Customers increasingly needed the ability to shape their agentic interviews in order to change the system prompt, add guardrails, or make the AI aware of the task and company context. AI Copilot and Claude Code ran with Codility's defaults only, and interviewers had no way to pass in context without exposing it to the candidate until now.
AI Instructions let interviewers give the AI tooling in a VSCode Interview task extra context and guardrails. Alongside the task description, interviewers get an AI Instructions tab where they write free-text instructions (company rules, task-specific context, constraints) and apply them to the VS Code environment. The instructions are synchronised to both the AI Copilot and Claude Code rules inside VS Code, so whichever assistant the candidate uses works within the interviewer's framing.
Candidates will never see the AI Instructions tab. All interviewers in the session see the same instructions and text changes in real time, instructions persist across page reloads, and clearing them removes the rules from VS Code again. The Codility system prompt stays in place underneath. Customer instructions add to it, they do not replace it.
Adding specific instructions turns AI-assisted interviews from a generic Copilot experience into one that reflects how the customer's engineers actually work with AI.
Interviewer Experience
Before starting, check AI features are enabled on the account and in the interview settings. Create an interview and add a VSCode task or environment. If you can't see the AI Instructions tab, please reach out to support@codility.com.
Next to the task description you will find an additional AI Instructions tab.
The tab contains collapsible example instructions to show what good instructions look like.
Candidate Experience
Candidates do not see the AI Instructions tab. They work in the VSCode environment as usual.
When candidates use the AI Copilot, the interviewer's instructions are applied immediately as context.
Reviewers Experience
Nothing changes in the review flow. The AI transcript and session replay continue to show how the candidate worked with the AI; the applied instructions frame that interaction but are not surfaced to the candidate.
Current Limitations
Instructions are set per task within an interview session. Session-, template- and account-level instructions are not yet supported.
Instructions are not persisted when the task is saved as a custom task. They need to be re-applied in each interview.
Claude Code picks up updated instructions only in a new conversation; the AI Copilot applies them immediately.
Concurrent editing by several interviewers at the same time is not recommended due to issues with the cursor jumping. Take turns editing.
AI Assistant is not customisable and does not receive instructions.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Can the candidate see the AI instructions?
No. The AI Instructions tab is only shown to interviewers.
Which AI tools pick up the instructions?
Both the AI Copilot and Claude Code inside VS Code. The AI Copilot applies them immediately; Claude Code applies them from the next new conversation.
Can customers replace the Codility system prompt?
No. Customer instructions are added alongside the Codility system prompt and cannot override it.
What happens if I clear the instructions?
Applying empty instructions removes the rules files from the candidate's VS Code environment.
Are instructions saved with a custom task?
Not yet. Currently they live in the interview session. Persisting them with a saved task is a planned in the future.
Why don't I see the AI Instructions tab?
Check that AI is enabled on the account and in the interview settings (if AI is disabled and locked, the tab is hidden) and that the task is a VSCode task on the latest build.
Please reach out to Support at support@codility.com if you need any assistance or have questions!