Uncanny Agent, the AI assistant built into Uncanny Automator, is good at working out what you mean from a loose request, but a little extra context goes a long way. These are the habits that consistently produce the best results.
1. Be specific about the trigger and the destination
Instead of “Send my customers an email”, try:
“When a WooCommerce order is paid for any product in the ‘Coaching’ category, wait 1 hour, then send the customer a ‘Welcome to Coaching’ email.”
Now Uncanny Agent knows the trigger (the payment), the condition (a product in a specific category), the timing (a one-hour wait), and the action (send an email). That’s enough to build the recipe in one go. In the recipe builder, conditions and waits are recipe blocks, the Filter block and the Queue block, which require Uncanny Automator Pro.
2. Mention the plugins you use by name
If you have more than one form plugin, CRM, or payment processor installed, naming the one you want avoids ambiguity. Short hints such as “use Gravity Forms”, “send to HubSpot”, or “in LearnDash” save a follow-up question.
3. Use one conversation per topic
Keep building a recipe in one conversation, drafting content in another, and looking up data in a third. Uncanny Agent uses the rest of the conversation as context, so a focused chat tends to produce sharper answers than a sprawling one. See Managing your Uncanny Agent conversations for how to start a new one.
4. Show rather than tell
If you’re trying to recreate something, such as a layout, an error, or an email template, attach a screenshot or file rather than describing it. See Sharing files and screenshots with Uncanny Agent for how.
5. Work in small steps
You don’t have to get the final result from your first message. A productive flow is:
- Ask Uncanny Agent for a first draft.
- Look at what it built.
- Tell it what to change: “Make the delay 24 hours instead”, “Add an SMS action after the email”, “The tone is too formal”.
Refining step by step is faster and more accurate than writing one giant prompt.
6. Ask for a review and an explanation too
Uncanny Agent makes a good partner for thinking a recipe through. Try asking:
- “Before you build it, walk me through the recipe you’d suggest.”
- “Why did you pick that trigger?”
- “What could go wrong with this recipe once it’s running on my live site?”
Questions like these often bring up edge cases, such as a missing token, two events firing at the same moment, or a condition that should be there, before the recipe is saved.
7. Test before you switch a recipe on
Even with great prompts, AI can make mistakes. Before you switch on a recipe that affects real customers, test it with one of your own accounts first. Actions that have a Test step, such as Emails > Send an email, can be tested from the recipe builder before the recipe runs; see Testing triggers and actions. You can also set Total times to 1 in the Settings panel of the builder sidebar while you check how the recipe behaves, then set it back. Reviewing what Uncanny Agent did covers the details Uncanny Agent gives you after every task.
8. Use the thumbs-up and thumbs-down buttons
The thumbs-up and thumbs-down buttons under every response feed directly into how Uncanny Agent improves. If something was great, mark it. If something was wrong, mark it and add a quick note about what went wrong. It’s the most effective way to make Uncanny Agent better for everyone.
Related: How to ask Uncanny Agent for help, What can Uncanny Agent do?, Using AI safely with WordPress, Tips for getting better results from Uncanny Page Builder
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