Assistants are the personalities and identities that power communication, scheduling, task execution, and automation within OpenAssistant.

Every action performed by OpenAssistant is handled through an assistant. You can use one of the built-in System Assistants or create your own Custom Assistant with a unique identity, personality, communication style, and email address.

To access Assistants, navigate to: app.openassistant.us/assistants

OpenAssistant includes a collection of preconfigured System Assistants that are ready to use immediately. Each System Assistant comes with a predefined:

System Assistants require no additional identity setup and are the fastest way to start using OpenAssistant.

Choose a System Assistant if:

Custom Assistants let you create an assistant with its own identity and customize how OpenAssistant represents you, your team, or your organization.

When creating a Custom Assistant, you can customize:

Create a Custom Assistant if:

For step-by-step instructions, see Setting Up a Custom Assistant.

Every assistant has an email address that allows it to send and receive messages.

System Assistants use their existing OpenAssistant email addresses. For a Custom Assistant, you can choose between two options.

OpenAssistant can provide your Custom Assistant with its own @openassistant.us email address.

No additional email setup is required, making this the simplest way to create an assistant with its own identity.

You can also connect a Custom Assistant to a dedicated email inbox on your organization's domain, such as:

This allows your assistant to communicate using your organization's domain and branding.

Company inboxes must be dedicated to the assistant and meet OpenAssistant's connection requirements.

See Setting Up a Custom Assistant for requirements and setup instructions.

Custom Assistants give you more control over how your assistant communicates and represents you.

External communication style controls how your assistant communicates with customers, prospects, vendors, partners, and other external contacts.

You can specify things like tone, level of formality, message length, formatting, and how the assistant should handle requests and next steps.

Internal communication style controls how your assistant communicates with you and your team.

For example, you might want polished and professional external messages while keeping internal communication shorter and more direct.

Personality describes how you want the assistant to behave more generally.

Specific instructions tend to work better than broad descriptions.

Instead of:

Be professional and friendly.

You might write:

For external messages, lead with the decision or next step, use short paragraphs, avoid slang, and close with a clear action. For internal messages, be concise and use bullets when there are multiple action items.

You can also provide background information that helps your assistant understand its role and represent you or your organization more consistently. This might include:

Each assistant has an avatar that helps distinguish it throughout OpenAssistant.

Custom Assistants can use an uploaded image, a generated avatar, or a default avatar.

Each assistant can have an email signature that is automatically applied to messages it sends. Custom Assistant signatures can include information such as:

Use a System Assistant if you want to start immediately and don't need to customize its identity.

Use a Custom Assistant if you want control over the assistant's name, personality, communication style, branding, or email identity.

Both System and Custom Assistants can perform work across OpenAssistant. The main difference is how much control you have over the assistant's identity and how it represents you.

You can view and manage your assistants from the Assistants section of OpenAssistant.

Custom Assistants can be updated as your needs change. Changes to identity, personality, communication style, and signatures apply to future work and communications handled by that assistant.

For instructions on creating and configuring one, see Setting Up a Custom Assistant.