Instructions, notes, skills, memory and rules: which to use

EkLine has several places to tell its agents about your company and how to work, and a few settings with similar names that do different jobs.

A change to a setting the agents read applies to sessions started after you save it. A session that is already open keeps what it started with.

Every setting at a glance

Setting	Where it lives	What it is for	Who reads it	Use it when
Custom instructions (Docs Agent)	Settings > Docs Agent > Custom instructions	How to write docs: spelling, terms, structure, audience. Up to 20,000 characters.	Docs Agent only	Every docs session should follow a convention.
Custom instructions (Marketing Agent)	Settings > Marketing Agent > Custom instructions	How to write posts: voice, person, how posts open and close. Up to 20,000 characters.	Marketing Agent only	A convention is for posts, not docs.
Company Profile	Settings > Organization > Company Profile	Facts about your company: product, brand names, documentation sites, audiences, personas, competitors, tone and voice.	Marketing Agent always. Docs Agent when company context is on for your organization.	Both agents should know who you are and who you write for.
Visual Style Guidelines	The Visual Style Guidelines field in Company Profile	Colors and style notes for the images the agents draw.	Both agents, when they create an image (the Docs Agent only when it reads Company Profile)	Images should match your brand.
Reference documents	Settings > Integrations > Knowledge Base	Files the agents read for facts, such as briefs and glossaries. Up to 3 MB each.	Both agents, when reference documents are on for your organization	The facts are in a document, not in your code.
Repository notes	Settings > Integrations > GitHub Integration or GitLab Integration, on each saved repository	What one repository is, read as a description, not an instruction. Up to 5,000 characters.	Both agents	An agent needs to know what a repository holds.
Skills	Settings > Docs Agent > Skills	A workflow you run with its slash command, or that the agent uses when a task matches.	Both agents, though the settings page names only the Docs Agent	You repeat the same multi-step task.
Rules	Settings > Docs Agent > Rules	Standing rules, each General (always in force) or Review (applied before a docs pull request is opened or updated), optionally for some files only.	Both agents, though the settings page names only the Docs Agent	A requirement must always hold.
Organization memory	Nowhere in the app	Notes the agents keep for themselves while they work, shared by every session in your organization. No page shows it.	Both agents	You do not set it. For a standing rule, use custom instructions or Rules.
Reviewer Rules	Settings > Docs Agent > Reviewer Rules	Turns the Docs Reviewer’s built-in style checks on or off.	The Docs Reviewer. The agents don’t read it.	You want the Docs Reviewer to check more or less.
Terminology	Settings > Organization > Terminology	Terms to avoid, each with the term to use instead.	The Docs Reviewer. The agents don’t read it.	Reviews should flag a term.
Dictionary	Settings > Organization > Dictionary	Words the Docs Reviewer’s spell check accepts.	The Docs Reviewer. The agents don’t read it.	Reviews flag your product names as misspelled.
Automations	Automations in the sidebar	A prompt and a schedule. Each run starts a Docs Agent session with that agent’s usual context. It is not context itself.	Starts Docs Agent sessions only	A task should run on a schedule.
Review rules	Settings > Integrations > GitHub Integration or GitLab Integration, the Review rules icon on a repository	Which pull requests automatic PR review looks at, by branch, author, title, label or file.	Automatic PR review	EkLine should skip some pull requests.

If a tab is missing from your settings, or you want company context or reference documents on, contact support@ekline.io.

Three settings called rules

• Rules tell the agents what to do. A rule of type Review applies before a docs pull request is opened or updated.
• Review rules choose which pull requests automatic PR review looks at.
• Reviewer Rules turn the Docs Reviewer’s style checks on and off. The agents don’t read them.

Examples

Acme wants every docs draft to say “sign in”, never “log in”. Add the instruction to the Docs Agent’s custom instructions. To have the Docs Reviewer flag “log in” in pull requests too, add it to Terminology.

Acme wants both agents to know that its main competitor is Hooli. Add Hooli under Competitors in Company Profile.

Every pull request to Acme’s documentation that touches the API reference must update the changelog. Add a rule of type Review, with docs/api/** in Applies to (optional). When the agent can’t meet a rule, it says so in the pull request body.

Acme drafts release notes the same way for every version. Write the steps once as a skill named Release notes checklist, and run it by typing /release-notes-checklist.

FAQ

Where do I see the contents of a skill?

In Settings > Docs Agent > Skills. The list shows each skill’s name, command and When to use it text. Click a skill’s edit icon to see its instructions. The editor has no list of skills.

Do Rules and Skills apply to the Marketing Agent?

Yes. Both agents use them in every new session, even though their settings pages name only the Docs Agent. A rule of type Review comes into play when an agent opens or updates a docs pull request.

Do the agents use my Terminology list and Dictionary?

No. Both configure the Docs Reviewer. To make an agent use or avoid a term, put it in that agent’s custom instructions or in a rule.