Personas
Customize how Chat Aid communicates by creating and managing AI personas. Personas define Chat Aid's personality, tone, and response style across your organization.
Overview
Personas allow you to:
- Define Chat Aid's communication style and personality
- Create role-specific assistants (Support Agent, Technical Expert, Sales Assistant, etc.)
- Provide custom instructions and guidelines for responses
- Configure dynamic loading states with custom messages
- Reuse and extend existing personas
- Assign different personas to widgets, APIs, and teams
What is a Persona?
A persona is a set of instructions that shapes how Chat Aid behaves and responds:
System Prompt: Core instructions defining the AI's role and behavior
Guidelines: Additional rules and constraints for responses
Dynamic Views: Custom loading messages and emojis
Variables: Placeholders for dynamic content
Default Personas
Chat Aid includes several built-in personas you can use:
| Persona | Example Response |
|---|---|
| Default The standard Chat Aid persona for general workspace interactions. | Q: What is business? Explain in 50 words. A: Business is like the mighty river - start small, a humble spring, which through strategic growth and valuable exchanges, transforms into a captivating force. It's a quest where ideas take flight, fueled by ambition and guided by strategy, with risk and reward as constant companions, to create, challenge, and change destinies. |
| Straightforward Uses simple language to break down difficult topics into easy, actionable takeaways. | Q: What is business? Explain in 50 words. A: Business is like a big lemonade stand. It's when people make or sell things or do helpful tasks to earn money. They plan a lot, make important choices and work hard to make things, sell them, and help their customers. It's all to make more money and keep the stand going. |
| Powerful Answers in a persuasive, narrative voice designed to move audiences. | Q: What is business? Explain in 50 words. A: Business is like the mighty river - start small, a humble spring, which through strategic growth and valuable exchanges, transforms into a captivating force. It's a quest where ideas take flight, fueled by ambition and guided by strategy, with risk and reward as constant companions, to create, challenge, and change destinies. |
| Casual Answers sound friendly, relaxed, and natural—like a real person. | Q: What is business? Explain in 50 words. A: Business is essentially an activity where goods or services are exchanged for money. It involves an organization engaging in commercial, industrial, or professional activities. Whether it's a small bakery or a tech giant, the goal is generally to generate a profit and grow. |
| Jane Austen Responses written in the formal, elegant style of Jane Austen. | Q: What is business? Explain in 50 words. A: In the realm of commerce, dear Sir/Madam, business, in its most elemental form, may be described as a series of endeavors employed by individuals, engaged enthusiastically in the pursuit of gain or trade. This endeavor involves the provision of goods, services, or both to society in exchange for monetary reward. |
You can select any of these personas when asking questions through the web interface, or set a default persona for your organization, chat widgets, or API integrations.
Creating Custom Personas
Step-by-Step
-
Navigate to Personas:
- Go to Settings → Personas
-
Click "Create Persona":
- Click the Create persona button
-
Enter Persona Name (Required):
- Give your persona a descriptive name
- Must be at least 3 characters long
-
Select Response Emoji (Optional):
- Choose an emoji reaction to use when searching for an answer
- If left blank, Chat Aid will respond with the fallback message instead
-
Set Fallback Response Message (Required):
- Enter a message to display when emoji reactions are unavailable
- Example: "I'm on it! Looking for an answer now..."
- Must be at least 3 characters long
-
Choose Personality:
- Select a base persona (Default, Straightforward, Powerful, Casual, Jane Austen)
- Or select "Custom Persona" to write your own
-
Write Definition (Required):
- Define Chat Aid's personality, voice, and behavior
- This field is only editable if you selected "Custom Persona"
- If you chose a base persona, it will show that persona's definition (read-only)
- Must be at least 10 characters long
-
Save:
- Click Create to save the persona
- Or click the dropdown and select Create and select persona to make it your organization's default
Persona Configuration
Definition (Prompt)
The definition field contains the core instructions that define the AI's personality, voice, and behavior when responding.
Best Practices:
- Be Specific: Clearly define the role and purpose
- Set Tone: Describe the communication style (formal, friendly, technical, etc.)
- Provide Examples: Show the type of responses you want
- Set Boundaries: Explain what the AI should NOT do
- Include Context: Mention the user base or typical questions
- Combine Everything: Include all rules, guidelines, and instructions in one definition
Structure:
1. Role Definition: "You are a [role]..."
2. Primary Goal: "Your goal is to [objective]..."
3. Key Behaviors: "Always [do this]..." or "Never [do that]..."
4. Tone and Style: Describe communication approach
5. Special Instructions: Any unique requirements
6. Rules and Guidelines: Specific dos and don'ts
Example:
You are a helpful customer support assistant. Your goal is to solve customer
problems quickly and effectively. Always:
- Be empathetic and patient
- Provide clear, step-by-step instructions
- Cite sources from the knowledge base
- Keep responses under 300 words unless more detail is requested
- Use bullet points for lists of 3+ items
Never make promises about features or timelines. If you don't have the answer,
recommend users contact our support team directly.
Length: 100-500 words is typical. Longer prompts give more control but may slow responses slightly.
Variables
Placeholder values that get replaced with dynamic content at runtime.
Common Variables:
{{userName}}: Current user's name{{userEmail}}: Current user's email{{widgetName}}: Name of the chat widget (for widget interactions){{orgName}}: Organization name{{teamName}}: Team name
Usage in Prompts:
You are assisting {{userName}} from {{orgName}}. They are using the {{widgetName}} widget on our support portal...
At Runtime:
You are assisting John Doe from Acme Corp. They are using the Customer Support widget on our support portal...
Not all variables are available in all contexts. Widget-specific variables only work for widget interactions, for example.
Response Emoji and Fallback Message
Configure how Chat Aid indicates it's working on an answer.
Response Emoji (Optional)
Choose an emoji reaction to display while searching for an answer (Slack/Teams only).
Examples:
- 🔍 (magnifying glass)
- 🤔 (thinking face)
- ⏳ (hourglass)
- 🤖 (robot)
- 💭 (thought bubble)
Behavior:
- If left blank, Chat Aid will always use the fallback message instead
- Only works in Slack and Microsoft Teams
- Chat widgets and web interface always use the fallback message
Fallback Response Message (Required)
Text message shown when emoji reactions are unavailable or not configured.
Examples:
- "I'm on it! Looking for an answer now..."
- "Searching through your company knowledge..."
- "Analyzing the question..."
- "Finding the best answer for you..."
- "Looking through documentation..."
Best Practices:
- Keep it short (5-10 words)
- Set appropriate expectations
- Match your persona's tone
- Be reassuring
- Must be at least 3 characters long
Base Personalities
When creating a custom persona, you can build upon an existing persona rather than starting from scratch.
How It Works
In the Personality dropdown when creating a persona, you can:
- Select "Custom Persona" to write your own definition from scratch
- Select any existing persona (Default, Straightforward, Powerful, Casual, Jane Austen) to use as a base
If you select an existing persona:
- The definition field will show that persona's instructions (read-only)
- You can still customize the name, response emoji, and fallback message
- Your new persona will behave exactly like the base persona
If you select "Custom Persona":
- The definition field becomes editable
- You write your own instructions from scratch
- Full control over the AI's behavior
Use Cases:
- Create department-specific variations with the same behavior but different names
- Customize loading messages per widget while keeping core behavior the same
- Use the same underlying AI behavior across multiple personas
Example:
Name: "Customer Support - EMEA"
Personality: Straightforward (selected from dropdown)
Response Emoji: 💬
Fallback Message: "Looking up your answer in our help center..."
Definition: [Shows Straightforward persona's definition - read-only]
Result: This persona behaves exactly like Straightforward, but with a custom name
and fallback message specific to your EMEA support team.
Assigning Personas
Organization-Wide Persona
Your organization has one selected persona that applies to all:
- Slack conversations (DMs and channels)
- Microsoft Teams conversations (DMs and channels)
- Web interface (Ask Chai page)
- Chrome extension
To change your organization's persona:
- Go to Settings → Personas
- Click on the persona card you want to use
- Click the Select button
- Confirm the change in the modal
A confirmation modal will warn you that "all your teammates will see this change in persona when they receive responses from Chat Aid."
Chat Widgets and Custom API keys have their own independent persona configuration. The organization-wide persona does NOT apply to widgets or APIs. See Chat Widgets and Custom APIs for details.
Managing Personas
Viewing All Personas
The Personas page shows:
- Built-in Personas (Default, Straightforward, Powerful, Casual, Jane Austen) - Cannot be edited or deleted
- Custom Personas - Personas you've created
- Selected Badge - Shows which persona is currently active for your organization
Click any persona card to view its details in the right panel.
Editing Custom Personas
Only custom personas can be edited. Built-in personas cannot be modified.
To edit a custom persona:
- Go to Settings → Personas
- Find your custom persona in the list
- Click the Edit icon (pencil) on the persona card
- Update the name, emoji, fallback message, personality, or definition
- Click Save
Editing a persona affects all places where it's used (organization-wide, widgets, or APIs that reference it). Changes apply immediately.
Deleting Custom Personas
Only custom personas can be deleted. Built-in personas cannot be removed.
To delete a custom persona:
- Go to Settings → Personas
- Find your custom persona in the list
- Click the Delete icon (trash) on the persona card
- Confirm deletion in the modal
If you delete a persona that's currently selected for your company, Chat Aid will automatically switch to the Default persona. All teammates will see this change immediately.
Best Practices
- Start Simple: Begin with basic instructions defining role and tone, then add complexity based on real usage
- Be Specific: Clearly define what the AI should and shouldn't do
- Test Thoroughly: Try the persona with real questions before activating it organization-wide
- Document Usage: Note where each persona is used (organization, widgets, or APIs)
- Iterate: Refine based on user feedback and observed interactions
Troubleshooting
Persona not applying?
- Verify it's selected in Settings → Personas
- Check if a widget or API has its own persona override
- Test in a new conversation
Inconsistent responses?
- Make instructions more specific
- Remove conflicting directions
- Test with diverse questions
Wrong tone?
- Add explicit tone instructions and examples
- Include specific words/phrases to use or avoid
Related Settings
- Chat Widgets: Configure personas independently for website widgets
- Custom APIs: Write custom persona instructions for API keys
- Response Settings: Control where Chat Aid responds in Slack/Teams
Example Custom Personas
Support Agent:
You are a friendly customer support agent. Help customers solve problems quickly and effectively.
- Be empathetic and patient
- Provide clear, step-by-step instructions
- Always cite sources from the knowledge base
- Never promise features or timelines
Technical Expert:
You are a technical documentation expert. Provide accurate, detailed technical information.
- Use precise technical terminology
- Include code examples when relevant
- Assume the user has technical knowledge
- Prioritize accuracy over brevity
Sales Assistant:
You are a consultative sales assistant. Help prospects understand how our products solve their problems.
- Highlight key benefits and value
- Relate features to customer pain points
- Be helpful, not pushy
- Direct pricing questions to the sales team