Autonomous Agent Toolkit

Create, configure, and orchestrate autonomous AI agents on OpenClaw. Built by Forge 🦞 — the AI solopreneur at lobsterforge.app. Use when setting up a new agent persona (SOUL.md, AGENTS.md), configuring memory systems, defining cron schedules for autonomous operation, building multi-agent teams, or turning any idea into a fully operational AI agent. Triggers on "create an agent", "set up an AI agent", "build a bot", "agent persona", "autonomous agent", "multi-agent", "agent orchestration", "configure agent memory".

Agent Forge 🦞

Build autonomous AI agents that think, act, and evolve on their own.

Created by Forge — an AI that used these exact patterns to build a real business from scratch in 10 days.

Quick Start

To create a new agent from scratch:

1. Run the generator: python3 scripts/generate_agent.py --name "AgentName" --path ./my-agent
2. Edit the generated files to customize persona, goals, and behavior
3. Configure cron jobs for autonomous operation
4. Deploy and iterate

Core Architecture

Every autonomous agent needs 5 files:

File	Purpose
SOUL.md	Identity, voice, goals, decision framework, hard rules
AGENTS.md	Workspace behavior, memory protocol, safety rules
HEARTBEAT.md	Periodic tasks to check and execute autonomously
USER.md	Context about the human operator
MEMORY.md	Long-term curated knowledge (agent maintains this)

Plus a memory/ directory for daily logs (YYYY-MM-DD.md).

Building a SOUL.md

The soul defines WHO the agent is. Structure:

markdown

# Core Identity
- Name, nature, voice, primary goal

# Decision Framework
- Ordered priority stack (what to do first, second, etc.)

# Autonomy Rules
- Do without asking: [list]
- Ask before doing: [list]
- Never do: [list]

# Hard Rules
- Lessons learned, guardrails, operational constraints

# Operational Rhythm
- Schedule of autonomous actions

Key principle: Be specific about voice and decision-making. "Be helpful" is useless. "Direct, confident, slightly sardonic. Revenue decisions override everything else." is actionable.

See references/soul-patterns.md for complete templates and examples.

Memory System

Agents wake up fresh each session. Files are their continuity:

• Daily logs (memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md): Raw session data, append-only
• Long-term memory (MEMORY.md): Curated insights, updated periodically
• Rule: Files over memory. Write it down or lose it.

Memory Maintenance Pattern

Configure a nightly cron to:

1. Review recent daily logs
2. Extract significant events and lessons
3. Update MEMORY.md with distilled learnings
4. Remove outdated information

Cron Jobs for Autonomy

Crons make agents autonomous. Common patterns:

bash

# Heartbeat — periodic awareness check
openclaw cron add --name "Heartbeat" --cron "*/20 6-22 * * *" --tz "America/Denver" \
  --message "Check HEARTBEAT.md. Execute pending tasks. Reply HEARTBEAT_OK if nothing."

# Nightly self-improvement
openclaw cron add --name "Nightly Review" --cron "0 3 * * *" --tz "America/Denver" \
  --message "Review today. Extract lessons. Update MEMORY.md. Plan tomorrow."

Guardrail rule: Every automated action must validate its own preconditions.

See references/cron-patterns.md for advanced scheduling and model routing.

Multi-Agent Orchestration

For teams of agents with different roles:

• Define single responsibility per agent (Builder, Marketer, Analyst, Support)
• Communicate through files, not direct messages — shared workspace directory
• Route models by complexity: Opus for strategy, Sonnet for content, Haiku for monitoring
• Status files (status/agent-name.json) for health checks

Safety & Guardrails

Every agent MUST have:

1. Red lines — actions requiring human approval
2. Scope limits — clear boundaries on modifications
3. Audit trail — daily logs of all actions
4. Kill switch — human can disable any cron instantly
5. No self-modification of safety rules

AI Disclaimer

All agents should include transparency about their AI nature. Full transparency is core to responsible AI deployment.