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Run multiple isolated agents in one Gateway process, each with its own workspace, state directory (agentDir), and session store, plus multiple channel accounts (e.g. two WhatsApp numbers). Inbound messages route to the right agent through bindings. An agent is the full per-persona scope: workspace files, auth profiles, model registry, and session store. A binding maps a channel account (a Slack workspace, a WhatsApp number, etc.) to one of those agents.

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What is one agent

Each agent has its own:
  • Workspace: files, AGENTS.md/SOUL.md/USER.md, local notes, persona rules.
  • State directory (agentDir): auth profiles, model registry, per-agent config.
  • Session store: chat history and routing state under ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/sessions.
Auth profiles are per-agent, read from: 
~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/agent/auth-profiles.json
sessions_history is the safer cross-session recall path: it returns a bounded, redacted view, not a raw transcript dump. It strips thinking-block signatures, tool-result payload details, <relevant-memories> scaffolding, tool-call XML tags (<tool_call>, <function_call>, and their plural/downgraded forms), and MiniMax tool-call XML, then truncates and caps output by byte size.
Never reuse agentDir across agents — it causes auth/session state collisions. When a secondary agent’s local OAuth credential is expired or its refresh fails, OpenClaw reads through to the default/main agent’s credential for the same profile id and adopts whichever token is freshest, without copying the refresh token into the secondary agent’s store. If you want a fully independent OAuth account, sign in from that agent. If you copy credentials manually, copy only portable static api_key or token profiles — OAuth refresh material is not portable by default (copyToAgents can opt a profile in explicitly).
Skills load from each agent workspace plus shared roots such as ~/.openclaw/skills, then filter by the effective agent skill allowlist. Use agents.defaults.skills for a shared baseline and agents.list[].skills for a per-agent replacement (explicit entries replace the default, they do not merge). See Skills: per-agent vs shared and Skills: agent allowlists.
Workspace note: each agent’s workspace is the default cwd, not a hard sandbox. Relative paths resolve inside the workspace, but absolute paths can reach other host locations unless sandboxing is enabled. See Sandboxing.

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Paths

WhatDefaultOverride
Config~/.openclaw/openclaw.jsonOPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH
State dir~/.openclawOPENCLAW_STATE_DIR
Default agent’s workspace~/.openclaw/workspace (or workspace-<profile> when OPENCLAW_PROFILE is set)agents.list[].workspace, then agents.defaults.workspace, or OPENCLAW_WORKSPACE_DIR
Other agents’ workspace<stateDir>/workspace-<agentId> (or <agents.defaults.workspace>/<agentId> when set)agents.list[].workspace
Agent dir~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/agentagents.list[].agentDir
Sessions~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/sessions—

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Single-agent mode (default)

If you configure nothing, OpenClaw runs one agent:
  • agentId defaults to main.
  • Sessions key as agent:main:<mainKey> (default mainKey is main).
  • Workspace defaults to ~/.openclaw/workspace (or workspace-<profile> when OPENCLAW_PROFILE is set to something other than default).
  • State defaults to ~/.openclaw/agents/main/agent.

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Agent helper

Add a new isolated agent: 
openclaw agents add work
Flags: --workspace <dir>, --model <id>, --agent-dir <dir>, --bind <channel[:accountId]> (repeatable), --non-interactive (requires --workspace). Add bindings to route inbound messages (the wizard offers to do this for you), then verify: 
openclaw agents list --bindings

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Quick start

1

Create each agent workspace

openclaw agents add coding
openclaw agents add social
Each agent gets its own workspace with SOUL.md, AGENTS.md, and optional USER.md, plus a dedicated agentDir and session store under ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>.
2

Create channel accounts

Create one account per agent on your preferred channels:
  • Discord: one bot per agent, enable Message Content Intent, copy each token.
  • Telegram: one bot per agent via BotFather, copy each token.
  • WhatsApp: link each phone number per account.
openclaw channels login --channel whatsapp --account work
See channel guides: Discord, Telegram, WhatsApp.
3

Add agents, accounts, and bindings

Add agents under agents.list, channel accounts under channels.<channel>.accounts, and connect them with bindings (examples below).
4

Restart and verify

openclaw gateway restart
openclaw agents list --bindings
openclaw channels status --probe

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Multiple agents, multiple personas

Each configured agentId is a fully isolated persona:
  • Different accounts per channel (per accountId).
  • Different personalities (per-agent AGENTS.md/SOUL.md).
  • Separate auth and sessions, with no cross-talk unless explicitly enabled.
This lets multiple people share one Gateway while keeping their agent state isolated. To let one agent search another agent’s QMD session transcripts, add extra collections under agents.list[].memorySearch.qmd.extraCollections. Use agents.defaults.memorySearch.qmd.extraCollections when every agent should share the same collections. 
{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      workspace: "~/workspaces/main",
      memorySearch: {
        qmd: {
          extraCollections: [{ path: "~/agents/family/sessions", name: "family-sessions" }],
        },
      },
    },
    list: [
      {
        id: "main",
        workspace: "~/workspaces/main",
        memorySearch: {
          qmd: {
            extraCollections: [{ path: "notes" }], // resolves inside workspace -> collection named "notes-main"
          },
        },
      },
      { id: "family", workspace: "~/workspaces/family" },
    ],
  },
  memory: {
    backend: "qmd",
    qmd: { includeDefaultMemory: false },
  },
}
An extra-collection path can be shared across agents, but its name stays explicit when the path is outside the agent workspace. Paths inside the workspace stay agent-scoped so each agent keeps its own transcript search set.

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One WhatsApp number, multiple people (DM split)

Route different WhatsApp DMs to different agents on one WhatsApp account by matching sender E.164 (+15551234567) with peer.kind: "direct". Replies still come from the same WhatsApp number — there is no per-agent sender identity.
Direct chats collapse to the agent’s main session key by default, so true isolation requires one agent per person.
{
  agents: {
    list: [
      { id: "alex", workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-alex" },
      { id: "mia", workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-mia" },
    ],
  },
  bindings: [
    {
      agentId: "alex",
      match: { channel: "whatsapp", peer: { kind: "direct", id: "+15551230001" } },
    },
    {
      agentId: "mia",
      match: { channel: "whatsapp", peer: { kind: "direct", id: "+15551230002" } },
    },
  ],
  channels: {
    whatsapp: {
      dmPolicy: "allowlist",
      allowFrom: ["+15551230001", "+15551230002"],
    },
  },
}
DM access control (pairing/allowlist) is global per WhatsApp account, not per agent. For shared groups, bind the group to one agent or use Broadcast groups.

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Routing rules

Bindings are deterministic and most-specific wins. See Channel routing for the full tier order (exact peer, parent peer, peer wildcard, guild+roles, guild, team, account, channel, default agent). A few rules worth calling out here:
  • If multiple bindings match within the same tier, the first one in config order wins.
  • If a binding sets multiple match fields (for example peer + guildId), all specified fields must match (AND semantics).
  • A binding that omits accountId matches only the default account, not every account. Use accountId: "*" for a channel-wide fallback, or accountId: "<name>" for one account. Adding the same binding again with an explicit account id upgrades the existing channel-only binding instead of duplicating it.

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Multiple accounts / phone numbers

Channels that support multiple accounts (e.g. WhatsApp) use accountId to identify each login. Each accountId routes to its own agent, so one server can host multiple phone numbers without mixing sessions. Set channels.<channel>.defaultAccount to choose the account used when accountId is omitted. When unset, OpenClaw falls back to default if present, otherwise the first configured account id (sorted). Channels supporting multiple accounts: discord, feishu, googlechat, imessage, irc, line, mattermost, matrix, nextcloud-talk, nostr, signal, slack, telegram, whatsapp, zalo, zalouser.

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Concepts

  • agentId: one “brain” (workspace, per-agent auth, per-agent session store).
  • accountId: one channel account instance (e.g. WhatsApp account personal vs biz).
  • binding: routes inbound messages to an agentId by (channel, accountId, peer), and optionally guild/team ids.
  • Direct chats collapse to agent:<agentId>:<mainKey> (per-agent “main”; see session.mainKey).

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Platform examples

Each Discord bot account maps to a unique accountId. Bind each account to an agent and keep allowlists per bot.
{
  agents: {
    list: [
      { id: "main", workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-main" },
      { id: "coding", workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-coding" },
    ],
  },
  bindings: [
    { agentId: "main", match: { channel: "discord", accountId: "default" } },
    { agentId: "coding", match: { channel: "discord", accountId: "coding" } },
  ],
  channels: {
    discord: {
      groupPolicy: "allowlist",
      accounts: {
        default: {
          token: "DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN_MAIN",
          guilds: {
            "123456789012345678": {
              channels: {
                "222222222222222222": { allow: true, requireMention: false },
              },
            },
          },
        },
        coding: {
          token: "DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN_CODING",
          guilds: {
            "123456789012345678": {
              channels: {
                "333333333333333333": { allow: true, requireMention: false },
              },
            },
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}
  • Invite each bot to the guild and enable Message Content Intent.
  • Tokens live in channels.discord.accounts.<id>.token (default account can use DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN).
{
  agents: {
    list: [
      { id: "main", workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-main" },
      { id: "alerts", workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-alerts" },
    ],
  },
  bindings: [
    { agentId: "main", match: { channel: "telegram", accountId: "default" } },
    { agentId: "alerts", match: { channel: "telegram", accountId: "alerts" } },
  ],
  channels: {
    telegram: {
      accounts: {
        default: {
          botToken: "123456:ABC...",
          dmPolicy: "pairing",
        },
        alerts: {
          botToken: "987654:XYZ...",
          dmPolicy: "allowlist",
          allowFrom: ["tg:123456789"],
        },
      },
    },
  },
}
  • Create one bot per agent with BotFather and copy each token.
  • Tokens live in channels.telegram.accounts.<id>.botToken (default account can use TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN).
  • For multiple bots in the same Telegram group, invite each bot and mention the one that should answer.
  • Disable BotFather Privacy Mode for each group bot (/setprivacy -> Disable), then remove and re-add the bot so Telegram applies the setting.
  • Allow groups with channels.telegram.groups, or use groupPolicy: "open" only for trusted group deployments.
  • Put sender user IDs in groupAllowFrom. Group and supergroup IDs belong in channels.telegram.groups, not groupAllowFrom.
  • Bind by accountId so each bot routes to its own agent.
Link each account before starting the gateway:
openclaw channels login --channel whatsapp --account personal
openclaw channels login --channel whatsapp --account biz
~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (JSON5):
{
  agents: {
    list: [
      {
        id: "home",
        default: true,
        name: "Home",
        workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-home",
        agentDir: "~/.openclaw/agents/home/agent",
      },
      {
        id: "work",
        name: "Work",
        workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-work",
        agentDir: "~/.openclaw/agents/work/agent",
      },
    ],
  },

  // Deterministic routing: first match wins (most-specific first).
  bindings: [
    { agentId: "home", match: { channel: "whatsapp", accountId: "personal" } },
    { agentId: "work", match: { channel: "whatsapp", accountId: "biz" } },

    // Optional per-peer override (example: send a specific group to work agent).
    {
      agentId: "work",
      match: {
        channel: "whatsapp",
        accountId: "personal",
        peer: { kind: "group", id: "1203630...@g.us" },
      },
    },
  ],

  // Off by default: agent-to-agent messaging must be explicitly enabled + allowlisted.
  tools: {
    agentToAgent: {
      enabled: false,
      allow: ["home", "work"],
    },
  },

  channels: {
    whatsapp: {
      accounts: {
        personal: {
          // Optional override. Default: ~/.openclaw/credentials/whatsapp/personal
          // authDir: "~/.openclaw/credentials/whatsapp/personal",
        },
        biz: {
          // Optional override. Default: ~/.openclaw/credentials/whatsapp/biz
          // authDir: "~/.openclaw/credentials/whatsapp/biz",
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

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Common patterns

Split by channel: route WhatsApp to a fast everyday agent and Telegram to an Opus agent.
{
  agents: {
    list: [
      {
        id: "chat",
        name: "Everyday",
        workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-chat",
        model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
      },
      {
        id: "opus",
        name: "Deep Work",
        workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-opus",
        model: "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6",
      },
    ],
  },
  bindings: [
    { agentId: "chat", match: { channel: "whatsapp", accountId: "*" } },
    { agentId: "opus", match: { channel: "telegram", accountId: "*" } },
  ],
}
These examples use accountId: "*" so the bindings keep working if you add accounts later. To route a single DM/group to Opus while keeping the rest on chat, add a match.peer binding for that peer — peer matches always win over channel-wide rules.

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Per-agent sandbox and tool configuration

Each agent can have its own sandbox and tool restrictions: 
{
  agents: {
    list: [
      {
        id: "personal",
        workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-personal",
        sandbox: {
          mode: "off",  // No sandbox for personal agent
        },
        // No tool restrictions - all tools available
      },
      {
        id: "family",
        workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-family",
        sandbox: {
          mode: "all",     // Always sandboxed
          scope: "agent",  // One container per agent
          docker: {
            // Optional one-time setup after container creation
            setupCommand: "apt-get update && apt-get install -y git curl",
          },
        },
        tools: {
          allow: ["read"],                    // Only read tool
          deny: ["exec", "write", "edit", "apply_patch"],    // Deny others
        },
      },
    ],
  },
}
setupCommand lives under sandbox.docker and runs once on container creation. Per-agent sandbox.docker.* overrides are ignored when the resolved scope is "shared".
This gives you:
  • Security isolation: restrict tools for untrusted agents.
  • Resource control: sandbox specific agents while keeping others on host.
  • Flexible policies: different permissions per agent.
tools.elevated has both a global gate (tools.elevated.enabled/allowFrom) and a per-agent gate (agents.list[].tools.elevated.enabled/allowFrom). The per-agent gate can only further restrict the global one — both must allow a sender for elevated commands to run. For group targeting, use agents.list[].groupChat.mentionPatterns so @mentions map cleanly to the intended agent.
See Multi-agent sandbox and tools for detailed examples.