> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://doc.duaer.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://doc.duaer.com/portal/assistants.md).

# Employee assistants: build your own assistant on the Duaer employee portal

Employees build an assistant from one sentence: it answers by its own instructions, reads only the sources it is given, runs on a schedule or when something changes, and can be shared with colleagues.
## Build an assistant

1. On the Duaer employee portal, find My assistants under the Ask Duaer box and click New assistant.
2. Pick a template under Start from a template, or click Start from scratch. See [assistant templates](/portal/assistants/templates.md).
3. Under What should it do?, write one sentence, for example “Every weekday at 8, tell me which suppliers are late”, and click Fill it in. Duaer fills in the name, instructions, sources, the actions it can offer and when it runs, choosing only from what you can use.
4. Check and change them. To have it run on its own, set Runs on its own or tick boxes under Also runs when; see [schedules and triggers](/portal/assistants/runs.md).
5. Under Share with, enter colleagues’ emails separated by commas, and click Save.

## Talk to it

Click Ask next to the assistant under My assistants. It answers by its instructions, reads only its sources and offers only its actions; each action still runs only once you confirm.

It reads with the access of the person asking: colleagues use the same assistant, and their answers come only from what they may read. See [Permission-aware enterprise AI search](/guides/permission-aware-ai-search.md).

## Use it in your chat tool

In Feishu, WeCom, DingTalk, Slack or Microsoft Teams, start your message to the Duaer bot with the assistant’s name, then a space or a colon and your question, for example “@Duaer Supplier news who is late this week?”. Send only the name, and it runs its own instructions once.

The answer starts with the assistant’s name in brackets and uses only what you may read, from the sources ticked on the assistant. A mention in a group is answered privately. In a chat tool an assistant only answers; to have it offer actions, talk to it on the employee portal. Bot setup for each tool: [knowledge sources](/knowledge/sources.md).

## Sharing

- Share with colleagues in the organization, up to 50. They see it under Shared with me and can talk to it, but not change it.
- Only the person who built it can change or delete it.

## What admins control

- Owners and admins see every employee’s assistants under Duaer Settings › Organization › Duaer employee portal › Employee assistants, and can turn one off or delete it; an assistant an admin turned off cannot be turned back on by the employee who built it.
- Publish as template makes a good assistant a starting point for everyone; see [assistant templates](/portal/assistants/templates.md).
- Create webhook lets an outside system run the assistant; see [the assistant webhook](/portal/assistants/webhook.md).
- Creating, changing and deleting assistants, publishing templates, and creating or revoking webhooks are recorded in the audit log.

## Limits

- Up to 20 assistants per person, each shared with up to 50 people.
- Names up to 80 characters, instructions up to 2,000.
- Scheduled and triggered runs only read; they never run actions.
## Questions

### When colleagues use an assistant I shared, do they see what I may read?

No. An assistant always reads with the access of the person asking, so colleagues see only what they may read.

### Does an assistant run actions by itself?

No. In a conversation it only offers actions, which run once you confirm; scheduled and triggered runs only read.

### How is an assistant different from an Agent in the Duaer editor?

An Agent in the editor is a digital employee built with workflows: it has a model, tools and workflows, and carries out multi-step work itself. An assistant on the employee portal is each employee’s own question-answering helper: it answers by its instructions and sums up sources, reads only what the person asking may read, runs an action only once that person confirms, and only reads when it runs on its own.

### Can admins read conversations with an assistant?

No. Conversations are seen only by the person. Admins see which assistants exist, who built them and who they are shared with, and can turn them off or delete them.

## Related

- [Assistant templates: start from Duaer’s and your organization’s](https://doc.duaer.com/portal/assistants/templates.md)
- [Let an assistant run on its own: schedules, changes and webhooks](https://doc.duaer.com/portal/assistants/runs.md)
- [Assistant webhook: let an outside system run an assistant](https://doc.duaer.com/portal/assistants/webhook.md)
- [Give employees their own Duaer employee portal](https://doc.duaer.com/organizations/employee-portal.md)
- [Knowledge sources you can connect to Duaer](https://doc.duaer.com/knowledge/sources.md)