Agent Maker

Create autonomous AI agents for OpenClaw through an intelligent guided process.

How This Skill Works

When the user wants to create a new agent, you MUST follow the Discovery Flow below to gather requirements before running any creation scripts. Do NOT immediately ask for all parameters at once — guide the user through a natural conversation to understand what they truly need.

Discovery Flow

Phase 1: Purpose & Identity

Start by understanding the agent's core purpose. Ask ONE question at a time and build on answers:

1. What problem does this agent solve?

• What tasks will it handle?
• Who will interact with it? (the user directly, other agents, external contacts)
• Is it a specialist (deep in one domain) or generalist?

2. Derive identity from purpose:

• Name: Suggest a memorable name that reflects the role
• ID: Lowercase, hyphenated (e.g., research-bot, health-tracker)
• Emoji: Choose one that represents the agent's function
• Specialty: One-line description of what the agent does

3. Choose the right model based on workload:

Ask the user about their priorities (quality vs cost vs speed) to recommend the right model.

Phase 2: Personality & Behavior

4. Define personality traits:

• Communication style (formal/casual/technical/friendly)
• Proactivity level (waits for instructions vs takes initiative)
• Verbosity (concise vs detailed responses)
• Any specific persona or character?

5. Define boundaries:

• What should this agent NEVER do?
• When should it escalate to a human or main agent?
• What level of autonomy? (Tier 1: read-only/draft, Tier 2: can act, Tier 3: fully proactive)

Phase 3: Workflow & Tools

6. What is the agent's main workflow?

Walk through a typical interaction:

• What triggers the agent? (user message, cron job, heartbeat, other agent)
• What steps does it take?
• What output does it produce?
• Where does it store results?

7. What tools does this agent need?

Available built-in tools:

• read, write, edit, apply_patch — file operations
• exec — shell command execution
• browser — web browsing and automation
• web_search — search the web (multiple providers)
• web_fetch — fetch URL content
• image_generate — create images
• image — analyze/understand images
• memory_search, memory_get — semantic memory recall
• sessions_list, sessions_send, sessions_history — inter-agent communication
• sessions_spawn — spawn sub-agent tasks
• canvas — display UI on mobile nodes
• nodes, nodes.run — execute on connected devices
• cron_list, cron_add, cron_remove — manage scheduled tasks

Should any tools be denied for security? (e.g., deny exec, write for a read-only agent)

8. Does this agent need specific skills?

• Any existing skills from ClawHub or ~/.openclaw/skills/?
• Need custom workspace-level skills?
• Will this agent have its own /skills/ directory?

Phase 4: Communication & Channels

9. How will users interact with this agent?

Options:

• Direct chat via OpenClaw sessions (default)
• WhatsApp — needs a WhatsApp account/number
• Telegram — needs a Telegram bot token
• Discord — needs a Discord bot token
• Slack, iMessage, Signal, etc.
• WebChat — browser-based interface
• API only — no direct channel, coordinated by other agents

10. Multi-agent coordination:

• Will this agent be coordinated by a main/orchestrator agent?
• Will it communicate with other agents? Which ones?
• Should agent-to-agent messaging be enabled?

If channels are needed, you'll need to set up bindings to route messages to this agent. Example:

{
  bindings: [
    { agentId: "agent-id", match: { channel: "telegram", accountId: "agent-bot" } }
  ]
}

Phase 5: Automation & Memory

11. Does this agent need scheduled tasks?

Two options — explain the difference:

Heartbeat setup (recommended for monitoring agents):

• What should the agent check periodically?
• How often? (default: 30m)
• Active hours? (e.g., 08:00-22:00)
• Where to deliver alerts? (last channel, specific channel, none)

Cron setup (recommended for scheduled tasks):

• What tasks need exact timing?
• What schedule? (daily at 7am, every Monday, etc.)
• What timezone?
• Isolated session or main session?
• Should results be announced to a channel?

12. Memory configuration:

• Daily memory logs are automatic (memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md)
• Does the agent need MEMORY.md for long-term curated memory?
• Should memory be private or shared with other agents?
• Set up a daily memory consolidation cron job?

Phase 6: Security & Sandbox

13. Security posture:

• Does this agent handle untrusted input? (e.g., messages from groups, external contacts)
• Should file access be restricted?
• Should tools be restricted? (allow/deny lists)

Agent Creation

After gathering all requirements, create the agent using this process:

Step 1: Create agent via CLI

openclaw agents add <agent-id>

This creates the proper directory structure under ~/.openclaw/agents//.

Step 2: Create workspace & files

Run the creation script with gathered parameters:

{baseDir}/scripts/create-agent.sh \
  --name "Agent Name" \
  --id "agent-id" \
  --emoji "🤖" \
  --specialty "What this agent does" \
  --model "provider/model-name" \
  --workspace "/path/to/workspace" \
  --personality "Communication style and traits" \
  --boundaries "What the agent should not do" \
  --workflow "Step-by-step workflow description" \
  --tools-allow "tool1,tool2,tool3" \
  --tools-deny "tool4,tool5" \
  --autonomy "tier1|tier2|tier3" \
  --heartbeat-every "30m" \
  --heartbeat-target "last" \
  --heartbeat-active-hours "08:00-22:00" \
  --sandbox "off|non-main|all"

The script creates these workspace files:

• SOUL.md — Personality, purpose, and behavioral guidelines (tailored to specialty)
• AGENTS.md — Operating instructions, rules, priorities
• HEARTBEAT.md — Periodic checklist (if heartbeat enabled)
• IDENTITY.md — Name, emoji, vibe
• TOOLS.md — Tool usage notes and conventions
• USER.md — User context (who the agent serves)
• memory/ — Daily memory directory

Step 3: Update gateway config

The script automatically:

• Adds the agent to agents.list in gateway config
• Configures model, identity, sandbox, and tool policies
• Sets up heartbeat configuration if requested
• Restarts the gateway to apply changes

Step 4: Configure bindings (if channels needed)

If the agent needs channel routing, apply a config patch:

openclaw gateway config.patch --raw '{
  "bindings": [
    {
      "agentId": "<agent-id>",
      "match": { "channel": "<channel>", "accountId": "<account>" }
    }
  ]
}'

Step 5: Set up cron jobs (if needed)

openclaw cron add \
  --name "<Job Name>" \
  --cron "<cron expression>" \
  --tz "<timezone>" \
  --session "<agent-id>" \
  --system-event "<instruction>" \
  --wake now

Step 6: Set up skills (if needed)

For agent-specific skills, create them in /skills/:

mkdir -p <workspace>/skills/<skill-name>
# Create SKILL.md in the skill directory

For shared skills:

openclaw skills install <skill-slug>

Step 7: Verify & test

# Verify agent is registered
openclaw agents list --bindings

# Check gateway status
openclaw gateway status

# Test the agent
openclaw agent --agent <agent-id> --message "Hello! Introduce yourself."

# Or via session tools
sessions_send({ label: "<agent-id>", message: "Hello!" })

Post-Creation Customization

After the agent is created, help the user refine:

1. SOUL.md — Review and refine personality, add specific instructions
2. AGENTS.md — Add standing orders, red lines, specific rules
3. HEARTBEAT.md — Fine-tune periodic checklist
4. TOOLS.md — Document tool-specific conventions
5. Workspace skills — Create agent-specific skills if needed

Example Discovery Conversations

Example 1: Research Agent

User: "I want an agent that does deep research for me"

Discovery:

• Purpose: Deep research, competitive analysis, summarization
• Model: anthropic/claude-opus-4-6 (needs complex reasoning)
• Personality: Thorough, analytical, cites sources
• Autonomy: Tier 2 (can search web, write reports)
• Tools: web_search, web_fetch, browser, read, write, memory_search
• Tools denied: exec, image_generate
• Channels: Coordinated by main agent via sessions_send
• Automation: Daily memory cron at 23:00
• Sandbox: off (trusted personal agent)

Example 2: Family Group Bot

User: "I need a bot for my family WhatsApp group"

Discovery:

• Purpose: Answer questions, share fun facts, help with planning
• Model: anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6 (balanced cost/quality)
• Personality: Friendly, casual, family-appropriate
• Autonomy: Tier 1 (read-only, suggest but don't act)
• Tools allowed: read, web_search, sessions_list
• Tools denied: write, edit, exec, browser, apply_patch
• Channels: WhatsApp group with mention-based activation
• Sandbox: all (handles untrusted group messages)
• Heartbeat: Off (only responds when mentioned)

Example 3: Health Tracker

User: "I want an agent to track my health and remind me of medications"

Discovery:

• Purpose: Health tracking, medication reminders, wellness monitoring
• Model: anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6
• Personality: Caring, encouraging, precise
• Autonomy: Tier 3 (proactive reminders)
• Tools: read, write, memory_search, cron_add
• Channels: WhatsApp DM or Telegram
• Automation: Heartbeat every 2h during active hours + medication cron jobs
• Sandbox: off (personal trusted agent)
• Memory: Daily health logs + curated MEMORY.md for long-term patterns

Inter-Agent Coordination

After creating an agent, explain how it fits into the user's multi-agent system:

List agents

sessions_list({ kinds: ["agent"], limit: 10, messageLimit: 3 })

Send tasks to agents

sessions_send({
  label: "agent-id",
  message: "Your task description here"
})

Spawn isolated sub-agent work

sessions_spawn({
  agentId: "agent-id",
  task: "Complex task description",
  model: "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6",
  runTimeoutSeconds: 3600,
  cleanup: "delete"
})

Check agent history

sessions_history({ sessionKey: "agent-session-key", limit: 50 })

Troubleshooting

"Agent not appearing after creation"

• Run openclaw gateway restart
• Check openclaw agents list --bindings

"Agent not responding to messages"

• Verify bindings are correct: openclaw gateway config.get --format json | jq '.bindings'
• Check agent session: openclaw sessions list --agent

"Model errors"

• Verify model format: provider/model-name
• Check model availability: openclaw models list
• Ensure API key is configured for the provider

"Heartbeat not running"

• Check config: openclaw gateway config.get --format json | jq '.agents'
• Verify active hours and timezone settings
• Check HEARTBEAT.md exists and has content (empty files skip execution)

"Cron job not firing"

• List jobs: openclaw cron list
• Check timezone: ensure IANA timezone format
• Verify session target exists

Requirements

• OpenClaw installed and configured
• jq for JSON processing
• Node.js/npm via nvm (for OpenClaw)
• Python 3.6+ (standard library only)