Markdown Templates
Every OpenVesper agent is a directory of markdown files. No code, no compilation — just text the runtime reads.
Required files
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
| SOUL.md | Persona, voice, refusals |
| IDENTITY.md | Name, mode, icon, tags, version |
| USER.md | What the agent should know about you |
| TOOLS.md | Tool access policy |
| HEARTBEAT.md | Scheduled checklist (optional, disabled by default) |
| MEMORY.md | Durable notes |
| skills/<name>/SKILL.md | Specialized instruction sets |
Scaffolding
Generate all six files at once:
vesper agent create my-new-agentCreates ~/.openvesper/agents/my-new-agent/ with templates pre-filled.
Resolution order
For each file, the runtime first checks ~/.openvesper/agents/<mode>/. If the agent is installed there (i.e. SOUL.md exists), all files load from the user dir. Otherwise from .agents/<mode>/ (bundled).
This lets you fork a bundled agent without modifying the source — justvesper agent install <mode> first, then edit freely.