> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.poly.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Personality and role FAQ

> Learn how to configure your agent's personality, tone, and role using concrete examples.

Answers to questions about setting your agent's personality, tone, and role. This FAQ emphasizes using specific examples and rules rather than generic personality instructions. See [Agent](/agent-settings/agent) for full documentation.

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="How do I set the agent's personality and tone?" icon="face-smile">
    Personality and role are configured in **Build > Agent**. The greeting is configured per-channel under **Channels > Voice > Voice configuration** (or **Channels > Chat > Chat configuration**), not on the Agent page.

    The built-in personality tags (`Polite`, `Kind`, `Funny`, `Energetic`, `Calm`, `Thoughtful`) are simply inserted as adjectives into the system prompt – e.g. *"You are a polite, kind \[role]."*. Selecting **Other** replaces the joined adjectives with your free-form string. There's no hidden behavior tied to specific words – they're literal prompt content.

    For detailed tone control, use [global rules](/agent-settings/rules) with **specific examples** of how the agent should respond. Single-sentence instructions like "Be professional" are less reliable than concrete examples:

    **Instead of:** "Be friendly and helpful."

    **Use a rule like:** "When greeting the customer, use their name if available. Example: 'Hi Sarah, thanks for calling \[Brand]. How can I help you today?'"

    <Tip>
      Always test tone changes in [sandbox](/environments-and-versions/introduction) with adversarial inputs before promoting.
    </Tip>
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Is defining a role necessary?" icon="user-tag">
    It helps the agent stay focused. Add this in the [Agent](/agent-settings/agent) section or as a global rule.

    **Examples:**

    * "You are a virtual agent for \[Brand], focused on customer support."
    * "You are a helpful hotel concierge, focused on resolving customer problems and managing reservations."
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>