Summary instructions are notes you write for Generate with AI. They tell it how you want your summaries written: your voice, how long, what to lead with, a sentence you always include. They're added to the AI's prompt every time you generate.
| Where | Applies to | Set it in |
|---|---|---|
| Your account | Every summary you generate | Settings → Account → Summary Instructions |
| A template | Every inspection built from that template | The template editor, under the template's name and description |
| One inspection | Just that report | The Generate with AI window |
All three are used together. If they disagree, the more specific one wins: an inspection's instructions beat the template's, and a template's beat your account's. So "keep it under 150 words" on your account and "this client wants every detail" on one inspection works the way you'd expect.
Template instructions live on the template, so anyone in your organization who uses a shared template gets them too. Account instructions are yours alone. They follow whoever clicks Generate, not whoever created the inspection.
When you click Generate with AI, the window asks Anything to add for this summary? Type a note, and choose where to remember it:
Notes are added to whatever is already saved there, as a new paragraph. To change or delete saved instructions, open Saved instructions in the same window and click the pencil next to any of them. Clear the text to remove it.
If an inspection combines templates (say, Standard Residential plus Pool & Spa), each template's instructions are included and labeled with the template's name. The AI applies each one to its own part of the inspection. If two templates really do contradict each other, the one added to the inspection first wins. Identical instructions are only included once.
Sample templates can't hold instructions. Duplicate one into your templates to add some.
Short, concrete instructions work best. Some ideas:
Instructions shape how the summary is written, not what's true. The AI still only mentions findings and details that are in the inspection, and it still won't quote repair costs, cite code, give legal advice, or call anything guaranteed or safe, even if an instruction asks it to. If an instruction refers to something you didn't record, such as "mention the radon result" on an inspection without one, it leaves that out instead of guessing.
Each set of instructions can be up to 2,000 characters.