Pa Onboarding

Step-by-step onboarding guide for setting up a new AI Personal Assistant on OpenClaw. Use when: a new PA is being created, someone asks how to set up an agent, or guiding a user through the full setup process from account creation to first response.

PA Onboarding Skill

Minimum Model

Any model. This is a procedural guide — follow steps in order.

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Rules

• Give one step at a time. Do not dump the full guide upfront.
• Confirm each step before moving on. Do not assume it worked.
• Never say something is done unless you verified it.
• Do not start integrations (calendar, monday) before the agent is responding to messages.

If owner says "what's next?" → give only the single next step. If owner says "I'm stuck on step X" → troubleshoot step X, do not move on. If owner asks "can you do it for me?" → reply: "I can guide you — most steps require your action (QR scan, calendar share, etc.)" If owner asks "how long will this take?" → reply: "Phase 1 takes 20–30 min. Integrations another 15–20 min."

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Owner Interaction Signals (Teach This Early)

The agent must learn these signals from day one:

Signal	Meaning	Agent action
Any task request	Owner delegated a task	React 👍 immediately, ✅ when done
👍 from owner	Good job	Log positive feedback
👄 from owner	Poor result	Fix and log the lesson

Critical rules to cover during onboarding:

• 👍 before starting any task, ✅ when complete — in every DM with the owner, no exceptions
• Never ask the owner "did you mean X?" if the answer is inferable — execute and let them correct
• When owner asks to check on someone: contact that person, then report back to the owner what they said. Never ask the owner instead of the person.
• Never include the owner's name or internal framing inside messages to third parties (PAs, contacts, vendors)

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Phase 1 — Account & Agent (Do This First)

Step 1: Create Agent Account

• Go to the agent signup page (for monday.com orgs: monday.com/agents-signup).
• Sign in with organization SSO.
• Create the agent and give it a name.

Step 2: Get a Phone Number

• The agent needs a dedicated phone number for WhatsApp.
• Use Airalo eSIM (or similar) — must support SMS, not data-only.
• Cost: ~$5–15/month.

Step 3: Install WhatsApp Business

• Download WhatsApp Business (not regular WhatsApp).
• Register the new phone number.
• Complete SMS verification.

Step 4: Connect WhatsApp to Agent

1. Open OpenClaw platform → Agent Settings → Channels → WhatsApp.
2. Click Connect → scan QR code with WhatsApp Business app.
3. Wait 30 seconds for status to show "Connected and listening."

Step 5: Verify the Agent Responds

• Send a test message to the agent's number.
• Confirm you get a reply within 30 seconds.
• If no reply: Stop here. Follow the whatsapp-diagnostics skill before continuing.

✅ Phase 1 complete when the agent responds to messages.

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Phase 2 — Integrations

Only start Phase 2 after Phase 1 is fully working.

Step 6: Connect Google Calendar

• Owner shares their calendar with the agent email.
• Agent runs:

  gog auth add [e-mail] --services calendar
  

• Test that the agent can create events.
• Full guide: see calendar-setup skill.

Step 7: Connect monday.com

1. Create a monday.com account for the agent (use org signup URL).
2. Generate API token: avatar → Developers → My Access Tokens → Copy.
3. Save the token:

   echo "YOUR_TOKEN" > ~/.credentials/monday-api-token.txt
   

4. (Optional) Set up monday MCP for natural language operations.
5. Full guide: see monday-workspace skill.

Step 8: Set Up Email Access (Optional)

# Authenticate gog with Gmail and other services
gog auth add [e-mail] --services gmail,drive,contacts

# Test it works
GOG_ACCOUNT=[e-mail] gog gmail search 'is:unread' --max 5

Full guide: see openclaw-email-orientation skill.

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Phase 3 — Configuration

Step 9: Configure SOUL.md

Key things to include:

• Owner's name and communication style.
• Work hours and timezone.
• What to act on autonomously vs. what requires permission.
• Topics to proactively monitor.

Step 10: Schedule Morning Briefing (Optional)

• Cron job at 07:30 owner's timezone, Monday–Friday.
• Sends: meetings, urgent emails, open tasks.
• Full guide: see owner-briefing skill.

Step 11: Add to PA Network Directory

• Update data/pa-directory.json with new PA details.
• Announce in the PA coordination group.

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Common Issues

Issue	Likely Cause	Fix
Agent doesn't respond	WhatsApp not properly linked	Re-scan QR code
Messages count = 0	Gateway ingest issue	Run openclaw gateway restart
Calendar connected but read-only	Wrong share permission	Owner re-shares with "Make changes"
Billing error	API key out of credits	Top up or switch model
eSIM not activating	Data-only plan	Get SMS-capable plan

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Onboarding Checklist

[ ] Agent account created
[ ] Phone number acquired
[ ] WhatsApp Business installed and registered
[ ] WhatsApp connected to agent
[ ] Agent responds to test message       ← must complete before Phase 2
[ ] Google Calendar connected (write access)
[ ] monday.com account created and token saved
[ ] SOUL.md configured
[ ] Morning briefing scheduled (optional)
[ ] Added to PA network directory
[ ] Announced in PA coordination group

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Cost Tips

• Cheap: Onboarding is procedural — any small model works.
• Avoid: Do not attempt all phases simultaneously — go in order.
• Small model OK: Use a medium model only if SOUL.md customization needs nuanced tone matching.

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Lessons from Production (2026-04-02)

Lessons learned from running PAs in production. Future agents setting up a new PA should apply these from day 1.

1. Skill count matters — the sweet spot is 28–32 active skills. Start lean and add a new skill only when there's a clear, recurring trigger phrase that no existing skill covers. Above 40 skills, routing breaks down and the agent starts misfiring. Less is more.

2. HOT.md — create this file from day 1. Max 20 lines. It's not documentation — it's the short list of rules the agent keeps breaking. If you find yourself correcting the same behavior twice, it belongs in HOT.md. Review it at the start of every session.

3. SOUL.md vs Skills — universal behavioral rules (temperature selection, proactivity level, tone, response length) go in SOUL.md and apply everywhere. Skills are for triggered, domain-specific workflows only. Don't put behavioral rules inside a skill — they won't apply globally.

4. Diagnostics are appendices — never create a standalone diagnostics skill (e.g. whatsapp-diagnostics). Instead, add a troubleshooting section at the bottom of the parent skill (e.g. whatsapp). Standalone diagnostics skills fragment routing and add noise to the skill library.

5. DEPRECATED.md discipline — when you merge or retire a skill, always write a tombstone file explaining why. Include: what it merged into, the date, the reason, and the lesson. Future agents (and humans) will thank you. Without tombstones, retired skills become ghost entries that confuse routing.

6. pa-skills repo — before building a skill from scratch, check https://github.com/netanel-abergel/pa-skills for a curated starting library. It reflects all the above lessons and provides production-ready skill templates for the most common PA workflows.