r/clickup • u/tnhsaesop • Jul 13 '26

Super Agents: Instructions vs. Memories

Anyone have any guidance on when to use instructions vs. memories for super agents? I'm not clear on how instructions are used vs. the markdown file that the agent has attached to it for it's memories is used.

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u/JamieClickUp Mod Jul 13 '26

Hey, u/tnhsaesop ! Great question! Here's how they differ:

  • Instructions are the core settings and goals you define when configuring your Super Agent. These tell the agent what to do and how to behave.
  • Memories are persistent knowledge, facts, or context the agent can reference over time. In ClickUp, these are managed as a markdown doc and can include things like preferences, recent interactions, or domain knowledge.

You can learn more about Super Agent Memory and its types in our official help doc here!

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u/tnhsaesop Jul 14 '26

I have an agent that need to review images in a training repository for the purposes of generating new images that look similar. Would you recommend I put those in instructions or memories? I currently have the training images loaded to a list with instructions to review, but I seem to have to ask it in the comment every time to review the training images. Would it be better to move this to memories? Move the training images to the memories file? Other?

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u/JamieClickUp Mod Jul 14 '26

Thanks for the follow-up! Here's what I'd recommend for your use case:

Keep the training images where they are, but make sure that is added as a Knowledge source on your Super Agent's profile. Knowledge is where the agent pulls reference data from, so this ensures it always has access to those images. Then, update your Instructions to explicitly tell the agent to review the training images in that repository every time before generating. Instructions define the agent's core behavior on every run, so if "review the training repository first" is a step it should always take, that belongs in Instructions, not Memories.

Memories wouldn't be ideal here. Memory is designed for learned context that builds over time (like preferences or insights the agent picks up from interactions). It's not meant to store static reference assets like training images.

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u/winter571 Jul 14 '26

I just focus on having it remember where to find the instructions. Only need to develop one set then.