Build a helper: agents, GPTs and skills

Four parts, three names

• Instructions. What it does, how it behaves, what it must never do. Four lines: role, job and output shape, rules, closing summary.
• Files. The instruction, the template, last year’s approved package. Gemini agents: 100 files; GPTs and projects: 40.
• Model and tools. Which model answers; which connectors or search it may use. Fewer is safer.
• Same idea everywhere. A Gemini agent, a ChatGPT custom GPT, a Grok skill.

Build, test, share

1. Describe the task as you would to a new clerk: inputs, output shape, rules.
2. Read what was generated and tighten it: name the format, forbid invented names and dates, mark gaps [CONFIRM].
3. Test in the preview on a real document you know well. Fix until it passes. Only then press Create.
4. Share to named people. Sharing a Gemini agent shares its files; a Grok project shares its files too. ChatGPT projects are yours alone.

What it cannot do

• Reach your email or share drive. It sees only what is attached or connected.
• Verify its own output. A reader still checks; tell users “read what it produces”.
• Remember last week. Every chat starts from the instructions and files, nothing else.
• Run safely without a person unless the prompt is precise and the tools are narrow. Schedules exist now: Grok Automations, Gemini agent schedules.