A technical guide to prompting Agents on Public

On Public, you can build AI Agents that automate workflows across your portfolio. From executing complex trading strategies to managing routine cash sweeps, Agents can monitor the markets and take action on your behalf, based on your instructions.

To get the most out of your Agents experience, it helps to understand how the AI interprets your instructions—and how you can structure prompts that translate cleanly into executable workflows. Whether you’re looking to set up your first “buy-the-dip” trigger or build a multi-condition options strategy, we’ll walk you through exactly how it’s done.

Note that this guide is for educational and illustrative purposes only, and the content here should not be viewed as investment advice or recommendations.

How the AI works

Most AI tools operate linearly: you enter a prompt, and the system generates an output based on the information available.

Agents on Public are designed differently. When you describe a strategy in plain English, the AI doesn’t immediately produce an active Agent. Instead, it evaluates your instructions and asks follow-up questions if key parameters are missing.

If your initial prompt is broad or unclear—for example, “Buy the dip on tech stocks”—the system will request clarification. Which specific assets? What percentage decline qualifies as a dip? Which account should execute the trade? How much capital should be allocated? Should execution occur immediately or at a defined time?

This interactive process is deliberate. In trading and investing, the details matter—so your Public Agent will make sure to get all the details right before proposing a workflow.

This interactive process is deliberate. We want the AI to clarify your intent, lock in the specifics, and convert your idea into a precise, executable workflow before anything is activated.

How to think about prompting

At the heart of every Agent is a simple idea: you define a task, and the AI figures out how to make it happen. You don’t need to think in code, or decision trees, or formal rules. You just need to describe your intent—clearly enough that the AI can ask the right follow-up questions and translate it into a precise, executable workflow.

Expressing your intent

1. Describe the trigger and the action
The most direct way to prompt an Agent is to describe a specific condition and what you want to happen when it’s met. The AI will work with you to fill in any missing parameters.

2. Add a broader goal
For more sophisticated workflows, you can use a precise trigger to activate an Agent that then pursues a broader objective—letting the AI handle the execution complexity.

Setting boundaries

When building an Agent workflow, our AI will always work with you to set clear boundaries for your Agent to operate within. You don’t have to express these in your initial prompt, but you can use them to dictate the size and scope of the action.

Boundaries might include a strict capital allocation (e.g., “Invest exactly $5,000”), an asset-level risk parameter (e.g., “Stop out if VZ drops more than 10% from my entry price”).

A prompt with explicit boundaries:

You always have the final say

Before any Agent goes live, you’ll have the opportunity to review its complete workflow—every condition, every action, every parameter—and make changes with follow-up prompts until the logic looks exactly right. Be sure to review both the description and workflow before activating it. Nothing executes until you approve it.

Once an Agent is active, you retain full control. You can revisit its logic at any time, adjust conditions, change capital allocations, pause it temporarily, or shut it down entirely. Your Activity Feed gives you a running log of everything your Agent evaluates and acts on, so you always know exactly what’s happening in your account.

What Agents can do

Agents will be able to work across five broad areas of your portfolio. Here’s a sense of the range—and the kinds of conditions each one can respond to.

Trading strategies
From one-time buys to multi-leg options strategies, Agents can execute across stocks, options, and bonds based on conditions you define. Triggers can range from a price threshold to to an indicator or volatility spike at a set time of day.

Money movement
Agents can monitor your account balances and automatically move cash—sweeping idle funds into yield accounts, maintaining minimum liquidity thresholds, or reallocating when opportunities arise.

Market monitoring
Agents can monitor prices and indicators across your portfolio. They can also evaluate macroeconomic indicators, such as Fed rate decisions and inflation releases.

Sentiment analysis (coming soon)
Agents can scan financial media, earnings call transcripts, and social signals for the keywords and themes that matter to your portfolio.

Risk management
Agents can help protect your portfolio from sudden market swings and long-term risk. They can hedge with options, automate stop-losses (soon), limit concentration in individual positions, and more.

Final thoughts

Agents translate your intent into automated, executable workflows. The more clearly you can articulate your conditions, objectives, and boundaries, the faster the AI can help you build something that runs exactly as you intend.

If you can define it, your Agent can execute it.