How Project Instructions Work in Clanker Workspace

Project instructions explain the preferences and constraints that belong to a body of work. They help later Workspace Sessions understand its audience, source rules, and expected outputs without requiring you to paste the same brief every time.

The useful question is what should remain true when today's task changes. “Use plain English for our client” may belong in Project instructions. “Shorten the second paragraph of this draft” usually belongs in the current Session.

Put the instructions with the Project

Open the Project's Instructions tab and save the context you want its work to share. General also has Instructions for everyday work outside a named Project.

Begin with a short description of the purpose, reader, preferred deliverables, and source-selection rules. Keep supporting material in Files. Instructions can name the source of a fact, but the underlying file must actually be available to the task.

For a fictional launch Project, that might look like:

Purpose: prepare internal launch planning material.
Audience: our operations and sales leads.
Use the approved product brief for product claims.
Treat meeting notes as discussion unless approval is explicit.
Keep dates tentative when the source does not confirm them.
For updates, use completed work, next steps, blockers, and decisions.
Name the source file for claims that affect a launch decision.
Save requested deliverables in this Project for review.

This gives the Agent concrete rules it can demonstrate. It is more useful than “be excellent” because you can check which brief it used and whether it preserved an unconfirmed date.

Separate three kinds of instructions

Workspace has several places for direction. Choose the one that matches the scope:

An Agent's reusable method can help across Projects. Project instructions explain this particular work. The Session supplies the current question, files, and corrections. The reusable instruction guide helps when you want to turn a successful method into a specialist role.

Avoid freezing temporary details into the wrong place. A deadline copied into a global Agent can become confusing when you use it for another client. A Project-specific source register can identify the current brief while retaining earlier versions for reference.

Try a fresh Session

After saving the instructions, begin a new Session in the Project with a small input. For this fictional trial, provide a note saying that Friday was discussed as a possible launch date.

Ask:

Draft a three-bullet launch update from this note and the approved product brief. State which files and Project rules you used. Keep the date's approval status visible. Save the draft for review.

The result should keep Friday tentative. Open the saved draft and verify the important claim. Asking the Agent to recite the instructions can be useful for orientation, but its actual treatment of the note is the better test.

If the result selects an old brief, correct the source rule and repeat the affected task. If it cannot access a file, supply the right input rather than adding more descriptive words to the instructions.

Update the context when the work changes

When a new brief is approved, identify it and revise any rule that still points to the previous version. Keep durable preferences compact enough to read and maintain.

Instructions guide behavior; they do not grant tool access, create a connection, or establish approval for an external action. Review the Session's capabilities and approval settings for the work you intend. A useful Project setup combines clear instructions with current sources and a result you can inspect.

Sources

• Start a useful Session
• Organize Project files
• Write reusable Agent instructions
• Choose an approval mode