> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.getvirtualbrain.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Custom Instructions
> Give VirtualBrain standing context for your Chat answers, and your firm standing context for every App run too
Custom Instructions give VirtualBrain standing context it applies to your answers, so you never have to repeat it. Describe how you work once, and every conversation starts from there: no more pasting the same framing into every question.
## Two layers
| Layer | Scope | Who sets it |
| ------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **My Instructions** | Personal. Describe your role, the context you work in, or the style you prefer, and VirtualBrain tailors your Chat answers to you. | You |
| **Company Context** | Organization-wide. Rules and guidelines that apply to everyone in the firm. | An administrator, once; it shapes answers for everyone in your organization |
## Where each layer applies
The two layers reach different parts of the platform:
| Layer | Chat | Apps |
| ------------------- | :-----: | :---------: |
| **My Instructions** | Applied | Not applied |
| **Company Context** | Applied | Applied |
An [App](/features/apps/overview) produces the same deliverable whoever runs it, which is the point of encoding a methodology once. Personal preferences would make one colleague's output differ from another's, so an App run carries Company Context and its own block instructions, and nothing personal.
Building an App? Anything the workflow must always do belongs in the block's instructions, or in Company Context when it should hold across every App in the firm. My Instructions won't reach it.
## Writing My Instructions
A few lines covering your role, context, and style is enough. They shape every Chat answer, so keep them general rather than engagement-specific. For example:
> "I'm a manager in a transaction-services team. Default to English. Keep executive summaries under a page."
A short paragraph works, and up to a full page (around 500 words) is fine for both My Instructions and Company Context.
## Company Context
Use Company Context for the standards every colleague's output should follow.
Company Context is administrator-managed. If the firm-wide baseline needs updating, raise it with your workspace administrator.
## Related
Pair tailored answers with slides generated in your own layout.
Your profile, Memory Insights, and the rest of the account menu.
## Where each layer applies
The two layers reach different parts of the platform:
| Layer | Chat | Apps |
| ------------------- | :-----: | :---------: |
| **My Instructions** | Applied | Not applied |
| **Company Context** | Applied | Applied |
An [App](/features/apps/overview) produces the same deliverable whoever runs it, which is the point of encoding a methodology once. Personal preferences would make one colleague's output differ from another's, so an App run carries Company Context and its own block instructions, and nothing personal.