How to build a marketing AI agent with Orchly
Create an agent, pick a model, give it skills, context and abilities, and write its instructions. A step-by-step guide to your first Orchly agent.
To build a marketing AI agent in Orchly, switch the sidebar to Agent, click + New agent, give it a name, pick a model, write its instructions and click Save. That’s a working agent. The rest of the rows (skills, inputs, abilities, publishing, a schedule) make it better at its job, and this guide walks through each one.
Budget about ten minutes. New to agents? Read what are Orchly agents first.
Two ways to build a marketing AI agent
- Ask Ask Orchly to build it. Describe the job in Ask Orchly, like “create an agent that turns each new article we publish into a LinkedIn post in our voice”. It picks the model, skills and abilities, creates the agent and opens it in the artifact pane so you can check it. This is also how you copy a prebuilt agent: “make a version of the Article Refresher that only touches blog posts”.
- Build it by hand. Click + New agent at the bottom of the Agents list in the sidebar. The editor opens as a panel.
Step 1: Name and describe it
At the top of the editor, click the avatar to pick its body, face and colour. Then fill in Agent name and Add a short description. Keep the description to one line about what the agent does. It’s what you (and Ask Orchly) read when choosing which agent to run.
Step 2: Pick a model
The Model row starts on Gemini 3.5 Flash, a fast, low-cost choice. For long-form writing and multi-step agent work, switch it to Claude Sonnet 5, which is the model Ask Orchly and every prebuilt agent use. Hover a model in the list to see its speed, intelligence and credits per turn. Cheaper models cost fewer credits per turn, which adds up when an agent runs often.
Step 3: Set autonomy
Autonomy decides what happens when the agent finishes:
- Review: “Produces the work, then pauses for your approval before publishing.”
- Autopilot: “Publishes automatically (per your publishing settings) without asking.”
New agents start on Review. Leave it there until you’ve seen a few good runs. Even on Review, agents ask before anything that leaves Orchly. See how approvals work in chat.
Step 4: Add skills and inputs
Skills are playbooks the agent loads when the job needs them. Click Add skill and pick one, like AEO Article Writing for a writer. See what are skills.
Inputs are the values the agent gets each time it runs, so one agent can cover many jobs. Click Add input and name it, for example “Primary keyword” or “Page URL”. When the agent runs in a table, your columns fill these in.
Step 5: Give it context and abilities
- Context is the data it can read: Brand Brain, Search Console (GSC), Analytics (GA4), AI Visibility, AI Traffic, Website Sitemap and more. Click Add context.
- Abilities are what it can do: Web Research, SEO & Competitor Research, Content Optimization, Generate Images, Capture Screenshots and Publish on Site. Click Add ability.
A source that isn’t connected yet shows a Connect tag. The agent can’t read it until you connect it. Abilities and tools explains each option.
Step 6: Write the Agent Instructions
The Agent Instructions panel is the agent’s brief. Describe the job, the steps to follow and what a good result looks like, the way you’d brief a new teammate.
Press / inside the instructions to reference an input, a data source, an ability or a skill by name. For example: “Research /Primary keyword with Web Research, then follow AEO Article Writing.”
You don’t need to explain your brand voice. Agents already read Brand Brain, including your tone and writing rules.
The goal in one sentence. The steps in order. The output format (length, headings, where to save it). What to avoid. Two or three short paragraphs usually beats one long one.
Step 7: Publishing, apps and schedule
These rows are optional:
- Publishing: switch on Publish to a CMS when complete, choose a destination, then Save as draft or Publish live. See publish agent output.
- Apps: add Slack and set a default channel for messages.
- Schedule: click Add schedule to run it daily, weekly or monthly. See schedule and trigger agents.
Click Save. The agent appears in the sidebar under Agents.
Step 8: Test it
Click the agent’s name in the sidebar to open a chat with it, and give it a real job. Read the output closely. If something’s off, click the gear next to its name, adjust the instructions or abilities, and run it again.
Run a new agent a few times in chat before you add a schedule or an agent column. Fixing a brief is quick. Cleaning up a week of scheduled mistakes isn’t.