---
title: "Assistants"
description: "Create an assistant, write its context and answer guidelines, and choose what it reads with the all, selected or tags knowledge modes."
canonical: "https://lookio.app/docs/guides/assistants"
updated: "2026-11-08"
---

# Assistants

An assistant answers questions from the resources you give it. Open **Assistants**, then **Create an assistant**. The form opens with a name, a context and answer guidelines. Keep them or change them. To let Lookio AI write them, choose **Create with AI**.

![The Assistants page with three assistants: Support assistant, Sales assistant and Onboarding buddy, each with its colored orb](/docs/images/app/assistants-list.webp)

Open an assistant to edit it. Its sheet has three tabs: **Settings**, **Knowledge** and **Public**. Make your changes, then select **Save** at the bottom of the sheet.

## Settings

| Setting               | What it is                                                  | Limit             |
| --------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------- |
| **Name**              | How you recognise it.                                       | 120 characters    |
| **Context**           | What the assistant is and who it talks to.                  | 12,000 characters |
| **Answer guidelines** | How answers are written: language, format, level of detail. | 12,000 characters |
| **Answers from**      | What it reads. See below.                                   |                   |

### Context

Write what the assistant is and who it talks to, in plain words. You do not need to tell it to answer only from the resources. It always does.

```text title="Example"
You answer Billowfin customers: freelancers and small businesses who send invoices with Billowfin. They write from the help widget or from inside the app.
```

### Answer guidelines

Say how the answer should look.

```text title="Example"
Answer in the customer's language. Give the steps first, then the why. If the answer is not in the sources, say so and offer to reach a person at support@billowfin.com.
```

Keep the two apart. The context says who the assistant is. The guidelines say how its answers look.

![The Settings tab of the Support assistant with its context and answer guidelines filled in](/docs/images/app/assistant-settings.webp)

_The Settings tab: context and answer guidelines._

## What an assistant reads

An assistant has one knowledge mode at a time.

| Mode                    | It reads                                                      | Use it when                                          |
| ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| **All resources**       | Every resource of the workspace, including those added later. | You have one knowledge base.                         |
| **Chosen resources**    | Only the resources you pick, up to 200.                       | An assistant has a narrow job.                       |
| **Resources with tags** | Every resource with a tag it follows, now or later.           | Resources change often, and you sort them with tags. |

When you change the mode, Lookio keeps your list for the other modes. Go from **Chosen resources** to **Resources with tags** and back: your picks are still there.

![The Knowledge tab with three modes: All resources, Chosen resources and Resources with tags](/docs/images/app/assistant-knowledge.webp)

> **Warning: An assistant that reads nothing cannot answer**
>
> This happens when it has no chosen resource, when its tags match no resource, or when it reads **All resources** in an empty workspace. The list of assistants shows it. Every channel refuses its questions, for free, with `assistant_has_no_resources`. Its widgets stay hidden until it reads a resource.

An assistant answers only from resources that are `ready`. See [Resources](/docs/guides/resources#statuses).

If you create an assistant through the API without `knowledge`, Lookio uses `tags` when you give only tags, and `selected` in all other cases. Send `all` to read every resource.

## Who can use an assistant

On the Free and Starter plans, every member can use every assistant. On the Pro and Custom plans, an admin chooses which assistants each member may use. See [Members and permissions](/docs/guides/members-and-permissions).

You can limit an API key to a list of assistants. Such a key cannot create assistants.

## Change or delete an assistant

Edit any field at any time. The next question uses the new settings.

When you delete an assistant, its resources stay. Its conversations stay readable, marked as from a deleted assistant. Nobody can continue them. You cannot delete an assistant that a [widget](/docs/guides/widget/overview) uses. First delete the widget or move it to another assistant. See [Deleting things](/docs/guides/deleting).

## Call it from your code

The **API** button on the sheet gives the call for this assistant, in curl, the CLI or JavaScript.

![The Call this assistant from your code dialog with cURL, CLI and JavaScript tabs, a curl command and the assistant id](/docs/images/app/assistant-api.webp)

**API**

[Create an assistant](/docs/api/assistants/create-assistant), [Update an assistant](/docs/api/assistants/update-assistant), [Ask an assistant](/docs/api/assistants/query-assistant).

**CLI**

```bash
lookio assistants create --name "Support assistant" --follow-tags support,billing
lookio ask ASSISTANT_ID "How do I issue a credit note?"
```

**MCP**

`list_assistants`, `get_assistant`, `create_assistant`, `update_assistant`, `ask_assistant`.