Email Agents

How to Build a Custom AI Agent

1:53 · September 11, 2026

A custom AI agent does not have to start as a big project. The example here is a meme agent: email it, or cc it on a thread with colleagues, and it replies with a meme about whatever you are discussing. Open it up and there is not much inside. The prompt is one line, generate a meme. It has web search to find memes and meme ideas, code execution to generate the image, memory so it does not send the same meme over and over, and a meme-generating skill. That is the pattern for any custom agent: a short instruction, the tools it needs, memory, and a skill that carries the know-how. There are two ways to build one in Carly. The easiest is to email or chat with Carly, say "make me a new agent," name it, and tell it what to do, which can be as simple as copying the instructions from an agent you already have. The other is the agents dashboard, where Create specialized agent lets you pick the signature, add documents to the agent's knowledge base, and connect its tools and integrations. If you are part of an organization, you can share an agent with your team. The same approach runs more serious work, like customer-facing agents that explain to prospects what Carly can do for their business and an agent that handles support tickets, and any prebuilt workflow template can be run by a specific agent when you want its data sources and tool access kept separate.

Step by step

1. 01

   Start with an agent small enough to finish

   The meme agent in this video is deliberately simple: email it, or cc it on a thread with colleagues, and it replies with a meme about what you are talking about or what you asked for. Small, but it has every part a custom agent needs.

2. 02

   Keep the prompt short

   The meme agent's entire prompt is "generate a meme." The tools, memory and skill carry the rest, so the instruction does not need to explain how to do the job.

3. 03

   Give it only the tools the job needs

   This agent has web search to find memes and meme ideas, and code execution to generate the image. Memory is on too, which is what stops it from sending the same meme over and over.

4. 04

   Put the know-how in a skill

   The meme-generating skill holds the method for making the image, so the agent follows it every time instead of working it out again on each request.

5. 05

   Build it by emailing Carly

   The easiest way to create an agent is to email or chat with Carly. Say "make me a new agent," give it a name, and tell it what to do. In the video, the new agent is told to copy all the instructions from an older one.

6. 06

   Or build it from the agents dashboard

   Open the agents dashboard in Carly and press Create specialized agent. Choose its signature, add any documents you want in its knowledge base, and connect the tools and integrations it should use.

7. 07

   Share it with your team

   If you are part of an organization, you can share an agent with people on your team, so one well-built agent works for everyone instead of each person rebuilding it.

8. 08

   Have a specific agent run a workflow template

   Not sure what to build? Start from a prebuilt workflow template. Set it up as is, or have a specific agent run it to keep data sources and tool access siloed. The same account runs customer-facing agents that educate prospects and an agent that handles support tickets.