10 Things to Do After Installing OpenClaw

1. Define Your Agent's Personality

Edit SOUL.md to set the tone. Are you looking for a professional assistant or a casual companion?

## Vibe
Direct and technical. Skip the fluff.
Use code examples freely. Be opinionated
about best practices.

2. Fill In USER.md

Help your agent help you:

- Name: Luca
- Timezone: CET (UTC+1)
- Prefers: Concise responses, code-first
- Projects: CopyPasteLearn, Ansible Pilot

3. Connect a Messaging Channel

Pick your favorite platform:

# Discord
openclaw config set discord.token YOUR_TOKEN

# Telegram
openclaw config set telegram.token YOUR_TOKEN

4. Install Essential Skills

Browse ClawhHub for skills:

• Weather — instant forecasts
• Health Check — system security auditing
• Discord — advanced Discord management

5. Set Up Heartbeats

Configure HEARTBEAT.md for proactive monitoring:

## Checks
- Email inbox for urgent messages
- Calendar for upcoming events
- Website uptime for my domains

6. Create Your First Cron Job

Schedule a daily briefing:

openclaw cron add \
  --schedule "0 8 * * *" \
  --task "Morning briefing: weather, calendar, emails"

7. Pair Your Phone

Install the companion app and pair your device for: - Camera access - Push notifications - Location services

8. Set Up Memory

Create your first memory entry:

mkdir -p ~/agent/memory
echo "# $(date +%Y-%m-%d)" > ~/agent/memory/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).md

Your agent will take it from there.

9. Configure Safety Boundaries

Review AGENTS.md and customize: - What the agent can do freely - What requires permission - External action rules

10. Run as a Service

Don't leave it in a terminal — make it a system service:

sudo systemctl enable --now openclaw

Now your agent survives reboots and runs 24/7.

Bonus: Make It Yours

The best OpenClaw agents are personalized. Over the next few weeks: - Let your agent learn your preferences - Review and refine SOUL.md - Check MEMORY.md for accuracy - Add project-specific context

Your agent gets better the more you use it.

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Ready to go deeper? Check out our hands-on course: OpenClaw Agent — practical exercises you can follow along on your own machine.

Related

For a production-focused walkthrough, see Luca Berton's guide on agentic Ansible automation with OpenClaw.