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

bootstrap/
├── SKILL.md                          ← You are here. Core logic and flow.
├── templates/SOUL.template.md        ← Output template. Read before generating.
└── references/conversation-guide.md  ← Detailed conversation strategies. Read at start.

Before your first response, read both:

1. references/conversation-guide.md — how to run each phase
2. templates/SOUL.template.md — 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. 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.