Build your first course assistant
A complete walkthrough — sign in, create an assistant, add materials, test it, and share it with students.
In this tutorial you’ll build a working course assistant from scratch and share it with your students. We’ll use an intro biology course as the example, but the steps are the same for any subject.
Step 1 — Sign in
Go to teachanything.ai and log in. You’ll land on your dashboard, which is home base for everything you build.
Step 2 — Create the assistant
Start a new chatbot
Click New chatbot on your dashboard.
Name it
Give it a name students will recognize, like “BIO 101 Study Helper.”
Write its instructions
This is the most important field. Tell it how to behave, in plain English:
You are a friendly teaching assistant for an introductory biology course. Answer using only the uploaded course materials. Explain concepts simply, use examples, and encourage students to reason through problems rather than just handing over answers. If something isn’t in the materials, say so and suggest the student ask the instructor.
Save
Click Create. Your assistant now exists — but it hasn’t learned anything yet.
For a full breakdown of every setting, see Create a chatbot.
Step 3 — Add your materials
Now teach it. Open the assistant and upload a few documents — your syllabus, a lecture slide deck, and a reading or two.
Upload files
In the materials area, click Upload and select your files. PDFs, Word
(.docx), PowerPoint (.pptx), and text/Markdown all work.
Wait for processing
Each file is read and indexed in the background. Give large files a moment; a file is ready once its status says so.
Prefer to point it at a course website instead of uploading? See Add website content.
Step 4 — Test it
Before students see it, ask it a few questions yourself.
Ask something from your materials
Try a real question, e.g. “What are the stages of mitosis?” The answer should reflect your uploaded content.
Turn on sources and check them
Enable Show sources in settings so answers cite which file they came from, then confirm the citations point to the right material.
Adjust if needed
Answers too long, too short, or off-tone? Tweak the instructions, creativity, or answer length. Changes take effect right away.
Step 5 — Share it with students
Turn on sharing
In the assistant’s settings, make sure sharing is enabled.
Copy the link and send it
Share the link on your course page, in an email, or through your LMS. Students just click — no account needed.
Want it embedded directly in your course site instead of a link? Follow Add your assistant to your course website.
You’re done
You’ve built and shared a course assistant. From here: