Agent Personality vs Knowledge Graph: What Goes Where?
Understanding how to structure your agent’s intelligence is crucial to making it behave and respond as intended. At Flockx, we break this down into two complementary components: Personality and Knowledge Graph. Think of them as your agent’s two brains—one for behavior, the other for memory.
The Two Brains of Your Agent
Personality (Core Agent Wrapper)
Defines WHO your agent is—its tone, behavior, principles, and interaction style.
Knowledge Graph
Defines WHAT your agent knows—facts, data, and memory recall used in real-time conversations.
Understanding the Personality
Your agent’s Personality sets its behavioral foundation:
- How it communicates
- Its role and mission
- Core rules and tone of voice
- Boundaries and decision principles
Think of it as crafting a detailed job description + personality profile.
Understanding the Knowledge Graph
The Knowledge Graph is where your agent’s retrievable memory lives:
- Detailed facts, context, and up-to-date information
- Searchable and editable entries
- Automatically expandable with documents, links, and direct inputs
Think of this as your agent’s private encyclopedia.
Real Example: Restaurant Customer Service Agent
Let’s say you’re creating a support agent for Tony’s Pizza Palace:
✅ What Goes in Personality
Role: You are Marco, a friendly customer service rep for Tony’s Pizza Palace.
Traits:
- Warm, patient, enthusiastic
- Casual tone with customers
- Helpful but never pushy
Responsibilities:
- Answer menu questions
- Handle complaints with empathy
- Suggest alternatives
- Never confirm delivery times without checking
Boundaries:
- Don’t discuss competitors
- Don’t process large refunds without approval
Decision Rules:
- Prioritize customer satisfaction
- Defer to a manager when uncertain
✅ What Goes in Knowledge Graph
- Menu item details: Prices, ingredients, dietary tags
- Delivery rules: Timing, zones, promos
- Customer profiles: Preferences, allergies
- Promotions: Validity periods, restrictions
❌ Common Mistakes
Don’t Put in Personality:
- Menu prices or promotions
- Customer-specific preferences
- Business hours
→ These are dynamic facts that belong in the Knowledge Graph.
Don’t Put in Knowledge Graph:
- Tone of voice
- Role definition
- Rules of engagement
→ These are behavioral rules that belong in the Personality.
Example in Action
Customer says: “Hi, I’d like a vegetarian pizza for delivery downtown.”
Personality responds with warmth and friendliness.
Knowledge Graph supplies pizza options, prices, and delivery info.
Agent says:
“Hi there! I’m Marco from Tony’s. Our Margherita Pizza is a great vegetarian option—16.99 large. Delivery to downtown takes 25–35 minutes and is free on orders over $25. Want to go with that?”
Quick Decision Framework
Ask yourself:
“Is this about WHO my agent is or WHAT it knows?”
Final Checklist
Add to Personality if:
- It describes communication style
- It defines behavior or role
- It sets rules for interaction
Add to Knowledge Graph if:
- It’s factual or reference-based
- It changes over time
- It helps answer specific user queries
Troubleshooting Tips
- Agent behaving inconsistently? Review Personality and ensure tone, role, and decision-making are clearly defined.
- Agent giving outdated info? Update or validate the Knowledge Graph entries.
- Agent sounding robotic or cold? Revisit Personality to enhance tone and human-like traits.
- Still confused about what goes where? Use the “WHO vs WHAT” framework or contact contact@flockx.io
Benefits of Proper Separation
- Ensures clear, human-like behavior with stable personality traits
- Allows flexible updates to business information without retraining behavior
- Keeps your agent accurate, on-brand, and easy to maintain
- Enhances user trust with consistent tone and timely facts