Best Practices for Designing AI Agents

Overview

This page provides best practices for designing effective AI agents. Use these guidelines to help your agents perform reliably and efficiently.

For foundational concepts, see About AI Agents. For step-by-step creation guidance, see Create and Configure an AI Agent.

Write effective prompts

Prompts guide your AI agent's reasoning and actions. The quality of the prompt directly affects how well the AI agent performs.

• Be concise but complete. Provide only the information the AI agent needs to complete its task while including all essential context.
• Use clear, direct language. Avoid vague or abstract phrases. Instead, describe what you want the AI agent to do in plain terms.
• Focus on intent and outcome. Make sure your prompt explains the goal and any specific conditions or rules to follow.
• Include structure where needed. Use bullet lists or numbered steps in longer prompts to improve clarity.

Example

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Review the attached intake form.

1. Identify the request type (support, access, or update).
2. Determine whether the form is complete.
3. Output the decision as "ready for review" or "missing information."

Design simple AI agents first

Start by creating small, focused AI agents that handle a limited part of your process. Once these AI agents perform well, you can combine or expand them to support broader workflows.

• Begin with use cases such as intake, triage, or data review.
• Avoid building AI agents that handle every possible step or exception from the start.
• Validate early versions through testing to refine prompts, tools, and logic before adding complexity.

Define tools with precision

Each tool defines what your AI agent can access or perform. Clear tool definitions help your AI agent make better decisions.

• Keep tools task-specific. Each tool should do one thing well, such as starting a process or retrieving a record.
• Avoid overlapping tools. Duplicate or similar tools can cause confusion or reduce accuracy.
• Review tool names and descriptions. Ensure they clearly describe the tool's purpose and scope.

Use clear and meaningful input names

When defining your AI agent's inputs, choose names that make their purpose obvious. This improves readability and helps the AI agent use data correctly.

• Use descriptive names, such as customerFormDoc or casePriorityLevel.
• Avoid generic names like id, data, or info.
• Match input names to their function in the process model or data fabric.
• Include brief descriptions in your prompt for each input to clarify intent.

For troubleshooting common issues with inputs and tools, see Troubleshooting AI Agents. For testing your configurations, see Test and Monitor AI Agents.

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