How to Create Assistants in CometAI

Table of Contents

Assistants in CometAI are customizable AI tools that can be configured for specific workflows, tasks, or reporting needs. By creating your own assistant, you can streamline repetitive processes, ensure consistent outputs, and add tailored functionality to your workspace.

Creating an Assistant

Follow these steps to set up an assistant in CometAI:

1. Open the Prompts Sidebar

  • Navigate to the right-hand sidebar in CometAI.
  • Select + Assistant.

Figure 1: Screenshot of the CometAI Prompts Sidebar with labels showing options to collapse the panel, create assistants, and view lists of user-created and built-in assistants.

2. Start From Scratch or Copy an Existing Assistant

  • Auto-Populate from Existing Assistant (Optional): Use the dropdown to base your new assistant on an existing one.
  • To begin fresh, leave this option set to None.

Screenshot of the Assistant creation popup window with the Auto-Populate From Existing Assistant dropdown menu highlighted in a red box.

3. Add Core Details

  • Assistant Name – Give your assistant a descriptive name for easy identification.
  • Description (Optional) – Add a short overview of its purpose (e.g., “Summarizes survey results into three bullet points”).
  • Instructions – Define how the assistant should respond.
  • Disclaimer (Optional) – Add a message that will automatically appear at the end of every response, such as a content warning or legal notice.
  • Upload Data Sources (Optional) – Attach documents or files that the assistant should reference when generating responses.
Note: Assistants are the only feature in CometAI that supports file uploads for use as context during conversations.

Adding an AI Disclaimer & Contant Information disclaimer is strongly recommended when creating an assistant, especially if others will rely on its output.

4. Configure Advanced Options (Optional)

Advanced Options allow you to fine-tune how the assistant interacts with data, messages, and outputs.

Data Source Options

  • Include download links for referenced documents:
    • Assistant can include hyperlinks to relevant downloadable documents in its responses.
  • Include attached documents in RAG:
    • Allows Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to be performed on user-attached documents. Only the most relevant portions of the document will be provided to the assistant.
  • Include attached documents in prompt (Recommended):
    • The assistant will receive the full content of user-attached documents for comprehensive context.
  • Include conversation documents in RAG (Recommended):
    • Applies Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to documents from earlier in the conversation. Only the most relevant portions will be provided to the assistant.
  • Include conversation documents in prompt:
    • ​​​​​​​The assistant receives the full content of documents from earlier in the conversation for comprehensive context.
  • Include attached data source metadata in prompt (Not Recommended):
    • ​​​​​​​Provides the assistant with metadata, including ID, name, type, and properties of currently attached documents for reference purposes.
  • Include conversation data source metadata in prompt (Not Recommended):
    • ​​​​​​​Provides the assistant with metadata, including ID, name, type, and properties of documents from earlier in the conversation for reference purposes.
  • Disable data source insertion (Not Recommended):
    • ​​​​​​​Ignores all user-provided documents, preventing their content from being seen by the assistant.
Best Practice: Use RAG when you want the assistant to reference documents without pasting their full content. Use prompt insertion when full text is needed.

Message Options

  • Include Message IDs in Messages - Helpful for tracking and debugging.
  • Insert Line Numbers in User or Assistant Messages - Makes long or structured content easier to reference.
Best Practice: Enable line numbers for coding, transcripts, or large documents.

Feature Options

  • Allow Assistant to Create Artifacts - Enables the assistant to generate downloadable files, reports, or structured outputs.
Best Practice: Enable artifact creation for assistants designed to produce shareable content.

Tags & Conversation Tags

  • By leveraging same tags in Assistant and Follow-Up Button, you can utilize the follow-up buttons inside Assistant as well.

Save Your Assistant

  • Click Save to finalize your assistant.
  • Your new assistant will appear in the Prompts Sidebar, ready for use in conversations.

Sharing

CometAI allows you to share your custom assistants with others. Sharing makes it easy for teammates or collaborators to use the assistant you’ve created without needing to build it themselves.

Quick Steps to Share an Assistant:

  1. Open the Prompts Sidebar.
  2. Hover over the assistant you want to share.
  3. Select the Share option from the menu.
  4. Fill out the Share menu.

Screenshot of the right-side panel showing the Share icon highlighted by a red box.

Important: People who receive a shared assistant can view its full setup (name, description, instructions, disclaimers, and data sources) but cannot edit the assistant itself. This ensures your configuration remains intact while still giving others full visibility into how it was built.

Best Practices

  • Keep names clear and specific - e.g., “Weekly Report Assistant” rather than “Assistant 1.”
  • Add disclaimers where appropriate - Helps clarify that responses are AI-generated.
  • Attach data thoughtfully - Don’t overload prompts; use RAG for efficient referencing.
  • Leverage tags - Organize assistants by purpose (e.g., research, reporting, analysis).

Once created, your assistant is available immediately and can be used to speed up workflows, ensure consistency, and improve collaboration in CometAI.

Print Article