# Build a Custom Employee

Create an AI employee around the work your business actually needs, whether you begin with a ready-made role or a blank Employee Builder role.

## TL;DR

Employee Builder lets you create an AI employee for a role that does not exist in the Marketplace. Start with the closest ready-made employee and adjust it, or hire Custom AI Talent to define the name, persona, skills, duties, tools, routines, and schedule from scratch. Brief the employee in chat once the setup matches the job, then refine it as you learn what the role needs.

## Choose Your Starting Point

There are two good ways to create a custom role:

| Start here | Best when | What you do next |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **A ready-made employee** | A Marketplace role already covers most of the work | Hire it, then change the persona, skills, duties, tools, routines, or schedule |
| **Custom AI Talent** | The work is unique to your business or does not fit a standard role | Hire the blank role and build its setup from the employee dashboard |

Use a ready-made employee when it gives you a useful head start. Use Custom AI Talent when the job itself needs a fresh definition. Employee Builder is available on the **Custom** plan.

## How It Works

1. Open **Marketplace** and find the closest ready-made employee, or select **Custom AI Talent**.
2. Click **Hire**. The employee opens in its chat and dashboard.
3. Open the employee dashboard to set the role, persona, skills, duties, and tools.
4. Add routines or schedules for recurring work.
5. Brief the employee in chat with the first outcome you need.
6. Review the work, then refine the setup until the role fits.

## What It Can Do

A custom employee can own a repeatable role that combines the parts of your business that normally live across checklists, apps, and reminders. Common examples include:

- Partner operations and follow-up
- Client onboarding coordination
- Proposal and RFP preparation
- Compliance or quality review
- Internal process coordination
- A niche research, reporting, or operations role

The role is not defined by its title alone. It is defined by the setup you give it and the work you continue to direct in chat.

## How to Set It Up

### Set the role and persona

Open **Profile** and give the employee a clear name, role, and persona. The role explains what it owns. The persona sets how it communicates with you and the people it works with.

### Add skills

Open **Skills** and assign the step-by-step playbooks the employee needs. Skills are how you turn a repeatable process into a consistent way of working.

### Set duties

Open **Duties** and define the standing expectations that apply to every task. Use duties for things such as approval boundaries, quality standards, escalation rules, and the tone the employee should maintain.

### Connect tools

Open **Tools** and connect only the apps and services the role needs. A role that manages client onboarding might need your mailbox and calendar. A research role might need web search and your company knowledge.

### Add routines and schedules

Use **Routines** and **Schedule** for work that must happen regularly. A routine gives the employee a recurring responsibility. A schedule decides when it runs, such as every weekday morning or once a week before a review meeting.

## Brief Them in Chat

After setup, chat with the employee as you would a teammate. Give it the outcome, context, and constraints that matter.

For example: “Every Monday, review the new partner applications, flag anything incomplete, and prepare a short summary for me to review.”

The employee setup gives that conversation a durable job definition. Change the setup whenever the role changes, then keep using chat to direct the real work.

## Tips and Tricks

- **Start with one process.** Give the employee one repeatable responsibility before adding a full department of work.
- **Use a template when it gets you close.** You can adjust a ready-made employee after hiring, so you do not need to start blank for every custom role.
- **Keep duties specific.** Use clear expectations such as “draft, do not send” or “ask for approval before a customer-facing change.”
- **Add tools deliberately.** Connect the smallest useful set first, then expand only when the role needs more access.
- **Review and refine.** The first setup is a working draft. Update the skills, duties, tools, or schedule as you see how the role performs.

## Good to Know

- Custom AI Talent starts with **Research & Brief** and no other pre-assigned skills, duties, or tools.
- You can hire more than one Custom AI Talent employee when your plan allows it.
- Hiring does not consume credits. Credits are used when employees process work.
- You stay in control of the employee's access, duties, routines, schedules, and day-to-day direction.

## FAQ

**Q: Can I build a role that is not in the Marketplace?**
A: Yes. Hire Custom AI Talent with Employee Builder, then define the role from scratch through its persona, skills, duties, tools, routines, and schedule.

**Q: Can I edit a ready-made employee instead?**
A: Yes. Hire the closest ready-made role, then adjust its name, persona, skills, duties, tools, routines, and schedule from its dashboard.

**Q: Does the employee configure itself from a chat conversation?**
A: The employee uses chat to receive and carry out your work. Configure its durable role, skills, duties, tools, routines, and schedule from the employee dashboard.

**Q: Can I change the setup later?**
A: Yes. Update the employee dashboard whenever the role, process, tools, or expectations change.

**Q: Who can use Employee Builder?**
A: Employee Builder is available on the Custom plan. Other plans can hire ready-made Marketplace roles and customize them after hiring.