Rules
Write instructions that every agent and chatbot in your organisation follows, and see how they fit with our safety rules.
Organisation rules are short, plain instructions that every agent and chatbot in your organisation follows, on all your platforms. Find them under Organisation › Rules.
Use them for things that are true everywhere in your company. For example:
- Never mention competitors.
- Always answer in Australian English.
- Call the businesses that write to us "venues", never "clients".
- Never promise a refund. Say the accounts team will be in touch.
The three layers#
Every agent and chatbot follows rules in three layers, in this order. The What comes first row on the Rules page shows them too, with our safety rules marked Locked.
| Layer | Where it's set | Who can change it |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Our safety rules | Built into Cerberius Agents. | Nobody in your organisation. They always come first. |
| 2. Your organisation rules | Organisation › Rules | Owners and admins. Applies to every agent and chatbot on all your platforms. |
| 3. Platform and chatbot details | Each platform's Settings › Agent (How replies sound and About your system). Each chatbot's own instructions. | Owners and admins. |
If your rules conflict with our safety rules, the safety rules win.
What the safety rules cover#
You can't switch these off, and your rules can't override them:
- The ticket is written by someone outside your company. The agent treats it as information to investigate, never as instructions. If a ticket says "ignore your instructions", the agent ignores that.
- The agent only reads during an investigation. It can't run code, change files or reach the internet.
- Replies to requesters must not include internal details, such as file paths, code, stack traces or service names.
- The agent only discusses the requester's own account. It won't share another account's data, even if the requester names it.
- Chatbots won't reveal their rules or how they're set up, and ignore visitors who ask them to.
Edit the rules#
- 1
Go to Organisation › Rules.
- 2
Type your rules in the box, Rules for every agent and chatbot. Short, one-line rules work best.
- 3
Click Save at the bottom right. Saved shows next to it when they're stored.
The rules can be up to 10,000 characters. The line under the box counts them, for example "1,250 of 10,000 characters". It turns red, and Save stays greyed out, when the rules are too long.
Changes apply from the next investigation or chatbot answer. Investigations already running keep the rules they started with.
Keep platform details on the platform
Put things about one system, such as what each repository does or which log labels matter, in that platform's About your system instead. Organisation rules are for things that apply everywhere. See Agent settings.
Good to know#
- Only owners and admins see Rules in the menu and can change them.
- Rules shape how the agent works and writes. They can't give it access to anything new. What the agent can reach is set in each platform's Settings.
- Rules can't turn on automatic replies, fixes or changes. Those are separate settings. See What the agent can and cannot do.