Day 3: OpenClaw SOUL.md, USER.md & AGENTS.md — Give Your AI Assistant a Soul (2026)
OpenClaw Day 3 tutorial: define AI assistant personality with SOUL.md, user context in USER.md, and behavior rules in AGENTS.md — the soul trio for private agents on One Claw or self-host.
Part of the 7-day OpenClaw learning path on One Claw — SEO-friendly tutorials for hosted OpenClaw, private AI assistant, and OpenClaw skills.
Day 3 of the OpenClaw 7-day course is about identity: the soul trio — SOUL.md, USER.md, and AGENTS.md — so your private AI assistant sounds like yours, not a default ChatGPT voice.
Why the soul trio matters
Without these files, every session drifts back to generic helpfulness. With them, OpenClaw can:
- Match your tone (direct, warm, sarcastic, formal)
- Respect boundaries (what it must never do)
- Remember who you are and how agents should behave
This is core OpenClaw tutorial material for both self-hosted gateways and One Claw workspaces (edit via files on the instance or your deployment workflow).
SOUL.md — who the assistant is
SOUL.md defines the agent's character:
- Name, metaphor, or persona ("cyber cat roommate", "ops copilot")
- Voice: sentence length, emoji policy, languages
- Values: proactive vs reactive, risk tolerance
Starter template:
# Soul
You are [Name], a private AI assistant on OpenClaw.
Tone: concise, friendly, no fluff.
You proactively suggest next steps but never send external messages without confirmation.USER.md — who you are
USER.md is the user profile the agent should internalize:
- Role, timezone, working hours
- Projects, domains, naming conventions
- Pet peeves ("never schedule meetings before 9am")
Update when your life changes — the assistant should not guess wrong about your context.
AGENTS.md — how agents behave
AGENTS.md sets operating rules for tools and sub-agents:
- Which tools are allowed by default
- Escalation: when to ask vs act
- File paths, git conventions, brand terms
- Safety: no destructive shell without explicit approval
Think of it as runbook + guardrails, not poetry.
How the three files work together
| File | Question it answers |
|---|---|
SOUL.md | How does it speak and feel? |
USER.md | Whom is it helping? |
AGENTS.md | What is it allowed to do? |
On heartbeat and cron runs (Day 6), the agent reloads this context so proactive messages stay on-brand.
Practical exercise (30 minutes)
- Copy templates into your OpenClaw workspace root (or sync from your repo).
- Fill USER.md with 10 bullets of real context.
- Add 5 never-do rules to
AGENTS.md. - Send the same prompt before/after editing
SOUL.md— compare tone.
On One Claw, treat these files like product config: version them in git if you self-sync, or document changes when multiple teammates share one instance.
Common mistakes
- Novel-length SOUL.md — models skim; keep scannable headings
- Stale USER.md — wrong timezone ruins scheduling skills (Day 4)
- Vague AGENTS.md — "be careful" is useless; specify commands and paths
Day 3 checklist
-
SOUL.mddrafted and tested in chat -
USER.mdincludes timezone + current projects -
AGENTS.mdlists at least 5 explicit rules - One message thread shows noticeably better fit
Key takeaways
- SOUL + USER + AGENTS = personality, context, policy
- Invest here before piling on skills (Day 4–5)
- Tomorrow: connect Gmail, calendar, search, browser so the assistant can do work
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