understanding files

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explain in brief about all files and like soul.md ,agents.md,Tools.md,Identity.md,user.md,HeartBat.md,Bootstrap.md and memory.md AND best practises to follow with openclaw

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Brief version:

AGENTS.md - the main instruction file for the agent in that workspace. Put project rules, safety rules, coding style, channel behavior, “do/don’t” rules, and workflow preferences here.

SOUL.md - personality and tone. It tells the assistant who it is, how it should sound, and what boundaries/values to keep. Keep it high-level, not full of task lists.

IDENTITY.md - basic identity facts: name, role, creator, avatar/vibe, catchphrase, etc. More factual than SOUL.md.

USER.md - durable info about the human/user: name, preferences, timezone, recurring context, what to call them. Don’t put secrets here.

TOOLS.md - local environment notes for tools: machine names, camera names, SSH aliases, preferred speakers/voices, local project paths, device nicknames. It does not grant tool access; it just tells the agent how to use your setup.

MEMORY.md - curated long-term memory: durable facts, preferences, decisions, lessons learned. This should be distilled and careful, not a raw diary. Also avoid private/sensitive data if the agent may run in shared contexts.

HEARTBEAT.md - optional checklist for periodic heartbeat runs. Keep it tiny. If it is empty/header-only, OpenClaw skips the heartbeat to save model calls. It can also use a small tasks: block with intervals.

BOOTSTRAP.md - first-run setup/birth-certificate file. If it exists, the agent treats the workspace as still bootstrapping and should follow it before normal replies. Usually it gets deleted/moved once setup is complete.

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memory/*.md - daily or topical memory notes. These are more like working notes; MEMORY.md is the distilled long-term version.

Best practices:

• Keep bootstrap files short. Large files get truncated; defaults are around 12k chars per file and 60k total bootstrap context.
• Don’t store API keys, tokens, passwords, private phone numbers, or sensitive personal data in these files.
• Put stable rules in AGENTS.md, personality in SOUL.md, local tool hints in TOOLS.md, and durable preferences in MEMORY.md.
• Keep HEARTBEAT.md boring and actionable: short reminders, urgent checks, or interval tasks.
• Back up your workspace, ideally in a private git repo.
• When troubleshooting OpenClaw, start with:
  openclaw --version
openclaw status
openclaw status --all
openclaw doctor
openclaw logs --follow
• If something looks like a real bug or feature request, file it here: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/issues