Agent skill · writing content · bytedance
bootstrap
Generate a personalized SOUL.md through a warm, adaptive onboarding conversation. Trigger when the user wants to create, set up, or initialize their AI partner's identity — e.g., "create my SOUL.md", "bootstrap my agent", "set up my AI partner", "define who you are", "let's do onboarding", "personalize this AI", "make you mine", or when a SOUL.md is missing. Also trigger for updates: "update my SOUL.md", "change my AI's personality", "tweak the soul".
Why this skill is useful
Adds a structured conversational framework and templates for generating personalized SOUL.md files that the AI cannot create on its own.
What it needs
About 3k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-07. 79,444 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
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 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. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills bytedance/bootstrap