Describing an agent

After an agent is published, its developer describes the agent in plain English. Search2o uses the description to match user queries with the most relevant agent. An agent without a description cannot be found by search.

Writing a good description

It is best to write for the person who will type the query, rather than for the system. A good description says what the agent does for the user: the questions the agent answers, the actions the agent takes, and what the agent does not do. Two to five sentences is typical. Up to 5,000 characters is allowed.

This agent answers employee and contractor questions about workforce policies
and personal entitlements. It covers vacation and leave policies, benefits
eligibility, onboarding and offboarding, workplace conduct guidelines and
general HR procedures. It can look up the requester's own HR records where
permitted, such as accrued vacation balance. It cannot make policy exceptions,
approve requests or modify HR records.

A description that only lists the mechanism — calls the HR API and summarizes the JSON — matches poorly, because users do not ask about mechanisms. Every submitted description is checked for exactly this problem. A description that does not say what the agent provides to the user is returned with an explanation of what to change.

Languages

Descriptions and queries may be in any major language. The description and the query do not have to be in the same language.

Publishing a description

The description is published from the agent's page. Indexing runs in the background and usually takes well under a minute. A notification reports when the agent is searchable, or why indexing failed. Publishing a new description replaces the old index entry. Removing the description takes the agent out of search without deleting the agent.

Overlapping agents

When two agents describe overlapping territory, a query in that territory returns both agents. With the default search behavior, the higher-ranked agent runs. With the settings that offer choices, the user picks. The overlap may be intended. If the overlap is accidental, sharpen the descriptions: say what each agent is for and what each agent leaves to the other.