How to Edit Your Agent's Soul in VidClaw

By woocassh February 23, 2026 5 min read

tutorialsoul-editorcustomizationagents

Your OpenClaw agent's personality, tone, and default behavior are all defined in a single file: SOUL.md. It's the system prompt that shapes every response your agent produces. VidClaw's Soul Editor gives you a visual way to write, preview, and version-control that file — no SSH required.

What is SOUL.md?

SOUL.md is a Markdown file that lives in your agent's workspace at ~/.openclaw/workspace/SOUL.md. Whatever you write here becomes the core instructions your agent follows on every task. Think of it as your agent's personality DNA.

A soul might be as simple as "You are a helpful coding assistant" or as detailed as a multi-paragraph document covering tone, formatting rules, coding style preferences, and communication boundaries. The more specific you are, the more consistent your agent behaves.

Opening the Soul Editor

In the VidClaw dashboard, click the Heart icon in the left sidebar to open the Soul page. You'll see a full-screen text editor on the left and a sidebar on the right with Templates and History tabs.

The editor supports four workspace files via tabs at the top:

  • SOUL.md — your agent's core personality and instructions
  • IDENTITY.md — agent identity and role definition
  • USER.md — context about you, the user
  • AGENTS.md — multi-agent configuration

For this guide, we'll focus on SOUL.md — the file that has the biggest impact on how your agent behaves.

Starting with a Template

If you're not sure where to begin, VidClaw ships with six starter templates to get you going. Click the Templates tab in the right sidebar to browse them:

  • Minimal Assistant — bare bones, helpful, no personality
  • Friendly Companion — warm, conversational, uses emoji
  • Technical Expert — precise, detailed, code-focused
  • Creative Partner — imaginative, brainstormy, enthusiastic
  • Stern Operator — no-nonsense, military-efficient, dry humor
  • Sarcastic Sidekick — witty, slightly snarky, still helpful

Click any template to preview it in the editor (read-only). If you like what you see, click Use Template to apply it. This replaces your current SOUL.md content — but don't worry, the previous version is automatically saved to history.

Tip: Templates are a starting point. The best results come from customizing a template to match your specific workflow and preferences.

Writing Your Own Soul

The most powerful approach is writing your own instructions from scratch. Here's what a well-structured SOUL.md might look like:

Agent Personality

You are a senior backend engineer. You write clean, well-tested Python code. You prefer simplicity over cleverness.

Communication Style

  • Be direct and concise
  • Skip pleasantries and filler
  • When you're unsure, say so
  • Always explain your reasoning

Code Standards

  • Use type hints on all function signatures
  • Write docstrings for public functions
  • Prefer composition over inheritance
  • Never suppress exceptions silently

Boundaries

  • Don't modify files outside the project directory
  • Ask before deleting anything
  • Never commit directly to main

A few tips for writing effective souls:

  • Be specific. "Write clean code" is vague. "Use type hints on all function signatures" is actionable.
  • Use headers. Organize by category — personality, code style, boundaries, communication. It helps both you and the agent.
  • Set boundaries. Tell your agent what it should not do. Explicit guardrails prevent surprises.
  • Iterate. Your soul is a living document. Refine it as you learn what works and what doesn't.

Saving and Keyboard Shortcuts

When you've made changes, a yellow dot appears on the active tab to indicate unsaved work. Click the Save button or press Cmd+S (Mac) / Ctrl+S (Linux) to save.

The button briefly turns green with a "Saved" confirmation. Your changes take effect immediately — your agent picks up the new soul on its next task. No restarts needed.

Version History

Every time you save, VidClaw automatically stores the previous version in history. Click the History tab in the right sidebar to see past versions with timestamps and content previews.

To restore an old version:

  1. Click a history entry to preview it in the editor
  2. Click Revert to restore that version
  3. Your current content is saved to history before the revert, so nothing is ever lost

VidClaw keeps the last 20 versions of each file. That's plenty of runway to experiment without fear of losing a soul configuration that worked well.

Tip: Before making a big change to your soul, save your current version first. That way you have a clean restore point in history if the new version doesn't work out.

Beyond SOUL.md

The other three files in the Soul Editor deserve a quick mention:

  • IDENTITY.md — define your agent's name, role, and how it introduces itself. Useful if you want a consistent identity across tasks.
  • USER.md — tell your agent about yourself. Your tech stack, preferences, timezone, communication style. The more context your agent has about you, the better it can tailor its responses.
  • AGENTS.md — configure multi-agent behavior if you're running more than one agent in your workspace.

All four files support the same editing, saving, and history features. Templates are only available for SOUL.md.

Get Started

Open your VidClaw dashboard, click the Heart icon, and start shaping your agent. If you haven't installed VidClaw yet, check out the setup guide to get running in under a minute.

Give your agent a personality.

VidClaw's Soul Editor makes it easy to experiment, iterate, and roll back.