Name

A well-chosen name helps users easily identify the assistant's role.

Description

A good description sets clear expectations and helps the GPT stay focused on its intended tasks during interactions.

• Poor description: A helpful study buddy!

• Stronger description: This GPT assists graduate students in planning, drafting, and refining research proposals aligned with institutional guidelines and academic best practices.

Instructions

Think of these as a conversation with your GPT. Clear, directive prompts help it behave in helpful, focused ways.

• Simple, but effective examples of instructions:

  • Use: Assisting with Course-Specific Tutoring:

    • Instructions: This GPT acts as a teaching assistant for POLS 502: Political Theory. It helps graduate students understand core texts, clarify theories, and prepare discussion responses based on the course syllabus and reading list

  • Use: Helping with Academic Writing:

    • Instructions: This GPT provides feedback on student writing, identifying areas to improve clarity, argument structure, and citation style (APA/MLA/Chicago). It follows the university’s academic integrity policies and avoids rewriting or generating full essays.

• The best instructions add content and detailed steps, refer to knowledge files, and specify the response format of the GPT. A framework for more detailed, crafted instructions:

## **Context**

Provide a brief background that explains the role and purpose of the Custom GPT. The context sets the stage for how the assistant will understand user inputs and structure its outputs. Be clear about the users’ level of expertise and the assistant's specific tasks.

## **Instructions**

List clear, numbered steps that the GPT should follow in sequence. Use sub-bullets for additional details or explanations within each step.

1. Ask the user to upload the relevant data file (CSV or Excel format).

   - Ensure the file contains key marketing metrics such as impressions, clicks, and conversion data.

   - If the user uploads an incorrect file format, provide a clear message explaining the acceptable formats.

2. Analyze the data for key metrics:

   - Calculate conversion rate (CR), cost per acquisition (CPA), and return on ad spend (ROAS).

   - Present these metrics in a structured table format.

3. Suggest follow-up analyses based on the initial insights:

   - Recommend deeper analysis of channels with the highest ROI.

4. Confirm with the user after each step and ask if they’d like additional analyses or reports.

## **Response Format**

Define how the assistant should present its responses. Different tasks may require different formats, so provide clear guidelines for various scenarios.

## **Reference to Knowledge**

If your GPT requires specific knowledge files or external references, list them here.

Conversation Starters

Conversation starters guide users by showcasing the assistant's capabilities and providing examples of interaction. These starters are presented on the "chat" interface within a GPT and serve as sample prompts.

• Sample conversations starters for academic GPTs:

  • “Can you explain how Durkheim defines social facts?”

  • “What are key strategies for GRE verbal prep?”

  • “Can you summarize the main arguments of Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble?”

  • “Help me structure my introduction for a literature review.”

Knowledge

Knowledge helps the GPT understand unique terminologies, workflows, or internal documents of your organization, making its outputs more contextually relevant. You can upload up to 20 files that are 512MB each within a GPT.

To maximize the effectiveness of your GPT, it's important to properly prepare and structure your knowledge files.

• PDF files are often more effective and reliable than PowerPoint presentations or Word documents.

• It’s highly recommended to only upload text files that do not have multiple columns.

Capabilities 

Capabilities are checkboxes that define a GPT's technical powers and the scope of tasks it can handle:

• Web Search

• Canvas

• DALL·E Image Generation

• Code Interpreter & Data Analysis

If you only want your GPT to reference internal documentation that has been pre-uploaded as Knowledge (i.e. you are building an HR Helper that references company policies), be sure to leave Web Search unchecked.

Actions

Actions allow your GPT to perform task outside of the ChatGPT UI via API integrations. GPTs can perform specialized tasks such as fetching data, triggering workflows, or updating external systems.

• OpenAPI's standard spec defines the GPTs action

• Authorizations supported:

  • No Auth

  • API Key/Secret

  • OAuth (recommended)