Your First Agent
Configure your agent workspace, personality, and skills.
10 min read
Updated Feb 2026
Agent Workspace
Every OpenClaw agent has a workspace directory. This is where the agent stores its context files, memory, and skills. By default, the workspace is ~/.openclaw/.
workspace
~/.openclaw/ ├── openclaw.json — Gateway configuration ├── skills/ — Managed/local skills ├── memory/ — Agent memory files ├── AGENTS.md — Agent behavior rules ├── SOUL.md — Agent personality └── USER.md — User context
Configuring Personality
Create a SOUL.md file in your workspace to define your agent's personality:
SOUL.md
You are Jarvis, a helpful and witty AI assistant. You speak concisely and prefer action over discussion. You use emoji sparingly but effectively. When unsure, you ask clarifying questions.
Installing Skills
Skills extend your agent's capabilities. Install from ClawHub:
npx clawhub@latest install coding-agent ls ~/.openclaw/skills/
Skills follow the AgentSkills convention — each is a directory with a SKILL.md file containing YAML frontmatter and instructions.
Configuration
The main config file is ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:
openclaw.json
{
"channels": {
"whatsapp": {
"allowFrom": ["+15555550123"]
},
"telegram": {
"botToken": "YOUR_BOT_TOKEN"
}
},
"messages": {
"groupChat": {
"mentionPatterns": ["@openclaw"]
}
}
}