BUG: Variables or Expressions in Custom Instructions property for Generative Answers node

[OOO1337777]

In the Custom Instructions property for Generative Answers node, if you use variables or powerFx expressions instead of a static plain text then it is buggy and does not work.

How to reproduce: start with a working Custom Instructions which uses static plain text. Then set a new variable whose content is this exact same plain text. Now use the variable as sole input for the Custom Instructions. Now it doesn't work the same as expected.

There you have two afternoons wasted on buggy software without warnings...

[adilei · Accepted solution]

There is a way to work around this issue. Let's say you want the copilot to address users by their names. In custom instructions, you can provide the following prompt:

Once the instructions are set, click on the three dots on the top right corner, and then "Open code editor"

In code view, you can see the variable Topic.userName is surrounded by two pairs of curly brackets. This is why the variable name is treated as hardcoded text. remove one pair of curly brackets and save the topic.

Before editing the code

 - kind: SearchAndSummarizeContent
      id: search-content
      userInput: =System.Activity.Text
      variable: Topic.Answer
      additionalInstructions: "whenever providing an answer, say: I hope this helps, {{Topic.userName}} "
      publicDataSource:
        sites:
          - "https://www.metacritic.com/"

After editing the code

 - kind: SearchAndSummarizeContent
      id: search-content
      userInput: =System.Activity.Text
      variable: Topic.Answer
      additionalInstructions: "whenever providing an answer, say: I hope this helps, {Topic.userName} "
      publicDataSource:
        sites:
          - "https://www.metacritic.com/"

With only a single pair of curly brackets the variable will be parsed as expected, and used while providing an answer:

[OOO1337777]

OK.

Another question: How does the Custom Instructions take effect:

- before the Search (thereby instructing how to search and synthesizing a new query string) or

- after the Search (thereby to synthesize an answer from the search results on the plain query string input)?

By the way I read this comment from another post on this forum... all these details and info (and BUGs) should be manifest visible on the doc of Copilot Studio:

-----

Are you using your model on your company data ? If this is the case, maybe the problem doesn't stem from you model but from your indexing. When testing models in Azure AI studio, by default you use keyword search for your indexing but in copilot studio, the default is "simple" which works kinda weirldy (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/search/query-simple-syntax) (and the complete documentation https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/searchservice/preview-api/search-documents ).

In order to improve results, the best way to improve results is to use semantic search in azure ai search (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/search/semantic-how-to-enable-disable?tabs=enable-portal ).

[HenryJammes]

Bugs -- ie product issues -- should be fixed, not documented. To help on that front you can raise support request here: Get Help + Support in Power Platform - Power Platform | Microsoft Learn

On the custom instructions piece, they apply after the content retrieval steps and apply when the summarization is done, so they mostly have an effect on formatting, tone of voice, etc.