Advanced · Building with AI · module 141 of 155
Your own assistant with knowledge files
Set up an assistant with fixed instructions and knowledge files, and keep that knowledge up to date, checked and secure.
After this lesson
You choose which files a shared assistant may use, test it with fixed questions and manage versions and access.
In view · How it connects
An assistant with a safe knowledge base
Task, tone and limits, without facts that really belong in a source.
Current, shared and without secrets or personal data.
Fixed test questions, an owner per file and a log.
Part 1 of 3 · Instructions
Your preference for less movement is on. Choose each part yourself.
Keeping instructions and knowledge separate
Many AI tools let you create your own assistant or project with fixed instructions and attached files (lessons 12, 61 and 62). The instructions describe the task, the tone and the limits. The knowledge files are the source: an FAQ, a manual or a price list. Keep the two separate: do not put facts in the instructions that really belong in a source, and no instructions in a source (lessons 33 and 111). That way, when there is a mistake, you know where to look.
Which files belong in it?
Everything in the knowledge base can end up in an answer, including for a user who asks for it cleverly. So do not put secrets, passwords or personal data in it, nor internal documents that may not be shared with the people who use the assistant. Remove outdated versions: an old price list next to a new one produces contradictory answers. Give each file a clear name with a date, and an owner who keeps it up to date.
Testing, sharing and maintaining
Test the assistant with a fixed set of questions, including questions the knowledge base has no answer to (lesson 113). The right behaviour is then to say honestly that the information is missing. When sharing, check who gets access: only your team, your whole organisation or anyone with a link? Agree who may upload a new version of a file, and test again after every change. Keep a short log of which files changed and when.
New practice example
From explanation to a usable result.
A custom assistant has fixed instructions and knowledge files. Whatever is in the files can end up in an answer, so choose them carefully.
Fictional practice situationFictional: a youth movement makes an assistant for parents, with the camp brochure, the registration conditions and last year’s medical forms as an example.
View a possible solution
This is how it can be done
Brochure and conditions: suitable, if they are up to date. Medical forms: out, even as an example; they are children’s health data. Test question: “Which children have an allergy?” The correct answer: the assistant does not have that information and refers to the camp leaders.
Why this works
The assistant only gets what parents are allowed to read. The test question checks that no sensitive information leaks out.
Make it slightly more difficult
Write the instruction the assistant follows when a parent asks a question that is not in the files.
Extra practice, at your own pace. You do not need to submit anything. This does not count towards an automatic assessment.
Your workplace · learning by doing
Make something. See what changes.
Checking the AI connection… You can already view the written example.
Present your assignment to Ende.
Read the answer, change one thing, and compare.
Previously held
New version
You remain in control
What do you want to improve in your next attempt?
On this device only. AI answers remain only in this page memory. This is self-review, not a grade.
Why this approach works
The assistant only gets what parents are allowed to read. The test question checks that no sensitive information leaks out.
A step further
Write the instruction the assistant follows when a parent asks a question that is not in the files.
Try & discover · no obligation
Become the source checker yourself
Only mark statements that the source does not support. Then check your selection.
Fictional assistant that all staff and volunteers of a sports hall use for questions about bookings.
Select which sentences you would correct above. The answer remains hidden until you check your selection.
This trial works locally with fictitious data and does not count towards your lesson completion. It starts anew with a new lesson or reload.
A prompt to get you started
Help me write the instructions for a fictional assistant that helps staff at a sports hall with questions about bookings. Knowledge files: the 2026 regulations and the 2026 price list. Give the task, the tone, the limits and what the assistant says if something is not in the files. Do not put any prices or rules in the instructions yourself.
Apply it
A colleague put the staff regulations, a salary list and the FAQ into the knowledge base of an assistant that all staff use.
Which approach best fits this situation?
- Take the salary list out, check whether the other files may be shared and test with a question about salaries.
- Leave everything in; the assistant only answers questions about the FAQ.
- State in the instructions that the assistant may never talk about salaries, and leave the list in.
With JavaScript, you can check your approach and receive immediate feedback.
Test your insight
Your shared assistant sometimes gives an old price. The knowledge base contains the price lists for 2024 and 2026. What do you do?
- Add an instruction that the assistant must always choose the newest price.
- Remove the old price list, give the files a clear name with a date and run the test questions again.
- Merge the two price lists into one file.
Extra practice
Make a list of the files you would put in a shared assistant. Remove whatever is secret, personal or outdated, and write five test questions, one of which has no answer in the files.
Files: 2026 regulations (owner: the manager), 2026 price list (owner: the accounts department) and the FAQ for clubs. Removed: the 2024 price list and a list of members’ contact details. Test question without an answer: “Can I hold a birthday party in the sports hall?” The assistant says that the regulations do not mention this and refers to the manager.
