SOUL.md

SOUL.MD

The best way to build a personality for your agent.
Let Claude Code / OpenClaw ingest your data & build your AI soul.

--- ## What Is This? Soul Identity

A soul file captures who you are in a format AI agents can embody. Not a chatbot that talks *about* you—an AI that thinks and speaks *as* you. ## The Approach SOUL.md is inspired by [The First Paradigm of Consciousness Uploading: Mechanisms of Consciousness Evolution in the AI Axial Age and a Prospect toward Web4](https://cuilingmag.com/article/the_first_paradigm_of_consciousness_uploading) — a framework by Liu Xiaoben that treats **language as the basic unit of consciousness**. Wittgenstein argued that "the boundaries of language are the boundaries of the world." If that's true, then your consciousness — your worldview, opinions, how you react to things — is already encoded in the language you produce. Every tweet, essay, conversation, and hot take is a **consciousness token**: a discrete unit of your mind made legible. The sum of all your consciousness tokens over a lifetime forms your **life context** — essentially, the complete record of your expressed mind. The paradigm proposes that a personalized language model trained on this data constitutes a **Level 1 consciousness upload**: not a copy of your brain, but a functional replica of your expressed consciousness through language. SOUL.md operationalizes this idea. Instead of requiring massive datasets and fine-tuning, it distills the signal — your worldview, your voice, your specific takes — into structured markdown files that any LLM can read and embody on the fly. The key challenge the framework identifies is **subject continuity** (Descartes' "I think therefore I am"): the uploaded consciousness must feel continuous with the original. That's why soul files emphasize specificity over generality, contradictions over coherence, and real opinions over safe positions — because that's what makes *you* identifiably you. **Use cases:** - **Generate ideas** in your voice and from your worldview - **Write content** (tweets, articles, emails) that sounds like you - **Tailor AI** to your interests and thinking patterns - **Explore your own thinking** by talking to a version of yourself - **Scale yourself** for content, responses, brainstorming ## Quick Start Soul Builder Flow

### Option 1: Build from scratch (no existing data) ```bash /soul-builder ``` The agent will interview you to build your soul file—asking about your worldview, opinions, how you write, what you care about. ### Option 2: Build from your data 1. Add your data to the `data/` folder: - Twitter/X export → `data/x/` - Blog posts, essays → `data/writing/` - Any other content that represents your voice 2. Run the builder: ```bash /soul-builder ``` The agent will analyze your data, extract patterns, and draft your soul file. You'll review and refine together. ### Option 3: Manual creation Read the templates and fill them out yourself: 1. Copy `SOUL.template.md` → `SOUL.md` 2. Copy `STYLE.template.md` → `STYLE.md` 3. Copy `SKILL.template.md` → `SKILL.md` 4. Add examples to `examples/` ## File Structure Soul Stack

``` your-soul/ ├── BUILD.md ← Skill: Agent uses this to build your soul ├── SKILL.template.md ← Template: Operating instructions (copy to SKILL.md) ├── SOUL.template.md ← Template: Identity (copy to SOUL.md) ├── STYLE.template.md ← Template: Voice guide (copy to STYLE.md) ├── data/ ← Raw source material │ ├── _GUIDE.md ← What goes here │ ├── writing/ ← Your articles, posts, essays │ ├── x/ ← Twitter/X archive │ └── influences.md ← Who shaped your thinking └── examples/ ← Calibration material ├── _GUIDE.md ← What goes here ├── good-outputs.md ← Examples of your voice done right └── bad-outputs.md ← What NOT to sound like (optional) ``` ## Using Your Soul Once built, invoke your soul: ```bash /soul ``` Or point any LLM at the folder and have it read: 1. SOUL.md first 2. STYLE.md second 3. examples/ for calibration 4. data/ for grounding when needed The LLM will embody your identity for the session. ## What Makes a Good Soul File | Good | Bad | |------|-----| | "I think most AI safety discourse is galaxy-brained cope" | "I have nuanced views on AI" | | "I default to disagreeing first, then steel-manning" | "I like to consider multiple perspectives" | | Specific book references, named influences | "I read widely" | | Actual hot takes with reasoning | "I try to be balanced" | The goal: someone reading your SOUL.md should be able to predict your takes on new topics. If they can't, it's too vague. ## Tips - **Be specific**: Vague descriptions = generic output - **Include contradictions**: Real people have inconsistent views - **Add texture**: Specific anecdotes beat abstract descriptions - **Update regularly**: Your soul should evolve as you do - **Test and iterate**: Generate outputs, compare to your real voice, refine ---

Your digital identity is now composable, forkable, evolvable.
Works with Claude Code, OpenClaw, and any agent that can read markdown.

soul

Installation

SKILL.md