Custom and Scheduled Workflow Agents

Automate Repetitive Research with Custom Workflows Agents

• What are Custom & Scheduled Agents
• How to Create a Custom Agent
  • Step 1: Identify the Task You Repeat Often
  • Step 2: Create a New Custom Agent
  • Step 3: Write Prompt Instructions
  • Step 4: Run and Reuse the Agent
• Create an Agent with One Click from Generative Search
• How to Schedule an Agent
• FAQs

What are Custom & Scheduled Workflow Agents?

Custom agents let you build personalized, repeatable workflows that meet your exact research or task needs. Unlike standard workflows, custom agents give you full control so you can fine-tune the prompts, inputs, and logic so you can conduct hyper-specific research.

Scheduled agents take this one step further by automating the entire process. You can set them to run at specific times, ensuring you get the right information exactly when you need it without having to manually trigger anything.

While our pre-built AlphaSense Agents provide a helpful starting point, custom and scheduled agents offer the flexibility to go beyond common use cases and create solutions tailored to your evolving business needs.

How to Create a Custom Workflow Agent for Repetitive Research Tasks

If you regularly perform the same type of research, like gathering company leadership bios for potential acquisitions or partnerships, you can save time by creating a custom agent with dynamic prompts. This lets you get updated information without having to rewrite or re-enter the same prompt each time.

Step 1: Identify the Task You Repeat Often

Think about tasks you regularly complete using similar queries or steps. For example, you might often need to:

• Gather leadership bios for different companies
• Research product overviews across competitors
• Compile funding histories for investment reviews

Step 2: Create a New Custom Agent

• Open Generative Search.
• Go to the Custom Agents section.
• Click +New Agent.

Name your agent, for example, “Leadership Bio Generator”.

Step 3: Write Prompt Instructions

• Input a Title for the Agent (and a Description)
• Type your prompt in the Instructions box.
  • For example: Find the current leadership team and short professional bios for Pepsico. Return results in bullet points.
• Optional: specify companies, watchlists, industries, content types, and search modes.
• Click Save Agent.

Please note you can also use placeholder variables in your prompt for any input that will change:

• For example: Find the current leadership team and short professional bios for {company_name}. Return results in bullet points.
• When you run a prompt with a variable, Generative Search recognizes the placeholder and guides you to complete it by asking for the required input, such as the company name.

Step 4: Run and Reuse the Agent

• Open your custom agent from the Generative Search homepage under My Agents.
• Run the agent to get updated, formatted results instantly.

You can reuse this same workflow across projects, eliminating the need to rewrite prompts or repeat research steps.

Tip: To automate this further, consider using a Scheduled Agent to run the workflow regularly, like every week or month, so you always have the latest information.

Create an Agent with One Click from Generative Search

After running a Generative Search query, you can select Create Agent at the bottom of the response. A popup will open with your original prompt automatically carried over, making it easy to turn your search into a reusable agent in just one click.

How to Schedule a Custom Agent

You can schedule a custom agent to run automatically on a regular basis so you get timely results without needing to run prompts manually each time.

To schedule a custom agent:

• Create a new custom agent or open an existing one.
• In the Title field, enter a name (e.g., Semiconductor Report).
• In the Prompt field, write your instructions.
• Under Email Schedule, set your preferred timing (e.g., Weekly → Monday → 2:30PM).
• Click Save Agent.

The agent will run on your chosen schedule, and you'll receive the results by email. 

Note: These agents are proactive, running at set intervals, but they do not send alerts in real time when new information is added. For that, use manual search or alerts.

FAQs

Can I schedule Pre-Built AlphaSense Agents?

• No. Scheduling is only available for Custom Agents. 

Can I schedule a workflow from our existing library of Workflow Agents?

• No. Workflow agents in the library cannot be scheduled — if you want to schedule one of the workflows in the library, you will have to recreate it as a custom workflow.

Can I choose what formatting my custom agent will display information in (slide, report, grid)? 

• Yes. To create a custom agent with a specific format, you will need to start with a traditional Gen Search, then ask for the format you want in natural language, and once that’s resolved click on “Save Agent.”

Can I share custom agents I built for users or can my users share custom agents with their colleagues?

• For the time being, the best way to share custom agents is to share the prompt so others can create their own agent. 

Are there any known limitations to custom and scheduled workflows? 

• Yes. Deep Research can only be set on a weekly schedule and only up to 10 agents can be scheduled at any given time, regardless of mode.