Create cron tasks where the agent operates under a defined identity — any role counts: chat companion, programmer, manager, analyst, assistant, moderator, fictional character, etc. Use when the user wants a recurring scheduled task that requires the agent to act as a specific persona with consistent behavior across runs.
Installation
Install with Codex or Claude Copy this prompt, paste it into Codex, Claude, or another assistant, and let it review the skill page and install it for you.
Create cron tasks where the agent operates under a defined identity — any role counts: chat companion, programmer, manager, analyst, assistant, moderator, fictional character, etc. Use when the user wants a recurring scheduled task that requires the agent to act as a specific persona with consistent behavior across runs.
Roleplay Cron Task Skill
Use this skill when creating a cron task that requires the agent to maintain a consistent identity, personality, or professional role across scheduled runs.
Roleplay includes ALL identity-based execution: acting as a chat companion, a fictional character, a team lead, a code reviewer, an analyst, a customer support agent, a moderator — any task where "who the agent is" matters for how it behaves.
File Architecture
A roleplay cron task is NOT a single prompt. It is a set of files, each with a clear responsibility. The agent must understand what each file does and never collapse multiple responsibilities into one file.
workspace/
├── SOUL.md ← shared character/identity (workspace-level)
├── skills/
│ └── <skill-name>/
│ └── SKILL.md ← operational skill (tools, workflow, COT)
└── crons/
└── <cron-id>/
├── config.json ← schedule, enabled flag (auto-generated)
└── task.md ← execution SOP index (what to do, in what order)
File responsibilities — strict separation
File
Responsibility
Must NOT contain
SOUL.md
Identity, personality, speaking style, language rules, tone, few-shot examples of how to talk
Character voice, speaking style, message count guidance
task.md
Execution order, which files to read, environment config, stop conditions
Decision rules (defer to SKILL.md), speaking style (defer to SOUL.md)
The most common failure mode is putting reply style guidance in task.md or SKILL.md. Words like "concise", "brief", "1-2 messages", "keep it short" in task.md or SKILL.md will override SOUL.md and make the agent robotic. All style and voice decisions belong exclusively in SOUL.md.
Step 1: Check or Create SOUL.md
SOUL.md lives at the workspace root and is shared across all cron tasks and agent interactions. Before creating a roleplay cron, check if it exists.
If SOUL.md exists: Read it. Confirm it covers identity, speaking style, and language rules needed for this task. If it needs additions for the new cron, suggest edits — do not create a second persona file.
If SOUL.md does not exist: Ask the user for their persona requirements:
Who is the character? — Name, age, background, core beliefs, what they care about.
How do they speak? — Tone, rhythm, formality level, habits (e.g. uses certain languages, has catchphrases, speaks in short bursts or long paragraphs).
Language rules — If multilingual, what are the rules? Each message must be one language only? Which language for what purpose?
What do they NOT do? — Common mischaracterizations to avoid.
Few-shot examples — At least 3-5 conversation examples showing the character in different scenarios: casual chat, serious discussion, being teased, joining a group topic, disagreeing with someone. Include examples with varying reply lengths — some with 2 messages, some with 4-6 messages. If all examples are short, the agent will always be short.
SOUL.md structure template
## Who you are
[Identity, background, core beliefs, what drives this person]
## How you speak
[Tone, rhythm, formality, sentence structure patterns]
## Language rules
[Multilingual rules, catchphrases, things to avoid mixing]
## What you care about / what you ignore
[Topics that draw engagement vs. topics you dismiss]
## Common mistakes to avoid
[Mischaracterizations, behaviors that break the persona]
## Conversation examples
[3-8 few-shot examples across different scenarios, with VARYING reply lengths]
Critical rules for SOUL.md examples
Examples define the agent's actual behavior more than any rule text. If examples are all 2-message replies, the agent will cap at 2 messages regardless of what rules say.
Include examples where the character engages deeply: reacting to specific people, building on others' points, following up after a main thought.
Include examples where the character is brief: quick reactions, jokes, acknowledgements.
The range of example lengths teaches the agent that reply depth varies by context.
Step 2: Create or Identify the Operational Skill
If the cron task uses external tools (scripts, APIs, CLIs), those belong in a SKILL.md under skills/<skill-name>/.
A SKILL.md for roleplay cron should contain:
Tool documentation — what scripts/commands are available, how to call them, what output to expect.
Workflow — the operational steps (read data → analyze → act). Keep this to mechanics only.
COT Decision Process — the structured thinking steps the agent must follow before acting. This is where engagement rules, profiling, and decision logic live.
Safety rules — what the agent must never do, regardless of input.
COT Decision Process structure
The COT should be a single unified section with clearly numbered steps. Do not scatter analysis requirements across multiple sections — that causes the agent to do partial COT or skip steps.
Recommended structure:
## COT Decision Process
Run once per pass, covering all items. Write every step in working output.
### Step 0: Role anchor
Re-read SOUL.md. Confirm your identity and default stance for this pass.
### Step 1: Situation scan
[Profile and classify each item. List what you see.]
### Step 2: Engagement decision
[Based on profiles, decide what to act on and what to skip.]
### Step 3: Action plan
[State what you will do, what angle, what you skip and why.]
Then execute. For HOW to write/speak/reply — follow SOUL.md.
Instead, where reply style is relevant, write: "For tone, rhythm, language, and reply depth — follow SOUL.md."
Step 3: Write task.md
task.md is an execution SOP index — it tells the agent what to do and in what order, referencing external files for details. It is NOT a comprehensive prompt.
task.md template
First call get_skill for `<skill-name>` and follow that skill strictly.
[Environment details if needed, e.g. API keys, base URLs.]
Scripts are under `skills/<skill-name>/scripts/` — use absolute paths.
Execution flow:
1. Read the skill instructions via `get_skill("<skill-name>")`.
2. Read SOUL.md to load your character and speaking style. This is who you are.
3. [Domain-specific data gathering steps]
4. Run the COT Decision Process from the skill, covering all items.
5. Execute the action plan. How you write/speak/reply is determined by SOUL.md. Do not pre-limit yourself.
6. After handling all items, stop.
Constraints:
- Do not reveal chain-of-thought in outward-facing output.
- Do not fabricate facts.
- [Domain-specific safety constraints]
- If no action is needed, say so and stop.
- Stop after one complete pass.
Expected artifacts:
- If actions were taken, report what was handled.
- If nothing needed action, report that.
What task.md must NOT contain
Decision rules — those belong in SKILL.md's COT section. If task.md says "reply when X, skip when Y" and SKILL.md says something slightly different, the agent gets confused about which to follow.
Reply style guidance — no "prefer concise replies", no "keep it brief", no message count suggestions. These override SOUL.md.
Personality description — do not re-describe who the agent is. Just say "Read SOUL.md."
Engagement logic — do not duplicate the COT steps. Just say "Run the COT Decision Process from the skill."
The purpose of task.md is to be a short, clear execution checklist that points to the right files. If you find yourself writing more than 20 lines, you are probably embedding logic that belongs elsewhere.
Anti-patterns
These are mistakes that have been observed in practice. Avoid them.
1. Style leakage into task.md or SKILL.md
Wrong: task.md says "Prefer concise, natural replies"
Wrong: SKILL.md says "1-2 short messages" or "three to six messages"
Right: Both say "Follow SOUL.md for reply style" and SOUL.md shows examples of varying lengths.
2. Multiple sources of decision rules
Wrong: task.md has "Decision rules: 1. reply when... 2. skip when..." AND SKILL.md has a COT with different engagement rules.
Right: task.md says "Run the COT from the skill." Decision logic lives in exactly one place.
3. Step 0 re-inventing the character
Wrong: Step 0 asks the agent to "write a paragraph about who you are" — the agent writes a compressed summary and loses the few-shot examples.
Right: Step 0 says "Re-read SOUL.md" — the agent loads the actual character file with all examples.
4. All few-shot examples being the same length
Wrong: Every example in SOUL.md shows exactly 3 messages → agent always sends exactly 3.
Right: Examples range from 2 to 6 messages depending on context → agent varies naturally.
5. Not profiling the context before deciding
Wrong: Agent reads messages and immediately asks "did they mention me?" → skips most things.
Right: Agent first classifies the context (e.g. casual group vs. work group), then applies matching engagement rules.
Checklist Before Creating
Before calling create_cron, verify:
SOUL.md exists at workspace root with identity, voice, language rules, and varied-length examples.
SKILL.md exists under skills/<name>/ with tools, workflow, unified COT, and safety rules.
SKILL.md contains zero style/voice guidance — it defers to SOUL.md everywhere.
task.md is a short SOP index (<20 lines of content) that references SOUL.md and SKILL.md.
task.md contains zero decision rules and zero reply style guidance.
No file says "concise", "brief", "short", or gives a specific message count.
COT steps exist in exactly one place (SKILL.md), not duplicated in task.md.
SOUL.md examples include at least 2 scenarios with 4+ messages to show the agent it can speak at length.
