#Conversations all sound similar
1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)
Yeah — it’s mostly because you’re still in the same session.
Two key bits about how OpenClaw works:
-
Your previous answer is still in-context
If you ask “what are my wins?” twice in the same session, the model sees its earlier wording and tends to reuse the same structure/phrases (it’s trying to be consistent, not creative). -
But SOUL.md changes do apply immediately
OpenClaw injectsSOUL.md(and other bootstrap files) on every turn, not just at session start. So the updated SOUL is being seen — it just doesn’t erase the inertia from the existing conversation.
Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/system-prompt (see “Workspace bootstrap injection”)
What to do if you want the phrasing to noticeably change
- Start a fresh session: send
/new(or/reset) as a standalone message.
Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/help/faq#how-do-i-start-a-fresh-conversation - Or, keep the session but be explicit:
“Give me my wins again, but use totally different wording/structure (no repeated phrases), and pick a different format (e.g. bullets → mini-stories / headlines / one-liners).”
One gotcha (common with Telegram + remote gateways)
Make sure you edited the SOUL.md in the workspace on the machine running the Gateway. If your Gateway is on a VPS but you edited a local file, the bot won’t see it.
If you paste what you changed in SOUL.md (or describe the tone change you expected), I can suggest a tight instruction that forces more variation for “wins” responses.
If I use /new, does it forget the previous conversation? Will it still have access to daily memory and memory?
Does it delete the conversation in telegram?
/new gives you a fresh session context, but it does not delete anything.
What /new “forgets”
- It stops including the earlier chat transcript in the model’s context window.
- So practically: yes, it will act like it doesn’t remember the back-and-forth you just had (unless you paste/recap it).
Importantly: the old conversation is still on disk as a session log — it’s just not being fed back into the model automatically.
Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/help/faq#how-do-i-start-a-fresh-conversation
What /new still keeps access to
MEMORY.md/memory.md(the curated “durable memory” file): still injected every turn.- Your workspace files (
SOUL.md,AGENTS.md, etc.): still injected every turn. - Daily memory notes (
memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md): those are not auto-injected, but the agent can still access them via memory tools / recall when needed.
Docs:
- System prompt + what gets injected: https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/system-prompt
- Memory behavior: https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/memory
Practical tip
If there’s something from “today’s wins conversation” you do want carried forward, ask the bot before /new:
“Summarize the key takeaways and write anything important into MEMORY.md (or today’s daily memory).”
That way the next session starts clean and still has the important stuff.