openclaw/docs/concepts/system-prompt.md

---
summary: "What the Clawdbot system prompt contains and how it is assembled"
read_when:
  - Editing system prompt text, tools list, or time/heartbeat sections
  - Changing workspace bootstrap or skills injection behavior
---
# System Prompt

Clawdbot builds a custom system prompt for every agent run. The prompt is **Clawdbot-owned** and does not use the p-coding-agent default prompt.

The prompt is assembled by Clawdbot and injected into each agent run.

## Structure

The prompt is intentionally compact and uses fixed sections:

- **Tooling**: current tool list + short descriptions.
- **Skills** (when available): tells the model how to load skill instructions on demand.
- **Clawdbot Self-Update**: how to run `config.apply` and `update.run`.
- **Workspace**: working directory (`agents.defaults.workspace`).
- **Documentation**: local path to Clawdbot docs (repo or npm package) and when to read them.
- **Workspace Files (injected)**: indicates bootstrap files are included below.
- **Sandbox** (when enabled): indicates sandboxed runtime, sandbox paths, and whether elevated exec is available.
- **Current Date & Time**: user-local time, timezone, and time format.
- **Reply Tags**: optional reply tag syntax for supported providers.
- **Heartbeats**: heartbeat prompt and ack behavior.
- **Runtime**: host, OS, node, model, repo root (when detected), thinking level (one line).
- **Reasoning**: current visibility level + /reasoning toggle hint.

## Prompt modes

Clawdbot can render smaller system prompts for sub-agents. The runtime sets a
`promptMode` for each run (not a user-facing config):

- `full` (default): includes all sections above.
- `minimal`: used for sub-agents; omits **Skills**, **Memory Recall**, **Clawdbot
  Self-Update**, **Model Aliases**, **User Identity**, **Reply Tags**,
  **Messaging**, **Silent Replies**, and **Heartbeats**. Tooling, Workspace,
  Sandbox, Current Date & Time (when known), Runtime, and injected context stay
  available.
- `none`: returns only the base identity line.

When `promptMode=minimal`, extra injected prompts are labeled **Subagent
Context** instead of **Group Chat Context**.

## Workspace bootstrap injection

Bootstrap files are trimmed and appended under **Project Context** so the model sees identity and profile context without needing explicit reads:

- `AGENTS.md`
- `SOUL.md`
- `TOOLS.md`
- `IDENTITY.md`
- `USER.md`
- `HEARTBEAT.md`
- `BOOTSTRAP.md` (only on brand-new workspaces)

Large files are truncated with a marker. The max per-file size is controlled by
`agents.defaults.bootstrapMaxChars` (default: 20000). Missing files inject a
short missing-file marker.

Internal hooks can intercept this step via `agent:bootstrap` to mutate or replace
the injected bootstrap files (for example swapping `SOUL.md` for an alternate persona).

To inspect how much each injected file contributes (raw vs injected, truncation, plus tool schema overhead), use `/context list` or `/context detail`. See [Context](/concepts/context).

## Time handling

The system prompt includes a dedicated **Current Date & Time** section when the
user timezone is known. To keep the prompt cache-stable, it now only includes
the **time zone** (no dynamic clock or time format).

Use `session_status` when the agent needs the current time; the status card
includes a timestamp line.

Configure with:

- `agents.defaults.userTimezone`
- `agents.defaults.timeFormat` (`auto` | `12` | `24`)

See [Date & Time](/date-time) for full behavior details.

## Skills

When eligible skills exist, Clawdbot injects a compact **available skills list**
(`formatSkillsForPrompt`) that includes the **file path** for each skill. The
prompt instructs the model to use `read` to load the SKILL.md at the listed
location (workspace, managed, or bundled). If no skills are eligible, the
Skills section is omitted.

```
<available_skills>
  <skill>
    <name>...</name>
    <description>...</description>
    <location>...</location>
  </skill>
</available_skills>
```

This keeps the base prompt small while still enabling targeted skill usage.

## Documentation

When available, the system prompt includes a **Documentation** section that points to the
local Clawdbot docs directory (either `docs/` in the repo workspace or the bundled npm
package docs) and also notes the public mirror, source repo, community Discord, and
ClawdHub (https://clawdhub.com) for skills discovery. The prompt instructs the model to consult local docs first
for Clawdbot behavior, commands, configuration, or architecture, and to run
`clawdbot status` itself when possible (asking the user only when it lacks access).