How to Customise DeepResearch for Teams with Brand Kits & Collections

Day 22 of 30 Days of Search

TL;DR

To personalise and customize Valyu DeepResearch for a company or organisation, save a Brand Kit for its visual identity and writing guidance, then create Collections for the source sets your team reuses.
Select the kit for a research task and reference the Collection in its search settings.
The research question still belongs in the task brief.

• Brand Kits: logos, colours, typography, optional templates and a BRAND.md guide for voice, terminology and rules.
• Collections: named bundles of datasets, domains and URLs, reused with a reference such as collection:day22-demo-company-research.
• The practical job: prepare a company research brief without rebuilding the source list and presentation settings every time.
• No code is required for the dashboard setup. An optional API request body appears later for teams that want to reuse their source Collection programmatically.
• Keep the responsibilities separate: a logo does not verify a fact, a source filter does not guarantee complete coverage, and a confidentiality notice is not access control.

Verified in the live dashboard: We saved the kit, writing guide and Collection, then used them in a completed Fast research task with PDF generation enabled. We downloaded and reviewed the actual five-page PDF. The images below distinguish dashboard configuration, illustrative previews and the real exported report.

Start with the work your team needs to deliver

A strategy team has a weekly company-research meeting. Each brief needs official sources, familiar section headings and the organisation's presentation style. The analyst should spend time reviewing the findings, not repeatedly entering the same domains or rebuilding the report's appearance.

A consulting team has a similar problem with client briefs. The research question changes from one engagement to the next, but the client's identity and the sources appropriate to that engagement should not be left to memory.

The decision is to save two different kinds of configuration:

1. How the output should look and read: a Brand Kit.
2. Which sources research searches should include: a Collection.

For this walkthrough, we'll set up a demo kit and an official-source Collection for a company brief. We'll also show what was actually verified, rather than treating a polished preview as evidence that a report was generated.

What is the difference between a Brand Kit and a Collection?

** - A Brand Kit stores identity and writing guidance.**
** - A Collection stores reusable search sources.**
They solve different parts of the same research workflow and neither replaces the task brief.

The collections are an organisation-scoped saved source sets. They are not folders for completed reports, and creating one does not upload a company's private knowledge base.

Collections save search source scope. Brand Kits save identity and writing rules. This is a configuration map, not a completed branded research run.

Step 1: Create a Brand Kit in the dashboard

Open the Valyu dashboard, then go to Settings > Brand kits in the organisation where you want to work. Choose New brand kit.

The creation screen offers two starting points:

• Start with a website: provide a company website to find branding, then review the proposed assets.
• Build your own: enter a name, upload a logo and choose colours and font names yourself.

We used the manual route so the example's settings are explicit. The website discovery and import routes were visible in the interface, but were not exercised in this walkthrough.

Our saved kit is named Day 22 Demo. It uses the official Valyu logo and these example settings:

Use your own organisation's approved assets in a real kit. The manual logo upload accepts PNG, JPEG or SVG files up to 2 MB, as shown in the dashboard.

Configure the kit's logo and colours. The built-in report preview is illustrative, not the output of a research run.

Decide whether it should be the default kit

The creation form has a Use as the default kit switch. Its description says the default is applied when a research task does not choose a kit.

We left this off. A tutorial example should not silently change the default presentation settings for other work in the account. Save the kit with Create brand kit.

The saved view provides Use in DeepResearch, along with editors for its assets and rules.

The saved kit and its approximate PDF preview. The preview does not establish that a branded report has been generated.

The preview is useful for reviewing colour and logo choices. It is explicitly labelled as an approximation of a DeepResearch PDF, not an actual report. Its sample market figures are illustrative dashboard content, not results from our company-research task.

Step 2: Add writing guidance with BRAND.md

Personalisation is not limited to putting a logo on a document. The saved kit has a Brand guide section for voice, terminology and rules.

Choose Edit, then write the guide or load a file. The editor says DeepResearch reads the first 8,000 characters. Put the important instructions near the beginning instead of burying them in a long brand book.

Here is the complete guide saved for our demo:

# Day 22 Demo research guide

## Audience
Product and strategy teams reviewing company research.

## Voice
Use clear British English. Be concise, factual and specific.

## Structure
Open with Decision brief, followed by What we know, Open questions and Next action.

## Evidence
Cite primary sources. Separate verified findings from assumptions. Preserve reporting periods, dates and units. Do not invent numbers or quotations.

## Presentation
Use short paragraphs and descriptive headings. Do not use em dashes.

This is deliberately practical. It identifies the audience, the expected language, the report sections and how to handle evidence. “Sound professional” alone is much less useful than naming the audience and the sections they expect to review.

Save the section after editing.

Brand Kits also store writing guidance. The visible guide excerpt is part of a saved 514-character demo guide.

Keep the guide focused on reusable writing rules. The company, research question and reporting period will usually change from task to task, so those belong in the research brief.

Writing guidance also needs review. Asking for citations is not proof that every cited source supports its claim; asking for a particular structure does not remove the need to inspect the result.

Add fonts and templates when you need them

The saved kit also exposes:

• Font uploads: TTF or OTF files, one weight and style per file. The interface distinguishes naming a font from providing the actual font file for exported reports.
• Templates: slide, document and PDF templates, up to 25 MB each.
• Report settings: notices, tagline, chart colours and PDF layout controls.

These are optional paths to inspect when your team needs a closer match to its existing deliverables. We did not upload custom font files or templates, or validate their rendering, in this example.

An important distinction for client work: a confidentiality statement is a notice on a document. It does not decide who can access the research or make sharing safe by itself.

Step 3: Create a Collection for the sources you reuse

Open Settings > Collections, or go directly to Collections in the dashboard. Collections are labelled beta.

Choose Create or Create Collection, depending on whether the account already has Collections.

For a company brief, our example saves:

• Display name: Day 22 Demo: Company Research
• Slug: day22-demo-company-research
• Description: Official company and regulatory sources for the Day 22 dashboard tutorial.
• Sources: nvidia.com, investor.nvidia.com, sec.gov

The display name helps a teammate recognise the set. The slug gives it the API reference:

collection:day22-demo-company-research

The source input accepts domains, URLs or dataset names. We entered the three domains as comma-separated values and used the add control. The interface confirmed three sources added before we saved the Collection.

A Collection saves a reusable source set. This screenshot shows the existing demo Collection opened in the editor; no changes were saved.

The editor also exposes Bulk paste, CSV upload and AI-assisted source suggestions. We used manual entry; the other input methods were not part of the executed check. If you use suggested sources, review them before saving rather than treating a generated list as an approved research policy.

After saving, the Collection has a reusable collection: reference.

Who can use an organisation's Collection?

Check the official visibility and permissions documentation for more information. These are who can use an org's collection:

• Organisation members can view and use Collections in that organisation.
• Only a Collection's creator can edit or delete it.
• A Collection is not visible to other organisations.

Check that your request belongs to the intended organisation. A memorable name does not make a Collection available across accounts.

Step 4: Select the kit and reference the Collection in DeepResearch

In the saved Brand Kit, choose Use in DeepResearch. In our walkthrough, that opened the research playground with Day 22 Demo selected in the Brand field.

The API View makes the research settings visible together. Its Brand selector describes the kit as applying logos, colours, fonts and templates to the report and its files.

Select a kit for the research task. This captures the selected configuration, not successful generation.

Then open Advanced Settings > Sources. In the tested dashboard, we entered this in Included websites, under Include only the sources below:

collection:day22-demo-company-research

That is the field used in the observed interface. It was not a separate Collection-picker menu. The DeepResearch configuration guide documents saved collection:<name> references as supported included sources.

Keep the task brief separate from these saved configurations. For example:

Using NVIDIA's fiscal 2025 annual report, write a concise company research brief for an internal product strategy team. Explain what the business sells, identify the reporting period and highlight two business risks. Cite primary sources and separate verified facts from open questions. Keep it under 350 words. This is a Day 22 Demo, not investment advice.

For a report intended to exercise branding, choose a mode and output format appropriate to the deliverable, then check Generate PDF or the required file type. The configuration guide distinguishes the report PDF from additional deliverables and notes that additional deliverables are not supported in Instant mode.

The Brand Kit is not a replacement for a clear brief. Specify the period, the decision the team needs to make and the evidence it should review.

Step 5: Review the actual result, not just the preview

We used the saved non-default kit and the same Collection for a Fast task with Generate PDF enabled. It completed, and we downloaded and reviewed the actual five-page PDF.

Here is what the live check established:

The generated cover uses the uploaded Valyu logo and the saved #7D4A6F primary colour. This is a crop of the actual exported PDF, not the approximate preview shown in the kit editor.

Cropped from the actual generated PDF cover, not the dashboard's illustrative preview. The logo, report text and colours were not altered.

The report also used Decision brief, What we know, Open questions and Next action, the section names saved in BRAND.md. The task question did not repeat those four headings. Its three cited sources were SEC and NVIDIA pages, and the saved Collection resolved to the three configured domains without warnings.

An unaltered raster of page three from the actual PDF. The guide-defined sections and saved plum colour appear in the exported report. Review its claims and reporting periods before reuse.

The brief treated fiscal 2025 as the year ended 26 January 2025 and noted that a later annual report existed but had not been reviewed. It is a historical company brief, not a current financial assessment. Source coverage, interpretation and requested length still need review before a handover.

With no custom font files uploaded, the PDF used embedded Liberation Sans as its standard-font rendering rather than an exact Arial font file. The check establishes the logo, colours and guide-defined sections in this export; it does not establish exact custom-font matching or perfect compliance with every writing instruction.

For a production brief, review at least these four things:

1. Scope: did the run use the intended Collection, without missing-Collection warnings?
2. Evidence: do the cited pages support the claims, and are the reporting periods correct?
3. Writing: does the result follow the requested audience, structure and terminology?
4. Presentation: open the actual exported file and check the logo, font rendering, layout, notices and citations.

If a Collection cannot be found or accessed, the API can return a warning and continue with other valid sources. If the invalid Collection is the only source, results can be empty. A successful response alone does not prove that your saved source set was resolved.

The successful export confirms that the saved settings reached this research task. It does not make the report's factual claims, source coverage or layout suitable for every client without review.

Optional: reuse the source Collection through the API

The dashboard is enough to create the source set. If a developer later automates the same job, the documented DeepResearch request-body shape puts its reference under search.included_sources:

{
  "query": "Prepare a source-cited company brief for our product strategy team.",
  "mode": "fast",
  "search": {
    "included_sources": ["collection:day22-demo-company-research"]
  }
}

This is a documented API example, not an additional request executed for this tutorial. It assumes the Collection exists in the organisation used by that API request. See the DeepResearch quickstart for authentication and the create-and-wait flow.

No Brand Kit API parameter is invented here. The verified kit-selection path in this article is the dashboard.

Apply the setup to the next research job

For a client company brief, start with the client's approved identity and a source Collection appropriate to that engagement. Change the company, reporting period and diligence question in each brief. The intended outcome is a reviewable client-facing document without rebuilding its source list and identity settings every time; verify the actual exported file before sending it.

For a competitor-monitoring brief, keep the internal team's kit, but create a different Collection for competitor websites and relevant industry sources. Ask for dated changes and the original announcement behind each one. The next action is to decide which changes need follow-up, not to accept a source list as proof that monitoring is exhaustive.

For an evidence-review meeting, use a Collection appropriate to the discipline and a guide that distinguishes study results, limitations and unanswered questions. Ask for identifiers and primary-source citations in the brief. The useful outcome is a set of findings colleagues can check, not merely a consistently formatted summary.

These are workflow patterns to adapt, not customer case studies or measured productivity claims. The saved settings remove repeated configuration; research quality still depends on the brief, coverage and review.

Frequently asked questions

Does a Brand Kit train a custom model for my company?

This dashboard workflow saves brand assets and writing guidance. It does not involve fine-tuning a model. Keep the reusable voice rules in the kit and the task-specific research instructions in the brief.

Do Collections upload or ingest private company documents?

No. A Collection saves references to datasets, domains and URLs. It is not a document-ingestion workflow. Use the appropriate file-attachment or document-input workflow when a task needs your own files, subject to your organisation's data policies.

Can a teammate use a Collection I created?

Organisation members can view and use Collections in the same organisation. Editing and deletion are restricted to the creator. Do not assume the reference works in a different organisation.

Is entering a font name enough to reproduce our typography?

The dashboard distinguishes a saved font name from an uploaded font file. For a closer match in exports, inspect the font-upload options and test the actual generated file. Our walkthrough used standard Arial names and did not validate custom-font rendering.

Does restricting sources guarantee the report is accurate?

No. A source set helps control search scope, but does not establish complete coverage, correct interpretation or consistent reporting periods. Review the cited passages and the final output before using it in a decision.

Can I reuse a kit without making it the default?

Yes. The saved kit provides Use in DeepResearch, and the research settings show an explicit Brand selection. Our demo kit remained non-default throughout the walkthrough.

Set up one real research job first

Choose a brief your team already produces. Save its approved identity and writing rules as a Brand Kit, then build a focused Collection for its source scope.

Run the brief, inspect the citations and review the actual exported file before making the process routine. In our test, the saved Collection and Brand Kit were both used in a completed research run, and the downloaded PDF showed the logo, plum colour and guide-defined sections. That is the useful end-to-end check, not merely whether a preview looks right.

Start in the Valyu dashboard. For the underlying research flow, see the introduction to DeepResearch, DeepResearch configuration and Collections documentation.