> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hazel.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Instructions

> Your firm's house guidance for how Hazel writes plans, as an ordered list: what belongs in it, which list runs when a persona matches, how to write entries Hazel can act on, and how the editor behaves.

You want every plan to read the way your firm would have written it, so you give Hazel that guidance once and it applies on every build. **Hazel instructions** is that list, on two panes in **Settings**, then **Planning**: **Base template**, and every persona.

Each entry is one short statement in plain English: what to lead with, what to always call out, voice and length. The rows are numbered, and the field says "Hazel follows the list in order, top to bottom," so put what matters most first.

## What instructions cannot do

| Do not write this in instructions     | Set it here instead                                                             |
| ------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| "Assume 4% real returns"              | [Market assumptions](/guides/financial-planning/assumptions/market-assumptions) |
| "Use a 90% success threshold"         | [Solver assumptions](/guides/financial-planning/assumptions/solver-assumptions) |
| "Hold five years of cash"             | Solver assumptions, as the default reserve length                               |
| "Never recommend annuities"           | [Guardrails](/guides/financial-planning/assumptions/guardrails)                 |
| "Always include an insurance section" | [Plan design](/guides/financial-planning/plan-design/overview)                  |

The last two rows catch people out: an instruction is guidance Hazel weighs, so anything that must happen on every plan belongs in a guardrail or in the layout.

<Warning>
  If an instruction and **Solver assumptions** or **Market assumptions** state different numbers, the assumption wins. For a different number on one household rather than the whole firm, change the assumption on that plan and recalculate. See [Editing a plan directly](/guides/financial-planning/the-plan/editing-a-plan-directly).
</Warning>

## Which list Hazel follows

Hazel picks the persona closest to the household, and that match decides which single instruction list runs.

* **A persona matched.** Hazel follows that persona's instructions, not the base template's.
* **Nothing matched.** Hazel follows the base template's instructions.

Your firm starts with three personas, each with its own instructions, so most households match one and the base list is the fallback. Anything you want on every plan goes on the base template and on each persona, or becomes a guardrail instead: guardrails and **Planning assumptions** rows are firm-wide, with no persona-level copy, and hold whichever persona matched.

**Starting template** gives a new persona your base list, or another persona's with **Copy from**. That copy is taken once, at creation, so a base instruction you write next month has to be added to each persona by hand.

## Writing instructions Hazel can act on

| Vague            | Actionable                                                                 |
| ---------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| "Be concise"     | "No section longer than one page. Cut adjectives."                         |
| "Focus on taxes" | "Show the bracket each conversion year fills, and name the marginal rate." |

* **Say it once, and keep the list short.** Repeating an instruction in other words does not strengthen it. Nothing caps how many you add, but three to eight is a good target.
* **Resolve contradictions yourself, and keep each entry to a sentence or two.** A row that runs long is usually two instructions.

## Using the editor

**Adding.** Select **Add instruction** and type. Enter commits the row and leaves the next open; clicking away also commits, and Escape discards. One row holds one instruction, so Enter never starts a second line and line breaks in pasted text become spaces.

**Editing and order.** Select any row and type; Enter or leaving the row saves it. A row you clear and click away from disappears. There are no drag handles, and a new instruction lands at the bottom, so decide the order as you write and retype rows to change it.

**Deleting.** The X at the end of a row removes it straight away, and a message headed "Instruction removed" offers **Undo**. Undo works until you change the list again; after that the message says to add the row back yourself.

**Length.** One instruction can run to 400 characters, with a counter as you type and typing stopping at the limit. A paste that would push a row over is refused rather than trimmed, with a note under the field: "Over the 400-character limit for one instruction, so it wasn't pasted. Split it into separate instructions." Your text is still on the clipboard.

**Saving.** **Saving…** and then **Saved** appears beside the **Plan templates** heading as each edit lands.

## If an instruction did not land

* **Check which list ran.** Open the plan's **Appendix** and read the **Persona** row in **Applied settings**. A persona named there is the list Hazel followed, not your base list.
* **Check you have not written a number.** Set it in Solver assumptions or Market assumptions instead.
* **Check whether you asked for structure.** A section your plan design does not include only appears if the design's strictness lets Hazel add to it. Under **Exact** it cannot. See [Strictness](/guides/financial-planning/settings/personas/strictness).
* **Check it is specific.** "Be thorough" gives Hazel nothing to do. Say what to include, where it goes, and in what order.

## Where to go next

* [Base template](/guides/financial-planning/settings/base-template): where your firm's list lives, next to guardrails.
* [Creating a persona](/guides/financial-planning/settings/personas/creating-a-persona): choosing a new persona's starting list.
* [Inheritance](/guides/financial-planning/settings/personas/inheritance): what a persona takes from the base template.
* [Block settings](/guides/financial-planning/plan-design/block-settings): the **Instructions to Hazel** field for one part of the plan.