What Are Structured Work Instructions?

Structured Work Instructions are machine-readable execution guides designed specifically for AI agents. Instead of free-form prose, they contain defined steps with explicit actions, tools, inputs, outputs, and decision points.

Creating a Structured Work Instruction

  1. Navigate to Work Instructions in the sidebar
  2. Click ”+ New Work Instruction”
  3. Enter a title
  4. Select Structured mode
  5. Add steps using the structured step builder

Anatomy of a Structured Step

Each step includes:

FieldDescriptionExample
ActionWhat to do”Extract email addresses from the spreadsheet”
ToolWhich tool/API to use”Google Sheets API”
InputWhat data is needed”Spreadsheet URL, Sheet name”
Expected OutputWhat the result should be”List of email addresses in JSON format”
Decision PointConditional logic”If more than 100 emails, split into batches of 50”

Adding Steps

  1. Click ”+ Add Step” in the structured editor
  2. Fill in each field for the step
  3. Reorder steps by dragging them
  4. Set decision points for conditional branching
  5. Save the Work Instruction

How AI Agents Use Structured WIs

When an AI agent executes a task with structured Work Instructions:

  1. The agent pulls the WI via the self-service API
  2. It reads each step in order
  3. For each step, it identifies the action, tool, and input
  4. It executes the step and validates against the expected output
  5. At decision points, it evaluates the condition and branches accordingly
  6. It reports progress step-by-step back to BFF

Best Practices

  • Be explicit — AI agents follow instructions literally
  • Define clear inputs and outputs for each step
  • Use decision points for error handling
  • Test with a dry run before deploying live

Important: When a structured Work Instruction is updated, any AI agents using it are automatically notified via webhook so they always execute with the latest instructions.