents guide to learn more.



Share AI Agents

Want to share your custom agent with your team? Follow these steps:

  • Navigate to the πŸ€– Agents tab.
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  • However the mouse cursor over an agent.
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  • Click the Share Agent button on the right.

  • Enable the Public access toggle.

  • You can now customize the public agent:
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    • Mode: Choose the level of interactions with the agent.
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    • Copy Knowledge: Decide if you want to allow others to copy agent knowledge.
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    • Hide Branding: Remove Taskade branding in the agent footer.
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    • Theme: Select light, dark, or automatic theme.
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    • Background: Select or upload a custom background.

  • Finally, you can copy the agent link or embed code:
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    • Click Copy link to share a direct link.
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    • Click Copy code to embed the agent on your website.


Save Shared Agents

You can save any agent somebody shared with you:
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  • Follow the link and click Copy agent (bottom-right corner).

  • Choose the workspace or folder where you want to add the agent.


Copy Agents to Workspace / Folder

You can copy your agents across workspaces and folders:

  • Create a custom agent following the steps in the previous sections.
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  • Navigate to the πŸ€– Agents tab and choose your custom AI agent.
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  • Click the three dots Β·Β·Β· next to an agent.
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  • Click Copy and select the target workspace/folder.

  • Decide if you want the agent to retain its knowledge.
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  • Select the target workspace/folder.


You can use your custom AI agents and Taskade AI commands in automation flows to put your projects on autopilot.

  • Go to the Automations tab in your workspace or folder.
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  • Click the βž• Add automation button.
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    • (optional) Use one of the available templates.
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  • Click βž• Add Trigger and choose a trigger from the drop-down list.
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  • Click βž• Add Step and choose an action from the drop-down list.

Ask Agent

Uses a custom AI agent to respond.

Run Agent Command

Uses a specific AI agent command.

  • Choose your agent and/or a custom command.
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  • Add the input you want the agent to process.

πŸ’‘ Note: Visit our Automation Guide to learn more.


😊 Helpful Links

πŸ€– Taskade AI Essentials

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