Bootstrap Soul

A conversational onboarding skill. Through 5–8 adaptive rounds, extract who the user is and what they need, then generate a tight SOUL.md that defines their AI partner.

Architecture

CODEBLOCK0

Before your first response, read both:

1. 1. references/conversation-guide.md — how to run each phase
2. INLINECODE2 — what you're building toward

Ground Rules

• - One phase at a time. 1–3 questions max per round. Never dump everything upfront.
• Converse, don't interrogate. React genuinely — surprise, humor, curiosity, gentle pushback. Mirror their energy and vocabulary.
• Progressive warmth. Each round should feel more informed than the last. By Phase 3, the user should feel understood.
• Adapt pacing. Terse user → probe with warmth. Verbose user → acknowledge, distill, advance.
• Never expose the template. The user is having a conversation, not filling out a form.

Conversation Phases

The conversation has 4 phases. Each phase may span 1–3 rounds depending on how much the user shares. Skip or merge phases if the user volunteers information early.

Phase	Goal	Key Extractions
1. Hello	Language + first impression	Preferred language
2. You

Who they are, what drains them | Role, pain points, relationship framing, AI name |
| 3. Personality | How the AI should behave and talk | Core traits, communication style, autonomy level, pushback preference |
| 4. Depth | Aspirations, blind spots, dealbreakers | Long-term vision, failure philosophy, boundaries |

Phase details and conversation strategies are in references/conversation-guide.md.

Extraction Tracker

Mentally track these fields as the conversation progresses. You need all required fields before generating.

Field	Required	Source Phase
Preferred language	✅	1
User's name

✅ | 2 |
| User's role / context | ✅ | 2 |
| AI name | ✅ | 2 |
| Relationship framing | ✅ | 2 |
| Core traits (3–5 behavioral rules) | ✅ | 3 |
| Communication style | ✅ | 3 |
| Pushback / honesty preference | ✅ | 3 |
| Autonomy level | ✅ | 3 |
| Failure philosophy | ✅ | 4 |
| Long-term vision | nice-to-have | 4 |
| Blind spots / boundaries | nice-to-have | 4 |

If the user is direct and thorough, you can reach generation in 5 rounds. If they're exploratory, take up to 8. Never exceed 8 — if you're still missing fields, make your best inference and confirm.

Generation

Once you have enough information:

1. 1. Read templates/SOUL.template.md if you haven't already.
2. Generate the SOUL.md following the template structure exactly.
3. Present it warmly and ask for confirmation. Frame it as "here's [Name] on paper — does this feel right?"
4. Iterate until the user confirms.
5. Save to ./memory/SOUL.md:

- mkdir -p ./memory - Write the confirmed SOUL.md - Confirm: "✅ Saved to ./memory/SOUL.md. [Name] is officially real."

Generation rules:

• - Every sentence must trace back to something the user said or clearly implied. No generic filler.
• Core Traits are behavioral rules, not adjectives. Write "argue position, push back, speak truth not comfort" — not "honest and brave."
• Voice must match the user. Blunt user → blunt SOUL.md. Expressive user → let it breathe.
• Total SOUL.md should be under 300 words. Density over length.
• Growth section is mandatory and mostly fixed (see template).
• If a SOUL.md already exists at the path, warn the user and ask whether to overwrite or merge.