# Configuration Source: https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/concepts/agents/configuration > For AI agents: the documentation index is at https://www.hyperagent.com/llms.txt and the complete documentation in one file at https://www.hyperagent.com/llms-full.txt. Any docs page is also served as Markdown by appending `.md` to its URL. Set up each part of an agent — its brief, autonomy, knowledge, integrations, doorways, and tools. You want an agent to produce work you recognize, even when the request arrives next week or through a different channel. Its **configuration** is the durable contract behind that consistency: the responsibility it owns, the standards it follows, the resources it can use, and the boundaries it works within. An agent's configuration describes how it should work across many jobs. The request, source material, and finished output for one job belong in its thread. Everything below lives in one place. Open **Agents** in the sidebar and click your agent: the configuration tabs run across the top of its page — **Instructions**, **Autonomy**, **Knowledge**, and **Integrations**, with **Invocations** and **Tools** under **More**. The sections here follow that same order. ## Set up each part [#set-up-each-part] ### Give it a brief and a model [#give-it-a-brief-and-a-model] Instructions are the role itself: who the agent works for, what finished work looks like, and the judgment calls it should make without asking. The model settings underneath decide how much thinking each new thread starts with. On the agent's page, open the **Instructions** tab: * Write the **System prompt** — the responsibility the agent owns, the standards its output must meet, and how it should decide when you're not there. Keep reusable methods and standing facts out of it; those belong in [skills](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/concepts/skills) and [memories](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/concepts/memories), where they can grow without a prompt rewrite. * Under **Model and limits**, pick the **Model** new threads start with, and the **Subagent model** for workers it dispatches. Match the compute to the work, not the agent's title — see [Models and compute](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/concepts/agents/models). * **Turn timeout** caps how long one run may go before it's stopped; runs inherit it unless their invocation sets its own. **Budget limit per query** caps spend per request. ### Decide what it may do on its own [#decide-what-it-may-do-on-its-own] Reading and drafting carry different consequences from sending messages or changing records. Autonomy sets the default posture once, from the consequences of the work. On the agent's page, open the **Autonomy** tab: * Set **When you're in conversation** to **Auto** (runs end-to-end) or **Ask first** (pauses for your approval before sensitive actions). Ask first needs you present to answer, so it applies in conversation; any thread can [override it for itself](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/concepts/threads/thread-settings#autonomy--safety). Scheduled and live runs are governed separately, by each schedule's own rules in Invocations. * Under **Agent delegation**, choose whether this agent may hand work to other agents, and to which ones — an explicit allowlist, or a mode that includes your other agents automatically. Leave **Ask for approval** on to see each handoff before it runs. See [Other agents](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/concepts/agents/invocations/other-agents) for how a delegated run works. ### Choose what it knows and how it learns [#choose-what-it-knows-and-how-it-learns] Knowledge is what the agent brings to the work beyond its prompt: the memories and skills it may reach, the documents it always carries, and what it's allowed to keep from its own runs. On the agent's page, open the **Knowledge** tab and pick a **Knowledge profile** to define how the agent learns. **Synced self-learning** shares your full library and learns as it works; **Curated** sees only what you add and doesn't learn on its own; **Standalone** keeps what it learns to itself; **Custom** lets you set each control yourself. See [Knowledge access](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/concepts/agents/knowledge-access) for more detail. ### Give your agent the right context [#give-your-agent-the-right-context] Choose which memories the agent can see, and where its new lessons are saved: shared with your other agents, or private to this one. Let it reach every skill you've saved, or turn that off and attach the specific skills the role needs with **+**. Pin the documents the agent should carry into every run, like a working outline or a standards doc. ### Connect the services it works in [#connect-the-services-it-works-in] Integrations are the external systems the agent may act in — email, calendars, CRMs, databases. Each card is a service; each chip under it is an account the agent may use. On the agent's page, open the **Integrations** tab: * Click **+** in the corner to add a service, or **+ Add account** on a card to connect another account for one it already has. * Remove an account chip to narrow the agent to the accounts its job actually needs. Start from the responsibility and grant no broader. Browse what's available in [Integrations](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/integrations), or go straight to [Slack](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/integrations/slack), [HubSpot](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/integrations/hubspot), [Databricks](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/integrations/databricks), or [custom MCP servers](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/integrations/custom-mcp). ### Bring your agent to where your work is [#bring-your-agent-to-where-your-work-is] The same configured role can be reached from a thread, a schedule, Slack, email, a webhook, or another agent. Each row on this tab is one doorway, with its own setup. On the agent's page, choose **Invocations**: * **Thread** is on from the start — that's chatting with the agent in the app. * Choose how and where the agent should start and deliver work: on a schedule, through [Live mode](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/concepts/agents/invocations/live-mode), in Slack or Telegram, by email, or through another invocation. Learn more about [Invocations](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/concepts/agents/invocations) to pick the right channel for your agent, including [Telegram](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/concepts/agents/invocations/telegram). ### Enable its built-in capabilities [#enable-its-built-in-capabilities] Tools are what the agent can do directly — search the web, drive a browser, run code, generate media. Instructions define the responsibility; tools decide which parts of it the agent can execute itself. * Toggle each capability on or off. They're grouped — research, browser, data and code, documents, media — so related tools travel together. * Use **Smart pick** to have a sensible set chosen from the agent's role, or **All** / **None** to start from either end. * Enable the smallest useful set: add a tool when the work requires it, not because it might be useful someday. Go deeper on [research](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/tools/research), the [browser](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/tools/browser), [data and code](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/tools/data-and-code), [webpages and slides](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/tools/webpages-and-slides), or [media generation](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/tools/media-generation). ## Test it before you put it on call [#test-it-before-you-put-it-on-call] A configuration is a working hypothesis about how the agent should perform. Test it with real work before teammates or automations depend on it. Give the agent a realistic assignment with the source material, ambiguity, and quality bar it will face in practice. A polished demo prompt hides the gaps you need to find. Inspect what the agent read, which tools and integrations it used, where it paused, and what it produced. Fix the configuration from evidence in the run rather than from the final answer alone. Clarify the role in Instructions. Save a repeatable method as a [skill](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/concepts/skills), a standing fact as a [memory](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/concepts/memories), and larger source material as a [document](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/knowledge/documents-and-tables). If the agent will run from a schedule, Slack, email, or another invocation, test it there. Unattended work exposes missing context, permissions, approvals, and delivery choices that an interactive thread can hide. A thread keeps the instructions, model, and runtime it started with. Test edits in a new thread, and use configuration history to restore an earlier version when a change misses the mark. ## FAQs [#faqs] No. A thread keeps the instructions it started with. The edit applies to new threads, while existing work remains a faithful record of the role and settings it began with. See [Thread settings](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/concepts/threads/thread-settings) for how a thread inherits and overrides the agent's defaults. Instructions define the role and its standing standards. [Skills](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/concepts/skills) hold reusable methods. [Memories](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/concepts/memories) hold facts and preferences. [Documents](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/knowledge/documents-and-tables) hold larger sources the agent should consult. Keeping those layers separate lets each one evolve without destabilizing the others. The configuration stays consistent, but each [thread](https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/concepts/threads) brings a different assignment, source material, conversation, and set of decisions. The agent is the same teammate; the thread is the work in front of it. Every save records a version snapshot. Open the agent's configuration history to review earlier versions and restore the one you want.