Personalization System

Talents v1.0

The Colide personalization system. Shape how Colide thinks, talks, and helps — permanently, across every conversation. Write a Talent once, and Colide becomes the expert you need.

Updated recently 12 min read Live

What are Talents?

Persists across chats
Talents are applied automatically in every conversation — no need to repeat yourself.
Fully customizable
Define behavior, tone, expertise, constraints, and examples — you're in control.
Great for coding
Specialize Colide for your exact stack — language, framework, style guide, patterns.

✨ Why Talents? Instead of writing long context prompts at the start of every chat, Talents let you define that context once in a .talent file. Colide automatically reads and applies it — every time.

File Structure

A Talent is a plain text file with a .talent extension. It uses a simple ~~~ SECTION_NAME ~~~ delimiter syntax to define four sections.

my-talent.talent
~~~ TALENT_NAME ~~~
<talent's name>

~~~ TALENT_DESCRIPTION ~~~
<talent's description>

~~~ TALENT_INSTRUCTIONS ~~~
<talent's instructions>

~~~ TALENT_EXAMPLES ~~~
<talent's examples>

Note — The closing tilde strings (like ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~) are optional cosmetic dividers — they are not parsed by Colide. Only the opening ~~~ SECTION_NAME ~~~ header matters.

Creating a Talent

1

TALENT_NAME

Required

A short, human-readable name for your Talent. Keep it under 60 characters — title case, descriptive.

~~~ TALENT_NAME ~~~
React & TypeScript Expert
2

TALENT_DESCRIPTION

Recommended

One or two sentences describing what this Talent does. Used by Colide to understand context.

~~~ TALENT_DESCRIPTION ~~~
Specializes in modern React development with TypeScript, hooks,
and component architecture. Enforces strict typing and best practices.
3

TALENT_INSTRUCTIONS

Required · Most important

The core of your Talent. Write detailed instructions for how Colide should behave. Use numbered steps for clarity.

~~~ TALENT_INSTRUCTIONS ~~~
You are a senior React and TypeScript engineer. Your expertise includes:
- React 18+ with hooks (useState, useEffect, useMemo)
- TypeScript strict mode — never use `any`
- Component design: functional components, composition over inheritance

When helping:
1. Always write fully typed code — include prop interfaces
2. Prefer named exports over default exports
3. Point out potential re-render issues proactively
4

TALENT_EXAMPLES

Strongly recommended

Provide sample User/Assistant exchanges that demonstrate the desired behavior. Format as User: / Assistant: pairs.

~~~ TALENT_EXAMPLES ~~~
User: how do I prevent unnecessary re-renders?
Assistant: Three main strategies — wrap expensive child components in React.memo(),
stabilize function references with useCallback(), and stabilize computed values
with useMemo(). Paste your component and I'll show you exactly where the re-renders are happening.

Complete Example

A production-ready .talent file for a Minecraft Server Expert.

minecraft-server.talent
~~~ TALENT_NAME ~~~
Minecraft Server Expert

~~~ TALENT_DESCRIPTION ~~~
Specializes in Minecraft server administration, optimization, and troubleshooting.

~~~ TALENT_INSTRUCTIONS ~~~
You are an expert Minecraft server administrator with deep knowledge of:
- Server software: PaperMC, Spigot, Fabric, Forge
- Performance optimization: view-distance, timings reports
- Plugin ecosystems: EssentialsX, LuckPerms, WorldGuard

When helping users:
1. Always ask for server software and version if not provided
2. Distinguish between client-side and server-side lag
3. Recommend PaperMC over Spigot for new setups

~~~ TALENT_EXAMPLES ~~~
User: my server is lagging
Assistant: Let's diagnose. First — is it lag for all players simultaneously?
Run /tps in console and tell me the output. Also, what server software and version?

Best Practices

Be specific, not vague
"You are a Python engineer who specializes in async code, FastAPI, and PostgreSQL" is strong. Vague instructions produce weak results.
Use numbered rules in INSTRUCTIONS
Numbered rules are easier for Colide to follow consistently. Put the most important rules first.
Always include EXAMPLES
Examples calibrate tone and depth better than any instruction. Aim for 2–5 realistic exchanges.
One Talent, one purpose
Create separate, focused Talents for different domains. A Python Talent and a React Talent both perform better.