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

# Configure a Custom Expert

> Create a custom Cosmos Expert for a team-specific workflow when no existing Template Expert fits.

## Configure a custom Expert

Before creating a custom Expert, check [Template Experts](/cosmos/experts-templates). Template Experts are the fastest path when your workflow matches a common pattern such as PR authoring, code review, verification, feedback triage, incident investigation, project building, or ticket dispatch.

Create a custom Expert when the workflow is specific to your team, requires custom tools or instructions, or combines systems in a way no Template Expert covers.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Define the workflow">
    Write down what the Expert owns, what input it expects, what output it should produce, and where a human must make a decision. Good Experts have a narrow job and a clear stopping rule.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose the runtime environment">
    Select an Environment with the repos, CLIs, language toolchains, and network access the Expert needs.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add integrations and capabilities">
    Grant only the integrations the Expert needs, such as code hosting, ticketing, communication, web access, or monitoring tools.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Write the system prompt">
    Describe the Expert's role, inputs, process, output format, allowed write operations, and handoff rules. Include idempotency checks for event-driven Experts so repeated triggers do not create duplicate comments, tickets, or sessions.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Configure launch guidance">
    Add user instructions and placeholder text that tell people what to paste when launching the Expert, such as a change request, incident channel, ticket, project brief, or PR/MR URL.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add workers or triggers if needed">
    Attach worker Experts for delegated sub-tasks, or add triggers for code-hosting events, communication messages, schedules, or webhooks. Test the manual path first, then automate.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Validate with a real example">
    Run the Expert on a representative task, inspect the session, and tune the prompt or integrations before rolling it out to the team.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Prompt checklist

Strong Expert prompts usually define:

* **Role and scope**: what the Expert owns and what it must not do
* **Required inputs**: what to ask for before taking action
* **Process**: the phases it should follow, including when to stop for human input
* **Output format**: the exact shape of comments, reports, tickets, or summaries
* **Allowed writes**: which external actions are permitted
* **Idempotency**: how to detect prior runs and avoid duplicates
* **Attribution**: how messages link back to the Cosmos session that produced them
* **Memory**: where reusable team learnings should be read or written, if the workflow improves over time

<Note>
  Experts are saved configurations, not one-off prompts. Keep them small enough to reason about, test them on real examples, and prefer composing a few specialized Experts over one very broad Expert.
</Note>