git:20260404.f8108b9 to git:20260416.c004262

---

namespace: aiwg

platforms: [all]

---

# soul-create

Generate a SOUL.md identity file from source material or interactive prompts.

## Triggers

Alternate expressions and non-obvious activations (primary phrases are matched automatically from the skill description):

- "SOUL.md" / "project identity" → project soul/identity definition

- "write the soul file" → soul document creation

## Behavior

When triggered, this skill generates a SOUL.md file following the community template structure. It can work from:

1. **Source material** — writing samples, blog posts, tweets, essays

2. **Interactive prompts** — guided questions to define identity

3. **Existing voice profile** — bridge from AIWG voice profile to SOUL.md

4. **Natural language description** — "a skeptical engineer who values simplicity"

### Generation Process

1. **Gather identity signals** from input:

- Worldview patterns (what does this person believe?)

- Opinion patterns (what specific takes emerge?)

- Vocabulary fingerprint (signature terms, avoided terms)

- Rhetorical style (how are arguments structured?)

- Boundaries (what does this person refuse to do?)

- Contradictions (where are they inconsistent?)

2. **Map to SOUL.md sections**:

| Section | Source Signal |

|---------|-------------|

| Who I Am | Self-description, background, context |

| Worldview | Recurring beliefs across samples |

| Opinions | Specific takes organized by domain |

| Interests | Topics that generate depth/enthusiasm |

| Current Focus | Active projects, recent themes |

| Influences | Referenced thinkers, cited works |

| Vocabulary | Terms with specific personal meanings |

| Tensions | Contradictory beliefs (a feature, not a bug) |

| Boundaries | What triggers refusal or pushback |

| Pet Peeves | What generates strong negative reactions |

3. **Validate quality**:

- Opinions must be specific enough to be falsifiable

- Vocabulary section must have actual terms, not categories

- Boundaries must be concrete, not platitudes

- Result should pass the prediction test: "could someone predict takes on new topics from this file?"

4. **Output** a complete SOUL.md file

### Output Location

- Default: `./SOUL.md` (project root)

- Alternative: `./.aiwg/SOUL.md`

- Per-agent: `./.claude/agents/<name>.soul.md`

### Context Budget

Generated SOUL.md should target:

- Project soul: <5K tokens (~3,750 words)

- Agent soul: <2K tokens (~1,500 words)

## Usage Examples

### From Natural Language Description

```

User: "Create a soul for a senior engineer who is skeptical of frameworks,

values simplicity, thinks most best practices are cargo cult, and has strong

opinions about testing"

Output: SOUL.md with:

- Worldview: simplicity > cleverness, question defaults

- Opinions: specific takes on testing, frameworks, complexity

- Vocabulary: "accidental complexity", "cargo cult", "yak shaving"

- Boundaries: won't add abstraction without clear benefit

- Pet Peeves: "enterprise architecture", unnecessary indirection

```

### From Existing Voice Profile

```

User: "Create a soul from our technical-authority voice profile"

Process:

1. Read voice-framework/voices/templates/technical-authority.yaml

2. Extract tone dimensions, vocabulary, perspective

3. Expand into full identity (voice → who generates that voice)

4. Generate complementary sections (worldview, opinions, boundaries)

Output: SOUL.md that produces content matching the voice profile

```

### From Writing Samples

```

User: "Build a soul from these blog posts: ./samples/*.md"

Process:

1. Analyze writing patterns across samples

2. Extract recurring themes, opinions, vocabulary

3. Identify contradictions and tensions

4. Map to SOUL.md sections

5. Generate calibration examples (good-outputs.md)

Output: SOUL.md + examples/good-outputs.md

```

### Interactive Mode

```

User: "Create a soul interactively"

Questions:

Q1: What's your background? What shaped your thinking?

Q2: What do you believe that most people disagree with?

Q3: What are your strongest opinions in your domain?

Q4: What terms do you use in specific ways?

Q5: Where are you contradictory or inconsistent?

Q6: What will you never do or say?

Q7: What triggers your pushback?

Q8: Who influenced your thinking, and what did you take from each?

```

## Integration

### Voice Framework Bridge

If a voice profile exists for the same context, this skill:

- Uses voice dimensions as initial calibration

- Ensures SOUL.md and voice profile are complementary

- Offers to generate a compatible voice profile if none exists

### After Creation

After generating SOUL.md, prompt:

```

SOUL.md created at ./SOUL.md (~2,400 tokens)

Next steps:

/soul-validate Check quality against best practices

/soul-enable Wire into session context

/soul-enhance Improve vague sections (future)

```

## References

- @$AIWG_ROOT/agentic/code/addons/voice-framework/skills/voice-create/SKILL.md — Voice creation (parallel pattern)

- @$AIWG_ROOT/agentic/code/addons/aiwg-utils/commands/soul-enable.md — Enable enforcement

- @$AIWG_ROOT/docs/soul-md-guide.md — SOUL.md integration guide

- #437 — SOUL.md compatibility issue