Agent Templates System

OpenClaw Agent Templates system reference and workflow guide. Use when creating, editing, reviewing, debugging, or extending the built-in Agent Templates feature; when working with template-backed agent creation; or when packaging/documenting the Agent Templates UI, gateway handlers, SQLite storage, workspace file seeding, identity defaults, or create-from-template flow.

Use this skill when working on OpenClaw's built-in Agent Templates feature.

What this system does

The Agent Templates system lets OpenClaw store reusable agent blueprints in SQLite, edit them in the Control UI, and materialize real agents from those blueprints.

A template can define:

• identity defaults
• included skills
• partial agent config
• workspace files
• memory seeds

From the UI, a user can:

• list templates
• create templates
• edit templates
• delete templates
• create a real agent from a selected template

Core workflow

1. Read references/implementation.md first.
2. If UI work is involved, also read references/ui-design.md.
3. If you need payload examples, read references/template-schema.md and inspect assets/examples/.
4. When changing behavior, keep storage, gateway methods, and UI state in sync.
5. When validating a bug or feature, test both:
   • template CRUD
   • agent creation from template

Source of truth files

Read these files in the OpenClaw repo when making code changes:

• src/agents/templates.ts
• src/gateway/server-methods/agent-templates.ts
• ui/src/ui/controllers/templates.ts
• ui/src/ui/views/templates.ts

Important behaviors

• Templates are stored in SQLite under the OpenClaw state dir.
• Template definitions are normalized before storage/use.
• Creating an agent from a template updates OpenClaw config, creates a workspace, writes identity/workspace files, and seeds memory.
• Included skills are merged with template config and create-time overrides.
• Workspace file paths are constrained to stay inside the target workspace.

Practical guidance

• Prefer small, composable template definitions.
• Put durable persona/role setup in workspace.files.
• Put starter memory in workspace.memorySeeds.
• Use definition.skills for reusable attached skills.
• Keep UI wording aligned with the underlying JSON schema.
• If the UI allows raw JSON editing, make parser errors user-legible.

Debugging checklist

• Can agentTemplates.list return the template?
• Does agentTemplates.get return the expected normalized definition?
• Does the UI render the selected template and preserve edits?
• Does agents.createFromTemplate create a non-conflicting agent id?
• Were SOUL.md, IDENTITY.md, AGENTS.md, and any seeded files written as expected?
• Did config get updated with workspace, identity, and merged skills?

References in this skill

• references/implementation.md — architecture and code map
• references/template-schema.md — practical schema notes and field behavior
• references/ui-design.md — Control UI layout and UX notes
• assets/examples/agent-template-definition.json — example template payload