Custom instructions and host notes
Describes Hatoba 0.2.0.
Two boxes tell the assistant what it should know in every request, without repeating it in each message: Custom Instructions in Settings → AI, for every conversation, and AI Notes in the host editor, for conversations on one host. Both go into the system prompt of every request, so they reach the model provider and use part of the context window each time. Skills (Settings → AI) suit long procedures better, because the assistant reads a skill only when a request needs it.
| English | 简体中文 | 日本語 |
|---|---|---|
| Custom Instructions | 自定义指令 | カスタム指示 |
| AI Notes | AI 备注 | AI 向けメモ |
Custom Instructions (Settings → AI)
Settings → AI → Custom Instructions, between Web Search and Skills. Good for preferences that hold everywhere: the language to answer in, the tone, how much to explain, the operating systems, shells and tools you use.
- Up to 32 KB of text (UTF-8 bytes), multi-line. Below the box: the size in bytes and an estimate of the tokens it adds to every request (about 4 characters a token). Text over the limit turns red, says how many bytes are allowed, and is not saved.
- It saves by itself a moment after you stop typing, when the box loses focus, and when you switch to another Settings tab or close Settings. There is no Save button.
- It syncs to your other devices with the settings.
- Every request carries it, in every conversation and in Compact.
AI Notes (host editor)
The host editor (Hosts and connecting) has an AI Notes section after Notes. Good for what the assistant should know about that host: what runs there, important paths and services, what to avoid (for example “never restart postgresql during business hours”).
- Up to 16 KB, with the same size and token estimate. Text over the limit keeps the host from being saved until it is shortened.
- The notes are part of the host: they save with Save, sync with the host, and are copied by Duplicate in the host’s row menu. The host’s Notes section is for you and never goes to the assistant; AI Notes does.
- Every request of a conversation on that host carries them: the terminal tab’s host, or the conversation’s host on the home tab. When a conversation moves to another host, the next requests carry the new host’s notes.
How the assistant uses them
The assistant follows custom instructions and host notes, and where they differ from Hatoba’s default rules (answering in your language, briefly, in Markdown, and so on), they win. They cannot change approvals: in manual mode, a call that asks still waits for you, whatever the text says. They are instructions, so write only what you mean the model to do, and leave out passwords, keys and tokens, since the text goes to the model provider.
If the assistant seems to ignore them, check that the text was saved (reopen Settings → AI or the host), that the conversation is on the host whose notes you edited, and whether the model is small or the instructions are long or contradict each other.