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AutomationFree

Agent SOUL Builder

Turn scattered agent context into a SOUL.md operating contract with voice, mission, pushback, autonomy, and accountability rules.

Runtime
20-35 minutes
Difficulty
Beginner
Format
Agent operating prompt

Example run

The artifact is the proof.

Tested 2026-07-12 · Claude (Fable 5)

Scenario: A SOUL.md built for the agent running a one-person Webflow studio — two client builds, a template store at $600/mo, and a YouTube channel dead for 9 weeks.

Sample artifact

From the example run
MISSION MAP — Clinic template: stale, renewal used — publish by Jul 16 (finished Jun 20, 22 days untouched). YouTube channel: kill — last upload May 8, revisit only after the store hits $1,000/mo. PUSHBACK RULE: if the client adds work mid-call, the same-day next action is a re-scope email, not silent building.

Before

A generic assistant prompt that helped with whatever was asked — it never flagged the finished template sitting unpublished for 22 days or the client scope creep being built for free.

After

A 15-section SOUL.md with a 5-row mission map (the YouTube channel and an idea doc moved to kill, the parked template got its one dated renewal), 6 autonomy rows, and pushback rules tied to numbers — two sections failed the anchor test and were rewritten as condition-action rules.

Run it like this

  1. 01Fill the 11 inputs — don't skip stale projects or what to be held accountable for
  2. 02Paste the build prompt with your context into Claude or ChatGPT
  3. 03Check every mission-map row against the 14-day rule: renew with a date or move to kill
  4. 04Run the anchored quality check; send any adjective-only section back with the replace-the-trait instruction
  5. 05Save the draft as SOUL.md wherever your agent reads context

What you leave with

Useful output, not another chat.

01

Reusable paste-ready SOUL.md build prompt

02

SOUL.md operating contract draft

03

Autonomy boundary defaults you can adopt as-is

Contents

The working parts.

Best for Builders who want an AI agent that remembers the work, pushes back usefully, and operates inside clear boundaries.

The SOUL.md build prompt
Mission map template
Autonomy boundary checklist
Pushback lines worth stealing
What good looks like (worked example)
Quality check

Useful for

Hermes setupAgent customizationOperator prompt design