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Bootstrapping is the first-run ritual that seeds a new agent workspace and walks the agent through picking an identity. It runs once, right after onboarding, on the agent’s first real turn.

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What happens

On the first run against a brand-new workspace (default ~/.openclaw/workspace), OpenClaw:
  • Seeds AGENTS.md, SOUL.md, TOOLS.md, IDENTITY.md, USER.md, HEARTBEAT.md, and BOOTSTRAP.md.
  • Has the agent follow BOOTSTRAP.md: a free-form conversation (not a fixed Q&A form) to settle on a name, personality, and vibe.
  • Writes what it learns into IDENTITY.md, USER.md, and SOUL.md.
  • Deletes BOOTSTRAP.md once the workspace looks configured, so the ritual only runs once.
A workspace counts as configured once SOUL.md, IDENTITY.md, or USER.md has diverged from its starter template, or a memory/ folder exists.
BOOTSTRAP.md covers the full identity conversation. See its contents at BOOTSTRAP.md template.

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Embedded and local model runs

For embedded or local-model runs, OpenClaw keeps BOOTSTRAP.md out of the privileged system context. On the primary interactive first run it still passes the file contents through the user prompt, so models that don’t reliably call the read tool can still complete the ritual. If the current run cannot safely access the workspace, the agent gets a short limited-bootstrap note instead of a generic greeting.

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Skipping bootstrapping

To skip this on a pre-seeded workspace, run: 
openclaw onboard --skip-bootstrap

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Where it runs

Bootstrapping always runs on the gateway host. If the macOS app connects to a remote Gateway, the workspace and its bootstrap files live on that remote machine, not on the Mac.
When the Gateway runs on another machine, edit workspace files on the gateway host (for example, user@gateway-host:~/.openclaw/workspace).