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USER.md is the optional user-model artifact in an agent workspace. It stores stable preferences, communication style, relationships, and active-project context as directives that can guide future sessions. OpenClaw loads USER.md beside MEMORY.md at session start. It has a separate small bootstrap budget, and edits are picked up on later turns in a long-lived session. If the file is absent, startup continues without it.

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Write directives, not observations

Each entry has a metadata line followed by one imperative directive:
Use these rules:
  • Begin with an imperative such as Always, Never, or Prefer.
  • Record the date the preference was observed.
  • Use only active or superseded for status.
  • Keep one behavioral instruction per directive.
  • Store only details that improve assistance. Do not turn the file into a dossier.
PrefEval found that preference following degrades sharply in longer conversations, even with retrieval and prompting (arXiv:2502.09597). Restating a stable preference as a directive makes the expected behavior explicit at the point where the agent uses it.

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Supersede in place

When a preference changes, update its existing section. Do not append a second active directive elsewhere in the file. Before:
After:
Keep the superseded entry next to its replacement so the current directive is unambiguous. HorizonBench reports that systems often select an originally stated preference after the user has changed it (arXiv:2604.17283); append-only contradictory history recreates that failure mode.

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Choose the right file

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Keep it compact

USER.md has a deliberately smaller bootstrap budget than general workspace files. When it becomes crowded, remove stale superseded entries and move project detail that does not alter behavior into daily memory or MEMORY.md.