Custom vs. official copilots

If a custom copilot you've built becomes valuable to the whole organization, ask your admin — they can promote it to an Official copilot.

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Creating a custom copilot

1. Click + Create your own copilot at the bottom of the sidebar.
2. Give your copilot a name, description, and an avatar image.
3. Write your instructions.
4. Configure the model, tools, knowledge, and sharing settings.
5. Click Save.

Your copilot appears under My copilots in the sidebar immediately.

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Instructions

The instructions are the core of your copilot. They define how the copilot thinks, what role it plays, what tone it uses, and what it should or shouldn't do.

Good instructions give the copilot a clear role, relevant context, and behavioral guidance. The more specific, the better.

Examples of what to include in your instructions:

• Role: "You are a technical writing assistant who helps engineers write clear, audience-appropriate documentation."
• Constraints: "Always ask for the target audience before providing output. Never include jargon without defining it."
• Format preferences: "Respond in structured markdown. Use headers for each major section."
• Tone: "Be direct and professional. Skip pleasantries."

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Language model selection

When creating or editing a custom copilot, you choose which AI model powers it. There are two approaches:

Model family (recommended for most copilots)

Select a model family and Fuel iX automatically keeps your copilot on the latest evaluated model within that family. You don't need to manage version updates.

Available model families:

• Claude — Excellent at following nuanced instructions, long-form writing, and complex reasoning. Default for new copilots.
• Gemini — Best for research-heavy tasks, multimodal inputs and large context workloads.
• OpenAI — Strong general-purpose model with broad task coverage.

Pinned model

Select a specific model version that stays fixed. Use this when you've optimized your instructions for a particular model's behavior and need consistent, predictable outputs.

Reasoning

Some models support a Reasoning toggle. When enabled, the model thinks through a problem before generating its response — this improves accuracy on complex tasks, multi-step reasoning, and ambiguous instructions. You can control the Reasoning effort (Low, Medium, or High) to balance thoroughness against response time.

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Tools and capabilities

In the copilot settings, you can enable or disable individual tools. Each tool extends what your copilot can do during a chat.

Enable only the tools your copilot actually needs. A focused tool set keeps the copilot's behavior more predictable and reduces noise.

For a detailed explanation of what each tool does and how to use it in a chat, see Tools and capabilities.

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Conversation starters

Conversation starters are suggested prompts shown to users when they open your copilot. They help people understand what the copilot does and give them a quick way to get started.

To add conversation starters:

1. Scroll to the Conversation Starters section in your copilot settings.
2. Click + Add Conversation Starter.
3. Type a prompt. You can add up to five.
4. Click Save.

Users can click a conversation starter to pre-fill the message box, then edit it before sending.

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Knowledge bases

Connect a knowledge base to give your copilot access to your organization's documents. When a user asks a question, the copilot searches the knowledge base and grounds its response in that content.

To link a knowledge base:

1. Open Knowledge in your copilot settings.
2. Select an existing knowledge base or create a new one.
3. Save your copilot.

Learn about setting up and managing knowledge bases →

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Apps

Connect external apps to your copilot through the Apps Marketplace. Connected apps let the copilot take actions in those systems — searching Confluence, creating Jira issues, reading Notion pages, and more.

Learn about Apps and MCP →

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Sharing and access

By default, a new custom copilot is private — only you can see and use it. You can open access to others at any time.

Access levels:

• Viewer — can chat with the copilot; cannot edit its settings
• Admin — can edit the copilot's settings, instructions, and tools; cannot delete it

Only the copilot's owner can delete it.

To share your copilot, open its settings and go to the Sharing and roles section. You can share with individual users or with teams. Adding a team automatically includes future members.

Learn more about sharing →

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Viewing user feedback

If users give feedback on your copilot's responses — thumbs up, thumbs down, or comments — you can review it in the Feedback tab of your copilot settings.

Use this to:

• Identify responses that consistently land well or miss the mark
• Spot patterns in what users ask vs. what the copilot delivers
• Refine your instructions based on real usage

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Editing a copilot

1. Click on the copilot's avatar in the sidebar to open the copilot details panel.
2. Click Copilot Settings.
3. Make your changes and click Save.

Only the owner of a copilot can edit its settings.

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Managing your copilots

All your copilots are accessible from My Copilot Hub in the sidebar. From there you can create new copilots, open existing ones for editing, star frequently used ones for quick access, and see copilots that have been shared with you.

The sidebar itself shows your most recently used copilots under My copilots for quick access.

You can also set any copilot you have access to as your personal default from the sidebar, so it opens automatically when you access the Copilots app. Learn more about default copilots →

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Related pages

• Tools and capabilities — detailed breakdown of every tool
• Knowledge bases — setting up and managing document libraries
• Apps and MCP — connecting external services
• Sharing and collaboration — sharing copilots with your team
• Prisms — building interactive UI inside your copilot
• Build your first custom copilot (playbook)