Custom Modes — Obvious Help Center

Custom modes let you create specialized versions of the Obvious agent with their own instructions, model, and tool access. Think of them like saved presets on a mixing board — same equipment, tuned for a specific job.

By the end of this guide, you'll have a custom mode configured and ready to use from the mode selector.

Create a Custom Mode

The quickest way: ask the agent.

Create a custom mode for data analysis that always uses deep reasoning.

The agent creates the mode, configures the base settings, and adds it to your mode selector. You can edit from there.

To create one manually:

Click Custom Agents in the left sidebar.
Click New mode (or use the + button). The custom mode form opens.
Type a name in the Name field. Pick something descriptive — "Weekly Report Analyst" beats "My Mode."
Choose a Base Mode from the dropdown. This determines the default behavior your custom mode starts from. Auto works for most cases. Deep Work adds heavier reasoning. Analyst is tuned for data.
Set the Visibility. Private keeps the mode visible only to you. Select your workspace name to share it with everyone on the team.

Configure Instructions

Instructions tell the agent how to behave when your custom mode is active. Obvious gives you three prompt strategies:

Use base prompt

The agent uses the base mode's instructions exactly as they are. Choose this when you only want to change the model or tools — not the behavior.

Add to base prompt

Your instructions get appended to the base mode's prompt. This is the most common choice. Write what's specific to your use case and let the base mode handle the rest.

Tip: This is where custom modes earn their keep. A few well-written sentences can turn a general-purpose agent into a specialist. "Always use SQL for data analysis. Present findings as a workbook with one sheet per question. Include a summary document with charts." — that's a mode.

Replace base prompt

Your instructions replace the base mode's prompt entirely. Use this when you need complete control over the agent's behavior — and you're comfortable writing a full system prompt.

Type your instructions in the Custom Prompt field. A character count displays in the top-right corner of the text area.

Choose a Model

Under Model Settings Override, you can change the AI model your custom mode uses.

Select a Provider from the dropdown — or leave it on "Use base mode default" to inherit.
Pick a Model from the available options for that provider.

Settings that appear depend on what the selected model supports:

Temperature — Slide between precise (0) and creative (2). Default is 0.7.
Max Tokens — Cap the response length.
Extended Thinking — For models that support it, controls how much the agent reasons before responding. Adaptive lets the model decide.
Effort — Affects thinking depth, text responses, and tool use. Higher effort uses more tokens.

Leave any setting blank to use the base mode's default. A badge shows how many settings you've overridden.

Control Tool Access

By default, a custom mode inherits all tools from its base mode. You can change that.

Under Tools, pick a tool selection mode:

Inherit all — The agent gets every tool the base mode has. No restrictions.
Allowlist — Only the tools you select are available. Everything else is off.
Denylist — All tools are available except the ones you select.

When Allowlist or Denylist is active, a searchable list of tools appears. Check the ones you want to include (or exclude). Use Select all and Clear selection for bulk changes.

Tip: Restricting tools can focus the agent. A "Writing Assistant" mode with web search, documents, and memory — but no shell or SQL — stays on-task.

Set Memory Behavior

The Memory toggle controls whether the agent remembers context across conversations in this mode:

Inherit — Uses your account-level memory setting.
On — Memory is always enabled for this mode.
Off — Memory is disabled. The agent starts fresh every conversation.

Show or Hide the Mode

The Show in mode selector toggle controls whether your custom mode appears in the mode dropdown at the bottom of the chat input. Turn it off to keep a mode available (for tasks and automations) without cluttering the selector.

Switch Between Modes

Click the mode name in the toolbar at the bottom of the chat input. A dropdown opens with built-in modes at the top. Your custom modes appear under the Custom submenu.

Select a mode to activate it. A checkmark shows which mode is currently active.

To edit a custom mode from the dropdown, click the pencil icon next to its name. This opens the mode's configuration page.

Next steps

Key Concepts — Understand how modes fit into the broader Obvious workflow.
Tasks & Schedules — Use custom modes with automated tasks.
Shortcuts — Pair a custom mode with a prompt shortcut for one-click workflows.