A good agent brief describes more than the result. It also defines where the agent may look and what it may change. Setting those boundaries early makes the work easier to follow and the result easier to trust.
Start with the kind of work
Use Work mode for tasks involving your documents and the tools around them: research, analysis, writing, presentations and connected-app workflows. Use Code mode when the task belongs inside a code project.
The mode helps establish the working context. It does not remove the need to review permissions. A project, a connected account and a file on your computer are different sources, even when they are part of the same task.
Name the sources explicitly
List the documents, folders or connected apps needed for the job. Start with the smallest useful set. If the agent needs more context, expand it deliberately instead of granting broad access in anticipation.
Use the documents attached to this project to draft a customer handover note. Do not search other folders or connected apps. Save a draft for my review; do not send it.Read access and permission to act are separate decisions. An agent may need to inspect an email to summarize it without needing permission to reply. It may need a spreadsheet as a source without needing to change that spreadsheet.
Review the work before the action
Check the proposed steps against the brief. Pay particular attention to actions that send information, modify a connected service or affect files outside the intended project. Review the permission request itself rather than assuming that a general instruction covers every consequence.
- Is the agent using the sources you intended?
- Does it need to change an original, or would a new draft be enough?
- Is the destination correct?
- Are external actions necessary for this task?
- What should happen if a source is missing or the result is uncertain?
The available controls depend on where the task runs and the permissions in place. In a Business team, organization-level policies can further restrict unattended work, cloud document work and per-task AI spending.
Make the boundary part of the brief
Phrases such as “create a draft,” “keep the source unchanged” and “ask before sending” make your intent clear. They complement the product’s permission controls; they do not replace them.
If the job changes, revisit the scope. A summary that becomes an email campaign is a different task with different recipients and consequences. Pause, update the brief and review the new actions.
For examples of how to describe a result clearly, continue with Give your agent a better brief.
