Openclaw Startup

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name: openclaw-startup version: 1.0.3 description: > First-run setup wizard for new OpenClaw agents. Interviews the user to generate a tailored SOUL.md, scaffolds memory architecture, installs recommended crons for operations and security, and recommends companion skills. Use when setting up a new OpenClaw agent from scratch, onboarding a new user, or resetting an agent to a clean baseline. Triggers on: "set up my agent", "first run", "new agent setup", "onboard me", "initialize workspace", "startup wizard", "help me get started". author: Zye ⚡ (Don Zurbrick) license: MIT metadata: openclaw: emoji: "🚀" requires: bins: ["bash", "mkdir", "date"] optionalBins: ["openclaw", "clawhub"] platforms: - darwin - linux

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OpenClaw Startup

First-run setup wizard for new OpenClaw agents. Interviews the user, generates tailored workspace files, scaffolds memory, installs operational crons, and recommends companion skills.

Use when

setting up a new OpenClaw agent from scratch

onboarding a new user who just installed OpenClaw

resetting an agent workspace to a clean baseline

someone says "set up my agent" or "help me get started"

Do not use when

the agent is already configured and running (use openclaw-guide instead)

the user wants to change one specific config setting

the task is skill authoring (use skill-builder)

the task is security hardening of an existing agent (use agent-hardening)

Phases

Run these in order. Each phase confirms with the user before proceeding.

Phase 1 — Identity Interview

Resuming a partial setup: Before starting the interview, check if any of SOUL.md, USER.md, or IDENTITY.md already exist. If they do, show the user what's already configured and ask: "Want to pick up where we left off, start fresh, or keep these and skip to memory setup?" Respect their choice.

Ask the user 8 questions to understand who they are and what the agent should do. Use the interview guide at references/interview-guide.md.

From the answers, generate:

SOUL.md — agent identity, personality, tone, boundaries

USER.md — human's key details

IDENTITY.md — agent name, emoji, presentation

AGENTS.md — customized from assets/agents-template.md with principles

tailored to the user's main job (Q4) and communication style (Q5)

Show the user the generated files and ask for approval before writing.

Phase 2 — Memory Scaffolding

Run the install script to create the memory directory structure:

bash {baseDir}/scripts/install.sh

This creates:

memory/ directory with daily log structure

MEMORY.md — durable fact index

ACTIVE.md — current priorities tracker

memory/FUTURE_INTENTS.md — commitments and deferred actions

.learnings/ — error and learning capture (agent-memory-loop)

Phase 3 — Operational Crons

Review recommended crons with the user. See references/cron-recipes.md.

If openclaw CLI is not available: Skip cron installation. Instead, show the user the recommended cron configs from references/cron-recipes.md and explain they can install them later once OpenClaw is set up. Proceed to Phase 4.

If openclaw CLI is available:

Always recommend:

Heartbeat (configurable frequency)

Workspace backup (daily)

Recommend if applicable:

Weekly memory consolidation

Session health watchdog

Security monitoring

Install only what the user approves. Use the OpenClaw cron tool directly.

Phase 4 — Security Baseline

Walk through the security checklist at references/security-baseline.md.

Key items:

Channel access controls (allowlist vs open)

Injection defense rules in SOUL.md

Escalation framework (green/yellow/red)

Tool restrictions for sub-agents

Phase 5 — Companion Skills

Recommend installing these skills based on the user's needs:

| Skill | When to recommend | ClawHub | |-------|-------------------|---------| | cognition | Always — memory architecture | clawhub.com/skills/cognition | | summarize | Always — extract text/transcripts from URLs, videos, PDFs | clawhub.com/skills/summarize | | agent-hardening | If the agent handles sensitive data or external channels | clawhub.com/skills/agent-hardening | | openclaw-backup | If the user wants disaster recovery | clawhub.com/skills/openclaw-backup |

Install via ClawHub if available:

clawhub install 

Phase 6 — Verification

After setup, run a quick health check:

Verify all generated files exist and are non-empty

Verify crons are registered and have valid next-run times

Verify the agent can respond to a basic prompt

Show the user a summary of everything that was set up

Interview principles

Ask one question at a time — don't dump all 8 at once

Accept short answers — infer reasonable defaults from context

Show what you're generating before writing it

Never write to core files without user confirmation

Keep the tone conversational, not bureaucratic

References

references/interview-guide.md — the 8 identity questions with guidance

references/cron-recipes.md — recommended cron configurations

references/security-baseline.md — security checklist for new agents

references/placeholder-map.md — full mapping of interview answers → template placeholders + model recommendations

Assets (templates)

assets/soul-template.md — SOUL.md template with placeholders

assets/user-template.md — USER.md template

assets/identity-template.md — IDENTITY.md template

assets/agents-template.md — AGENTS.md starter

assets/heartbeat-template.md — HEARTBEAT.md starter

Scripts

scripts/install.sh — creates memory scaffolding and .learnings directory

scripts/verify.sh — post-setup health check