> For the full page index, fetch https://echonova.ai/llms.txt

# Write the persona

Set the agent's identity, write the personality prompt that decides how it speaks, and give it a greeting, all saved as you type.

The **Persona** tab holds three things: who the agent is in your workspace, how
it speaks, and the first line it says. It changes an agent's behaviour more than
any other tab, because **Personality** is the one box the model reads word for
word.

## What you need

- An agent that is not archived. Every field on this tab is disabled while the
  agent is archived, and a save on an archived agent is refused with
  **This agent is archived. Restore it first to make changes.**
- Membership of the workspace the agent belongs to.

## Steps

### Step 1: Open the Persona tab

Open the agent, then select **Persona** in the tab row.

### Step 2: Fill in the Identity block

**Identity** is the first section, described as **Your agent's name and a short
description.** It holds two fields side by side.

**Name** is required. Its hint reads **Your agent introduces itself with the
name written in its Personality. If there is none, it uses this name.** So this
field is the fallback, not the name the caller hears first.

**Description** is optional. Its hint reads **Shown in your agents list. The
caller never hears it.** It is for your colleagues, so use it to say what this
agent is for.

### Step 3: Write the Personality

**Personality** is the prompt, and it is required. An empty one shows the
placeholder **Required: add personality** in red.

Write it as a brief for a new teammate. The portal's own suggestion says the
same: **Describe how this agent speaks and what information it knows. Write a
short brief that helps a new teammate understand it.** Name the agent inside this text if you want the caller to
hear a particular name.

The box counts your characters against the limit underneath it and stops
accepting input at the limit, so you cannot paste past it.

For what to put in the prompt, and two prompts carried end to end, see
[How the prompt is assembled](/docs/agents/prompting-guide).

> [!NOTE]
> **Generate By AI**, under the box, opens a dialog with a sample prompt in it.
> Your **Personality** text is unchanged when you close the dialog. Copy
> anything useful out of the sample and edit it in the box yourself.

### Step 4: Write the greeting

**Greeting message** is the last section, described as **The first line the
agent says.** Its placeholder is **What it says when a conversation starts**.
It has its own character counter and its own limit.

Leaving it empty is allowed. The agents list shows **No greeting set.** for an
agent without one.

## Get it right

The caller hears the name written inside **Personality**. A prompt that never
names the agent leaves the model to fall back to the **Name** field, and a
prompt that describes the agent in the third person gives you an agent talking
about itself.

**Recommended**

```text
You are Sara, the support agent for Acme, an online electronics shop in Cairo.
Introduce yourself as Sara on the first turn.
```

**Less effective**

```text
This agent helps Acme customers. It is friendly and professional.
```

## Worked example

On a new support agent you set **Name** to `Acme Support`, leave **Description**
as `Front line for order and delivery questions`, and write the **Personality**
above. In **Greeting message** you put:

```text
Acme support, Sara speaking. How can I help?
```

You type the last character and stop. No button, no toast: the tab has already
saved. The next conversation opens with that greeting and the agent introduces
itself as Sara.

## What happens next

There is no save button. Every field on this tab saves itself about 0.6 seconds
after you stop typing, and the save is silent. The only thing you will see is a
red banner near the bottom of the screen if a save fails.

An empty **Name** never saves, since the field is required. Fix the name and the
next keystroke saves the rest.

Changes reach the agent at the start of its next conversation. A call in
progress finishes on the wording it started with.

## Limits

| Limit            | Value                                       | Applies to             |
| ---------------- | ------------------------------------------- | ---------------------- |
| Name             | 1 to 100 characters, required               | **Name**               |
| Description      | 500 characters                              | **Description**        |
| Personality      | 1 to 8000 characters, required              | **Personality**        |
| Greeting message | 500 characters                              | **Greeting message**   |
| Autosave delay   | About 0.6 seconds after your last keystroke | Every field on the tab |

The character counters under the **Personality** and **Greeting message** boxes
show the same limits the agents API enforces, so a value you can type is a value
that will save.

## Troubleshooting

### Name is required.

The **Name** field is empty. The message appears under the field once you have
touched it. Type a name.

### Personality must be 8000 characters or fewer.

The prompt is over the limit. The box will not let you type past it, so this
normally means the text arrived another way. Trim it.

### Couldn't save changes. Try again.

The save failed for a reason the portal could not read. The tab reloads what is
stored, so the text you see after the banner is the text that is saved, not your
unsaved edit. Retype it and let it save again.

### This agent is archived. Restore it first to make changes.

You are editing an archived agent. Use **Restore** in the header, then edit.

### Some fields need attention.

The save was rejected on validation and the portal is showing the first reason
it got back. Check the field lengths against the table above.

## FAQ

### Which name does the caller actually hear?

Whichever name is written inside the **Personality** text. The **Name** field is
only the fallback for when the prompt names no one.

### Does the caller ever hear the description?

No. It appears in your agents list and nowhere else.

### Can I use Arabic in the prompt and the greeting?

Yes. Both boxes follow the direction of what you type, so Arabic and English
both lay out correctly.

### Do I need to press save?

No. There is no save button on this tab. Typing is saving.

### Will an edit interrupt a call that is already running?

No. Edits take effect on the next conversation.

### What does Generate By AI put in my prompt?

Nothing. It shows a sample prompt in a dialog and leaves **Personality** as you
wrote it. Copy what you want from the sample into the box.

## Related

- [How the prompt is assembled](/docs/agents/prompting-guide): what to write in **Personality**
- [What is an agent](/docs/agents/what-is-an-agent): the other tabs and what they hold
- [Create an agent](/docs/agents/create-an-agent): make one before you write its persona
- [Build an agent with AI](/docs/agents/build-with-ai): have a model draft the prompt for you
- [The agent overview tab](/docs/agents/agent-overview-page): check what the agent then did