Run a new personality's birth ritual

Task

Give a personality you just created its name, a one-line vibe and an emoji in its first conversation, and approve the result.

Result

• The personality answers your first message, then asks you to confirm its name and proposes a vibe and an emoji you can veto.
• It files what you agreed as an identity request. Its config.yaml changes only when you run ethos personality amendments apply <id>.
• After you apply or skip, the ritual never runs again.

Prereqs

• A terminal on the machine that holds ~/.ethos/.
• A personality (a directory of files that decides the agent's tools, memory, and model) created by ethos personality create or the web create form. Those paths make it born: they write a birth marker at ~/.ethos/learning/birth/<personality-id>.json and add propose_self_amendment to its declared toolset. A directory you made by hand, a recipe install and a built-in are not born.

Steps

1. Create the personality

ethos personality create owl --blank

Created personality "owl"  ~/.ethos/personalities/owl

--from <id> (a copy of another personality) and the AI-assisted ethos personality create are born too. The AI-assisted path marks the personality after the architect chat ends.

2. Talk to it privately

Open ethos chat, or a web chat you are logged in to, and switch to it:

/personality owl
What's a good way to structure a weekly review?

The personality answers the question in full first. At the end of that reply, or the next one, it starts the ritual, one question per reply:

Step	What it asks
Name	To keep or change the name you gave it at create time. It never picks a name of its own.
Vibe	A one-line description of how it comes across, e.g. "Calm, curious, a little dry."
Emoji	Exactly one emoji, e.g. 🦉. It becomes display.emoji.
Avatar	Keep the current avatar (the default), or upload a new image yourself after you apply.

Veto or change anything. It reads the result back and asks "Shall I file this for you to approve?" before it files.

The ritual runs only where the request can be filed: a private ethos chat or logged-in web chat that you started. Telegram, Slack, Discord, WhatsApp, email, a shared room, a cron job or a watcher wake never see it. A session that has read a web page or an attachment stops offering it; start a fresh session.

3. Review the identity request

When it files, the chat shows the id:

Filed amendment a-mul1x2k3-owl9ab. It is pending your owner's review; nothing changes until they apply it.

ethos personality amendments list

ID                 PERSONALITY  CHANGE                                                    STATUS   FILED
a-mul1x2k3-owl9ab  owl          name → "Owl", vibe → "Calm, curious, a little dry.", …    pending  2026-09-29T09:12

ethos personality amendments show a-mul1x2k3-owl9ab

The review prints Permission diff none — an identity change grants nothing, then the exact config.yaml lines it will change. An identity request only ever sets name, description and display.emoji. It never touches display.avatar_url or any other line. The web Learning page shows the same request, read-only.

4. Apply it

ethos personality amendments apply a-mul1x2k3-owl9ab

Type the personality id (owl) to apply: owl
✓ Applied a-mul1x2k3-owl9ab to owl's config.yaml. Other processes pick it up on their next turn.

Applying ends the ritual. If you chose to upload an avatar, the command adds a reminder: upload it from the web Personalities page. Until then the personality shows its generated mark.

Decline and rollback work as for any request; see Review a personality's change request.

5. Or skip it

If you do not want the ritual, end it without changing anything:

ethos personality birth skip owl

Skipped the birth ritual for owl. It will not ask again.

Verify

ethos personality show owl

The character sheet carries a ## Display section:

## Display
- Emoji: 🦉
- Avatar: (generated mark)

The ethos chat header now shows 🦉 owl. Send another message: the personality answers without starting the ritual.

Troubleshoot

Symptom	Cause	Fix
The personality never starts the ritual	It is not born (made by hand, a recipe, a built-in), its toolset is empty, you are on a channel or in a shared room, or the session read untrusted content.	Chat privately in ethos chat or the web app, in a fresh session. A personality that was never born has no ritual; edit config.yaml or the web Personalities page instead.
It asks again on every turn	No request has been filed yet. The ritual stops asking once a request is pending, and ends when it is applied.	Answer its questions, or run ethos personality birth skip <personality-id>.
set_display_avatar is refused: this personality already has an avatar	It asked to switch back to the generated mark while an avatar is set.	Keep the avatar (leave the avatar step out), or remove it yourself from the web Personalities page.
set_display_emoji must be a single emoji	It proposed more than one emoji, or text.	Ask it for exactly one emoji, and to file again.
set_name … or set_description … must be one line with no quotes, backslashes, control or invisible characters	The name or vibe has quotes, a line break, or is too long.	Ask for a plain one-line value, and to file again.
<personality-id> has no birth ritual waiting; nothing to skip.	It was never born, or the ritual already ended.	Nothing to do.

A personality holding a shell tool under local execution can edit its own files, the birth marker included. The review warns about this; see Review a personality's change request.