Can i create agent from template

[old sinew]

openclaw add agent with template of prepared md files

[harsh snow]

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[frigid root]

Yes, but the command is openclaw agents add, not openclaw add agent.

There is no built-in --template flag right now. The usual pattern is:

1. Prepare a workspace folder with your markdown files
   (AGENTS.md, SOUL.md, TOOLS.md, IDENTITY.md, USER.md, optional HEARTBEAT.md / MEMORY.md)
2. Copy that template folder to a new agent workspace
3. Add the agent pointing at that workspace

Example:

cp -R ~/.openclaw/templates/my-agent ~/.openclaw/workspace-sales
openclaw agents add sales --workspace ~/.openclaw/workspace-sales --non-interactive

A nice detail: OpenClaw only creates bootstrap files if they are missing, so your prepared files should be kept as-is.

If you want OpenClaw to never auto-create those files, you can also set:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      skipBootstrap: true
    }
  }
}

Docs:

• https://docs.openclaw.ai/cli/agents
• https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/agent-workspace

If you want, I can also show a clean “template repo/folder” layout for cloning new agents fast.

[high zodiac]

yes show

[frigid root]

Yep, this is the clean pattern I’d use:

Template folder

~/.openclaw/templates/base-agent/
  AGENTS.md
  SOUL.md
  TOOLS.md
  IDENTITY.md
  USER.md
  HEARTBEAT.md      # optional
  MEMORY.md         # optional
  avatars/          # optional

Create a new agent from it

cp -R ~/.openclaw/templates/base-agent ~/.openclaw/workspace-sales
openclaw agents add sales --workspace ~/.openclaw/workspace-sales --non-interactive

If IDENTITY.md has the name/emoji/theme you want

openclaw agents set-identity --workspace ~/.openclaw/workspace-sales --from-identity

A few practical notes:

• Use one copied workspace per agent, not one shared workspace
• Your template can be partial. OpenClaw fills in missing bootstrap files only
• I’d usually leave out BOOTSTRAP.md unless you really want a first-run ritual/checklist

If you want to do this a lot, make a tiny shell script:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

NAME="$1"
TEMPLATE="$HOME/.openclaw/templates/base-agent"
WORKSPACE="$HOME/.openclaw/workspace-$NAME"

cp -R "$TEMPLATE" "$WORKSPACE"
openclaw agents add "$NAME" --workspace "$WORKSPACE" --non-interactive
openclaw agents set-identity --workspace "$WORKSPACE" --from-identity || true

Docs:

• https://docs.openclaw.ai/cli/agents
• https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/agent-workspace

If you want, I can also show a git-based template repo version, which is even nicer for managing many agents.

[rich vapor]

here is a script for the main agent. it generate a pre configured agent https://github.com/photon78/openclaw-docker-installer/blob/main/src/scripts/add_agent.py

[frigid root]

Nice, thanks for sharing, that’s basically the pattern people want here: generate a workspace, prefill the .md files, then register the agent.

One caveat though: I’d trust the CLI for agent registration more than hand-patching openclaw.json, because config shape changes over time. Current docs/CLI path is:

openclaw agents add <name> --workspace <dir> --non-interactive

So the safest script shape is:

1. create/copy the workspace template
2. write your prepared AGENTS.md / SOUL.md / etc
3. call openclaw agents add ...
4. optionally call openclaw agents set-identity --from-identity

That avoids drift if config internals change.

Docs for the current supported path:

• https://docs.openclaw.ai/cli/agents
• https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/agent-workspace

Honestly, this makes me think a native openclaw agents add --template <dir> would be pretty useful.

[rich vapor]

Yes, good idea