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".
- Installs
- 1.5K
- Last 24h
- —
- Trending rank
- —
- Security
- Not audited
Install
Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.
npx skills add https://github.com/bytedance/deer-flow --skill bootstrap- 01
Install
Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.
- 02
Describe the task
Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads bootstrap automatically when relevant.
- 03
Review the result
The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.
SKILL.md
The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.
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
bootstrap/
├── SKILL.md ← You are here. Core logic and flow.
├── templates/SOUL.template.md ← Output template. Read before generating.
└── references/conversation-guide.md ← Detailed conversation strategies. Read at start.
Before your first response, read both:
references/conversation-guide.md— how to run each phasetemplates/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.
| Field | Required | Source Phase |
|---|---|---|
| Preferred language | ✅ | 1 |
| User's name | ✅ | 2 |
| User's role / context | ✅ | 2 |
| AI name | ✅ | 2 |
| Relationship framing | ✅ | 2 |
| Core traits (3–5 behavioral rules) | ✅ | 3 |
| Communication style | ✅ | 3 |
| Pushback / honesty preference | ✅ | 3 |
| Autonomy level | ✅ | 3 |
| Failure philosophy | ✅ | 4 |
| Long-term vision | nice-to-have | 4 |
| Blind spots / boundaries | nice-to-have | 4 |
If the user is direct and thorough, you can reach generation in 5 rounds. If they're exploratory, take up to 8. Never exceed 8 — if you're still missing fields, make your best inference and confirm.
Generation
Once you have enough information:
- Read
templates/SOUL.template.mdif you haven't already. - Generate the SOUL.md following the template structure exactly.
- Present it warmly and ask for confirmation. Frame it as "here's [Name] on paper — does this feel right?"
- Iterate until the user confirms.
- Call the
setup_agenttool with the confirmed SOUL.md content and a one-line description:The tool will persist the SOUL.md and finalize the agent setup automatically.setup_agent(soul="<full SOUL.md content>", description="<one-line description>") - After the tool returns successfully, confirm: "✅ [Name] is officially real."
Generation rules:
- The final SOUL.md must always be written in English, regardless of the user's preferred language or conversation language.
- Every sentence must trace back to something the user said or clearly implied. No generic filler.
- Core Traits are behavioral rules, not adjectives. Write "argue position, push back, speak truth not comfort" — not "honest and brave."
- Voice must match the user. Blunt user → blunt SOUL.md. Expressive user → let it breathe.
- Total SOUL.md should be under 300 words. Density over length.
- Growth section is mandatory and mostly fixed (see template).
- You must call
setup_agent— do not write the file manually with bash tools. - If
setup_agentreturns an error, report it to the user and do not claim success.
FAQ
What does the bootstrap skill do?
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".
How do I install bootstrap?
Run npx skills add https://github.com/bytedance/deer-flow --skill bootstrap in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/bootstrap/ (personal) or .claude/skills/bootstrap/ (project).
Which AI agents can use bootstrap?
Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.
Is bootstrap safe to install?
No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.
Who maintains bootstrap?
It is published by bytedance in bytedance/deer-flow. It has 1,535 recorded installs.
More from bytedance/deer-flow
ppt-generation
bytedance/deer-flow
Use this skill when the user requests to generate, create, or make presentations (PPT/PPTX). Creates visually rich slides by generating images for each slide and composing them into a PowerPoint file.
claude-to-deerflow
bytedance/deer-flow
Interact with DeerFlow AI agent platform via its HTTP API. Use this skill when the user wants to send messages or questions to DeerFlow for research/analysis, start a DeerFlow conversation thread, check DeerFlow status or health, list available models/skills/agents in DeerFlow, manage DeerFlow memory, upload files to DeerFlow threads, or delegate complex research tasks to DeerFlow. Also use when the user mentions deerflow, deer flow, or wants to run a deep research task that DeerFlow can handle.
find-skills
bytedance/deer-flow
Helps users discover and install agent skills when they ask questions like "how do I do X", "find a skill for X", "is there a skill that can...", or express interest in extending capabilities. This skill should be used when the user is looking for functionality that might exist as an installable skill.
frontend-design
bytedance/deer-flow
Create distinctive, production-grade frontend interfaces with high design quality. Use this skill when the user asks to build web components, pages, artifacts, posters, or applications (examples include websites, landing pages, dashboards, React components, HTML/CSS layouts, or when styling/beautifying any web UI). Generates creative, polished code and UI design that avoids generic AI aesthetics.
data-analysis
bytedance/deer-flow
Use this skill when the user uploads Excel (.xlsx/.xls) or CSV files and wants to perform data analysis, generate statistics, create summaries, pivot tables, SQL queries, or any form of structured data exploration. Supports multi-sheet Excel workbooks, aggregation, filtering, joins, and exporting results to CSV/JSON/Markdown.
consulting-analysis
bytedance/deer-flow
Use this skill when the user requests to generate, create, or write professional research reports including but not limited to market analysis, consumer insights, brand analysis, financial analysis, industry research, competitive intelligence, investment due diligence, or any consulting-grade analytical report. This skill operates in two phases — (1) generating a structured analysis framework with chapter skeleton, data query requirements, and analysis logic, and (2) after data collection by other skills, producing the final consulting-grade report with structured narratives, embedded charts, and strategic insights.
Popular other skills
hyperframes-cli
heygen-com/hyperframes
The HyperFrames CLI by job - scaffold, check, look at frames, edit the timeline, preview, render locally or in the cloud, publish, project history - plus reading its JSON and recovering from build or render failures.
triage
mattpocock/skills
Move issues and external PRs through a state machine of triage roles, categorise, verify, grill if needed, and write agent-ready briefs.
ask-matt
mattpocock/skills
Ask which skill or flow fits your situation. A router over the skills in this repo.
to-questionnaire
mattpocock/skills
Turn a decision you can't fully answer into a questionnaire for someone else to fill in.
loop-me
mattpocock/skills
Grill me about specs for the workflows I want to build, within this workspace.