Write a one-page rulebook for an AI agent before it touches your accounts: what it can read, what it can only draft, what always needs your approval, and what it must never do.
Who it is for
Owners who want an AI agent on their inbox, calendar, store or files but are nervous about letting it loose. No coding needed.
Tools
ChatGPT or Claude to draft the rulebook
The agent or assistant you plan to connect
A note or doc where the rulebook lives
Steps
List every account the agent would touch: email, calendar, files, store, bank, social. Next to each, write the worst thing it could do there.
Sort every action into four buckets: read, draft for you, do after your approval, never. Sending, paying, deleting and changing settings start in the approval or never bucket.
OpenAI says ChatGPT agent, once signed into sites or apps, can access sensitive data like emails, files or account settings and perform actions. Treat every connection as access to that whole account.
Give the agent the narrowest access the tool offers. Anthropic says its Google Workspace connectors ask for approval before sending, replying or forwarding by default; keep that default on.
Use the prompt below to turn your buckets into a short rulebook, then paste it into the agent's instructions or project.
Test it on a harmless task and ask the agent to repeat back what it is not allowed to do.
Once a week, read what the agent did and move any action that surprised you one bucket stricter.
The prompt
Turn my notes into a one-page rulebook for an AI agent that helps run my business. Use only what I list.
Accounts it will touch: [EMAIL, CALENDAR, FILES, STORE...]
Read only: [WHAT IT MAY READ]
Draft for me to review: [WHAT IT MAY DRAFT]
Only after I approve: [E.G. SEND, BOOK, REFUND]
Never: [E.G. DELETE, PAY, CHANGE PASSWORDS, POST PUBLICLY]
Format:
- 4 short sections with those headings
- A final rule: if a task is not covered, stop and ask me
- Plain sentences, under 250 words
Do not add permissions I did not list.
Tips
Start strict and loosen later. Moving an action from approval to allowed is easy; undoing a sent email is not.
Keep the rulebook where the agent reads it every time, such as its project instructions.
Use a separate account for the agent where the tool allows it, so its access is easy to see and revoke.