clawdbot/docs/concepts/system-prompt.md

summary, read_when

summary	read_when
What the Clawdbot system prompt contains and how it is assembled	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).
• Workspace Files (injected): indicates bootstrap files are included below.
• Sandbox (when enabled): indicates sandboxed runtime, sandbox paths, and whether elevated bash is available.
• Time: UTC default + the user’s local time (already converted).
• Reply Tags: optional reply tag syntax for supported providers.
• Heartbeats: heartbeat prompt and ack behavior.
• Runtime: host, OS, node, model, thinking level (one line).
• Reasoning: current visibility level + /reasoning toggle hint.

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. Missing files inject a short missing-file marker.

Time handling

The Time line is compact and explicit:

• Assume timestamps are UTC unless stated.
• The listed user time is already converted to agents.defaults.userTimezone (if set).

Use agents.defaults.userTimezone in ~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json to change the user time zone.

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.