System prompt

WednesdayAI assembles the agent’s system prompt from a set of named sections at run time. The default prompt is comprehensive; you can slim it down with a preset, toggle individual sections, inject custom content, and control which project context files are included. All configuration is under agents.defaults.systemPrompt (shared across agents) or agents.<agentId>.systemPrompt (per-agent override). Changes take effect when the gateway restarts. Restart: systemctl --user restart openclaw-gateway.

Presets

The fastest way to change the prompt’s size and scope is a preset:

// ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      systemPrompt: {
        preset: "lean",   // "default" | "lean" | "minimal"
      },
    },
  },
}

Preset	Effect
`"default"`	All sections enabled. Full-featured context, longer prompt.
`"lean"`	Disables documentation, runtime, model aliases. Compacts tooling and skills sections. Uses progressive skill rendering. Good balance of capability and token cost.
`"minimal"`	Disables documentation, runtime, model aliases, reply tags, messaging, voice, reactions, silent replies, heartbeats. Tooling renders names only. Skills compact + progressive. Lowest token cost.

Per-agent override

Named agents can override the shared default. The per-agent config merges over agents.defaults.systemPrompt:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      systemPrompt: { preset: "lean" },
    },
    assistant: {
      systemPrompt: {
        preset: "default",   // this agent uses the full prompt
      },
    },
  },
}

Section toggles

Individual sections can be turned off or customised without changing the preset. Use the sections map with the section name as the key:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      systemPrompt: {
        preset: "default",
        sections: {
          documentation: "off",    // remove the slash-command reference
          modelAliases: "off",     // remove the model alias list
          heartbeats: "off",       // disable heartbeat task list injection
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Section catalogue

Section	Mode type	Content
`identity`	Standard	Agent name, personality, and identity context
`tooling`	Generated	Tool definitions and calling instructions — `"compact"` reduces detail, `"names"` lists only tool names
`toolCallStyle`	Standard	How the agent should format and sequence tool calls
`safety`	Standard	Safety and behaviour guidelines
`cliQuickReference`	Standard	Slash-command cheat sheet (`/new`, `/reset`, `/model`, etc.)
`skills`	Generated	Loaded skill descriptions — `"compact"` condenses, `"names"` lists names only; `progressive: true` renders on demand
`memory`	Standard	Memory read/write instructions
`selfUpdate`	Standard	Self-update capability instructions
`modelAliases`	Generated	Model name-to-provider alias mappings
`workspace`	Standard	Workspace directory and file layout
`documentation`	Standard	Documentation access and usage instructions — disabled in `lean`/`minimal` presets
`sandbox`	Standard	Sandbox mode restrictions and warnings
`authorizedSenders`	Standard	Who is authorised to give the agent instructions
`time`	Standard	Current date and time
`workspaceFilesNotice`	Standard	Notice about workspace file availability
`replyTags`	Standard	Reply formatting tag instructions
`messaging`	Standard	Messaging-specific formatting rules (disabled in `minimal`)
`voice`	Standard	Voice mode formatting rules (disabled in `minimal`)
`groupContext`	Standard	Group chat context and mention awareness
`reactions`	Standard	Reaction handling instructions (disabled in `minimal`)
`reasoningFormat`	Standard	Reasoning and thinking format instructions
`projectContext`	Config object	Project context files — see Project context files
`silentReplies`	Standard	When to suppress outbound replies (disabled in `minimal`)
`heartbeats`	Standard	Heartbeat task list (injected during heartbeat runs)
`runtime`	Runtime	Runtime and model info — `"minimal"` trims detail; disabled in `lean`/`minimal` presets

Mode type key:

Type	Accepted values
Standard	`"default"` \| `"off"` \| `"prepend"` \| `"append"` \| `"replace"`
Generated	`"default"` \| `"compact"` \| `"names"` \| `"off"`
Runtime	`"default"` \| `"minimal"` \| `"off"`
Config object	`ProjectContextSectionConfig` — see project context files section

Project context files

These files are read from the agent workspace directory and injected into the system prompt:

File	Default mode	Purpose
`AGENTS.md`	`inline`	Workspace context and session startup instructions
`SOUL.md`	`inline`	Agent personality and core values
`IDENTITY.md`	`inline` (max 4 000 chars)	Agent name, creature, vibe, emoji, avatar
`USER.md`	`manifest`	User profile — name, timezone, context
`TOOLS.md`	`manifest`	Local environment notes — devices, SSH hosts
`HEARTBEAT.md`	`runKind`	Periodic task list (injected during heartbeat runs only)

File mode values:

Mode	Effect
`"inline"`	Full file content injected into the prompt (bounded by `maxChars` if set)
`"manifest"`	File path and size listed; content is not injected (avoids bloating the prompt for large files)
`"runKind"`	Injected only during heartbeat-triggered runs, not during interactive chat
`"off"`	File skipped entirely

Default per-file limit: 20 000 characters. Hard ceiling on total prompt source reads: 8 MiB. Missing optional files are silently skipped. Leave HEARTBEAT.md empty (or absent) to skip heartbeat API calls. To change a file’s mode, use the projectContext.files config:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      systemPrompt: {
        sections: {
          projectContext: {
            files: {
              "SOUL.md": { mode: "off" },
              "TOOLS.md": { mode: "inline", maxChars: 2000 },
            },
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Prompt cache

The prompt is split into a stable (cached) region and a volatile region at build time. The cache boundary controls where the split happens:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      systemPrompt: {
        cache: {
          boundary: "auto",   // "auto" (default) | "off"
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

"auto" lets the runtime choose the optimal cache boundary for the current provider. Set "off" to disable prompt caching entirely (increases token cost, may help debugging).

Injecting content from a plugin

Plugin authors can inject content into the system prompt at run time via the before_prompt_build lifecycle hook — without touching admin config. See Hooks for the hook API; the return value accepts systemPrompt (appended after the built sections) and prependContext (inserted before the user turn).

Hooks — before_prompt_build and context.collect hook reference
Gateway configuration — gateway-wide settings
Agent tools — exposing capabilities to the agent

​System prompt

​Presets

​Per-agent override

​Section toggles

​Section catalogue

​Project context files

​Prompt cache

​Injecting content from a plugin

​Related