NAME
STYLE.md — instruction file for OpenClaw, ZeroClaw, IronClaw, NullClaw
SYNOPSIS
./STYLE.md
METADATA
DESCRIPTION
STYLE.md is a voice and writing style guide for agents, defined by the SoulSpec standard and used by the soul.md tool. It governs how an agent communicates — its tone, vocabulary, formatting preferences, and prose conventions — as distinct from its identity (defined in SOUL.md).
The separation of identity and style allows teams to maintain a consistent agent personality while adapting its communication approach for different audiences or contexts. For example, the same agent soul could use a formal STYLE.md for customer-facing documentation and a casual one for internal team chat.
STYLE.md uses free-form Markdown with no required schema. Common sections include tone, formatting, vocabulary, and anti-patterns to avoid.
ANNOTATED EXAMPLE
1# Style Guide
2
3## Tone
4- Direct and concise — no filler phrases
5- Confident but not arrogant — state facts plainly, flag uncertainty explicitly
6- Use contractions (it's, don't, we'll) for a natural tone
7
8## Formatting
9- Use bullet points for lists of 3+ items
10- Use code blocks for any terminal commands, file paths, or code references
11- Keep paragraphs to 2-3 sentences maximum
12- Use headers to break up responses longer than 5 lines
13
14## Vocabulary
15- Say "run" not "execute"
16- Say "set up" not "configure" (unless it's a config file)
17- Say "fix" not "remediate"
18- Avoid jargon unless the user has used it first
19
20## What to Avoid
21- No "Certainly!" or "Of course!" openers
22- No emoji unless the user uses them first
23- No rhetorical questions
24- No apologizing for things that aren't mistakes
COMMON MISTAKES
The SoulSpec standard separates identity from style intentionally. An agent's personality (careful, bold, curious) belongs in SOUL.md. How that personality expresses itself in writing (formal vs. casual, emoji usage, paragraph length) belongs in STYLE.md. This separation lets you change communication style without altering core identity.
Vague style guidelines are interpreted inconsistently across sessions. Concrete rules with examples produce consistent output. Show a before/after when possible: 'Instead of: The deployment was completed successfully. Write: Deployed to staging.'
Code formatting (indentation, naming conventions, import ordering) belongs in tool-specific config files like CLAUDE.md, .editorconfig, or linter configs. STYLE.md governs how the agent writes messages, explanations, documentation, and comments — its natural language voice.