> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://repocloud.io/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Custom Instructions

> Tell the DevOps AI Agent how to set up your deployment: where the Custom Instructions box is, its limits, and examples to copy

## What They Are

**Custom Instructions** is an optional box on the AI Deploy form where you describe how you want the application set up. The agent receives your text as extra instructions for the whole deployment, and again every time you open the chat. Use it for the choices you would otherwise settle in the chat, so that the agent does not have to ask or guess.

Leave the box empty and the agent uses the default deployment settings.

## Where to Find Them

The box is labelled **Custom Instructions** and sits on the [AI Deploy](https://repocloud.io/docs/deployment/ai-deploy.md) form. The same box is on the form that the **Deploy as VPS with AI system admin agent** switch leads to, and on the form of a catalog app whose **Deploy Now** opens AI Deploy. Its hint reads "Optional — leave blank to use default deployment settings".

## Limits

- **5,000 characters.** The agent receives the first 5,000 characters of your text and nothing after them. That is roughly 800 words, so put the most important choices first.
- **Words.** The box counts words, and the counter turns red above 1,000 words. The limit of 5,000 characters is usually reached first.
- **Before you press Deploy.** The box is part of the form. Once the deployment has started you cannot edit the instructions: to change course, write to the agent in the chat.

## What to Write

- **Name the choices.** The database, the port, the admin email, the language, the version, the plugins.
- **Say what to avoid** as well as what to do: "Turn off public sign-ups", "Do not install other plugins".
- **Be exact.** When you know the name of the setting or the file, use it.
- **Ask for a summary.** "At the end, list every choice you made that I did not specify." You then learn what the defaults were.

## What to Leave Out

- **Passwords, API keys, and tokens.** The box is saved with your deployment. The chat is the place for secrets: when the agent reaches a step that needs one, it asks you for it and waits.
- **A domain that does not point at the server yet.** The agent gets certificates with Certbot, which normally proves that you control a name through a request that has to reach your server, so the name's DNS record must be in place first. Create the record, then ask the agent in the chat. See [Customizing Applications](https://repocloud.io/docs/ai-agents/customizing-applications.md).
- **Changes to RepoCloud itself.** The agent works on your server only, and cannot change a tier, a snapshot, or any other setting on the manage page.

## Examples

Copy one and adapt it.

**A web application with a database**

```text
Use PostgreSQL for the database, not SQLite.
Set the admin email to me@example.com and the site title to "Acme Support".
Turn off public sign-ups.
When you create the admin password, make it a strong one and tell me at the end.
```

**Email through your own provider**

```text
Send email through my SMTP provider: host smtp.example.com, port 587, sender noreply@example.com.
Ask me for the SMTP username and password when you reach that step.
When it is set up, send a test message to me@example.com.
```

**A specific version and a short list of plugins**

```text
Install version 2.4 of the application, not the latest release.
Install the plugin from https://example.com/plugin and activate it.
Do not install any other plugins or themes.
```

## After the Deployment

Your instructions stay in force each time the chat is opened, and what you write in the chat adds to them. When the two disagree, say plainly in the chat which one you want.

An instruction is a request to an AI agent: it cannot make an application do what the application does not support, and it can misjudge a step. Check the result, and use [snapshots](https://repocloud.io/docs/ai-agents/safety-and-control.md) before bigger changes.

## Next Steps

> **[AI Deploy](https://repocloud.io/docs/deployment/ai-deploy.md)**
>
> Start a deployment and fill in the form

> **[The DevOps AI Agent](https://repocloud.io/docs/ai-agents/devops-ai-agent.md)**
>
> What the agent does and how to work with it in the chat

> **[Customizing Applications](https://repocloud.io/docs/ai-agents/customizing-applications.md)**
>
> Recipes for changing an application after it is running