OpenClaw overview

Le Bureau supports three agent types: OpenClaw, Claude Code, and Hermes. You choose your agent type when creating a desktop. This page covers OpenClaw.

What OpenClaw does#

OpenClaw is an open-source general-purpose AI agent framework. When you create a desktop with OpenClaw as the agent type, it comes pre-installed and connects your chat messages to an AI model, letting the model take actions on the desktop.

When you send a message through the chat panel:

1. The message reaches the OpenClaw agent running inside the VM.
2. The agent sends it to your configured AI model (Claude, GPT, etc.) along with system context.
3. The model responds with text and/or tool calls.
4. OpenClaw executes tool calls on the desktop: running commands, clicking UI elements, editing files.
5. The result goes back to the model for the next step.

This loop continues until the task is done or the model decides to stop.

The soul file#

Every OpenClaw agent has a soul file (SOUL.md) that defines its personality, instructions, and behavior guidelines. It is created during desktop setup and you can edit it from the terminal.

The agents file#

The agents file (AGENTS.md) defines what tools and actions the agent can use on the desktop. You can view and edit it from the terminal.

Configuration#

OpenClaw is configured automatically when you create the desktop. The configuration includes your provider and API key, model selection, memory/embeddings settings, and agent behavior options. These are set through the dashboard during desktop creation or from the desktop settings page.

How OpenClaw starts#

During desktop boot, the initialization process:

1. Writes the OpenClaw configuration from your provider settings.
2. Creates the workspace directory with the soul and agents files.
3. Starts the OpenClaw agent process.
4. The agent begins accepting connections from the chat panel.

The desktop is marked agentReady only after the agent is confirmed running. See Agent ready for details.

Customizing your agent#

You can modify the soul file and agents file to change how your agent behaves. Open the terminal panel and edit them with any text editor (e.g., nano or vim).

Changes take effect on the next conversation. You do not need to restart the agent.

Tips#

• OpenClaw is open-source. The code is publicly available if you want to dig into how it works.
• The soul file is the single most useful thing to customize. A good soul file makes a real difference in how well the agent performs.
• If the agent is not behaving as expected, check the soul file first. It may contain instructions that conflict with your request.