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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.openclaw.ai/llms.txt Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Multi-Agent Routing

Goal: multiple isolated agents (separate workspace + agentDir + sessions), plus multiple channel accounts (e.g. two WhatsApps) in one running Gateway. Inbound is routed to an agent via bindings.

What is "one agent"?

An agent is a fully scoped brain with its own:

Workspace (files, AGENTS.md/SOUL.md/USER.md, local notes, persona rules).
State directory (agentDir) for auth profiles, model registry, and per-agent config.
Session store (chat history + routing state) under ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/sessions.

Auth profiles are per-agent. Each agent reads from its own:

~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/agent/auth-profiles.json

Main agent credentials are not shared automatically. Never reuse agentDir across agents (it causes auth/session collisions). If you want to share creds, copy auth-profiles.json into the other agent's agentDir.

Skills are per-agent via each workspace's skills/ folder, with shared skills available from ~/.openclaw/skills. See Skills: per-agent vs shared.

The Gateway can host one agent (default) or many agents side-by-side.

Workspace note: each agent's workspace is the default cwd, not a hard sandbox. Relative paths resolve inside the workspace, but absolute paths can reach other host locations unless sandboxing is enabled. See Sandboxing.

Paths (quick map)

Config: ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (or OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH)
State dir: ~/.openclaw (or OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR)
Workspace: ~/.openclaw/workspace (or ~/.openclaw/workspace-<agentId>)
Agent dir: ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/agent (or agents.list[].agentDir)
Sessions: ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/sessions

Single-agent mode (default)

If you do nothing, OpenClaw runs a single agent:

agentId defaults to main.
Sessions are keyed as agent:main:<mainKey>.
Workspace defaults to ~/.openclaw/workspace (or ~/.openclaw/workspace-<profile> when OPENCLAW_PROFILE is set).
State defaults to ~/.openclaw/agents/main/agent.

Agent helper

Use the agent wizard to add a new isolated agent:

openclaw agents add work

Then add bindings (or let the wizard do it) to route inbound messages.

Verify with:

openclaw agents list --bindings

Quick start

Use the wizard or create workspaces manually:

```bash  theme={"theme":{"light":"min-light","dark":"min-dark"}}
openclaw agents add coding
openclaw agents add social
```

Each agent gets its own workspace with `SOUL.md`, `AGENTS.md`, and optional `USER.md`, plus a dedicated `agentDir` and session store under `~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>`.

Create one account per agent on your preferred channels:

* Discord: one bot per agent, enable Message Content Intent, copy each token.
* Telegram: one bot per agent via BotFather, copy each token.
* WhatsApp: link each phone number per account.

```bash  theme={"theme":{"light":"min-light","dark":"min-dark"}}
openclaw channels login --channel whatsapp --account work
```

See channel guides: [Discord](/channels/discord), [Telegram](/channels/telegram), [WhatsApp](/channels/whatsapp).

Add agents under `agents.list`, channel accounts under `channels..accounts`, and connect them with `bindings` (examples below). ```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"min-light","dark":"min-dark"}} openclaw gateway restart openclaw agents list --bindings openclaw channels status --probe ```

Multiple agents = multiple people, multiple personalities

With multiple agents, each agentId becomes a fully isolated persona:

Different phone numbers/accounts (per channel accountId).
Different personalities (per-agent workspace files like AGENTS.md and SOUL.md).
Separate auth + sessions (no cross-talk unless explicitly enabled).

This lets multiple people share one Gateway server while keeping their AI "brains" and data isolated.

One WhatsApp number, multiple people (DM split)

You can route different WhatsApp DMs to different agents while staying on one WhatsApp account. Match on sender E.164 (like +15551234567) with peer.kind: "direct". Replies still come from the same WhatsApp number (no per-agent sender identity).

Important detail: direct chats collapse to the agent's main session key, so true isolation requires one agent per person.

Example:

{
  agents: {
    list: [
      { id: "alex", workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-alex" },
      { id: "mia", workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-mia" },
    ],
  },
  bindings: [
    {
      agentId: "alex",
      match: { channel: "whatsapp", peer: { kind: "direct", id: "+15551230001" } },
    },
    {
      agentId: "mia",
      match: { channel: "whatsapp", peer: { kind: "direct", id: "+15551230002" } },
    },
  ],
  channels: {
    whatsapp: {
      dmPolicy: "allowlist",
      allowFrom: ["+15551230001", "+15551230002"],
    },
  },
}

Notes:

DM access control is global per WhatsApp account (pairing/allowlist), not per agent.
For shared groups, bind the group to one agent or use Broadcast groups.

Routing rules (how messages pick an agent)

Bindings are deterministic and most-specific wins:

peer match (exact DM/group/channel id)
parentPeer match (thread inheritance)
guildId + roles (Discord role routing)
guildId (Discord)
teamId (Slack)
accountId match for a channel
channel-level match (accountId: "*")
fallback to default agent (agents.list[].default, else first list entry, default: main)

If multiple bindings match in the same tier, the first one in config order wins. If a binding sets multiple match fields (for example peer + guildId), all specified fields are required (AND semantics).

Important account-scope detail:

A binding that omits accountId matches the default account only.
Use accountId: "*" for a channel-wide fallback across all accounts.
If you later add the same binding for the same agent with an explicit account id, OpenClaw upgrades the existing channel-only binding to account-scoped instead of duplicating it.

Multiple accounts / phone numbers

Channels that support multiple accounts (e.g. WhatsApp) use accountId to identify each login. Each accountId can be routed to a different agent, so one server can host multiple phone numbers without mixing sessions.

If you want a channel-wide default account when accountId is omitted, set channels.<channel>.defaultAccount (optional). When unset, OpenClaw falls back to default if present, otherwise the first configured account id (sorted).

Common channels supporting this pattern include:

whatsapp, telegram, discord, slack, signal, imessage
irc, line, googlechat, mattermost, matrix, nextcloud-talk
bluebubbles, zalo, zalouser, nostr, feishu

Concepts

agentId: one "brain" (workspace, per-agent auth, per-agent session store).
accountId: one channel account instance (e.g. WhatsApp account "personal" vs "biz").
binding: routes inbound messages to an agentId by (channel, accountId, peer) and optionally guild/team ids.
Direct chats collapse to agent:<agentId>:<mainKey> (per-agent "main"; session.mainKey).

Platform examples

Discord bots per agent

Each Discord bot account maps to a unique accountId. Bind each account to an agent and keep allowlists per bot.

{
  agents: {
    list: [
      { id: "main", workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-main" },
      { id: "coding", workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-coding" },
    ],
  },
  bindings: [
    { agentId: "main", match: { channel: "discord", accountId: "default" } },
    { agentId: "coding", match: { channel: "discord", accountId: "coding" } },
  ],
  channels: {
    discord: {
      groupPolicy: "allowlist",
      accounts: {
        default: {
          token: "DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN_MAIN",
          guilds: {
            "123456789012345678": {
              channels: {
                "222222222222222222": { allow: true, requireMention: false },
              },
            },
          },
        },
        coding: {
          token: "DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN_CODING",
          guilds: {
            "123456789012345678": {
              channels: {
                "333333333333333333": { allow: true, requireMention: false },
              },
            },
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Notes:

Invite each bot to the guild and enable Message Content Intent.
Tokens live in channels.discord.accounts.<id>.token (default account can use DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN).

Telegram bots per agent

{
  agents: {
    list: [
      { id: "main", workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-main" },
      { id: "alerts", workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-alerts" },
    ],
  },
  bindings: [
    { agentId: "main", match: { channel: "telegram", accountId: "default" } },
    { agentId: "alerts", match: { channel: "telegram", accountId: "alerts" } },
  ],
  channels: {
    telegram: {
      accounts: {
        default: {
          botToken: "123456:ABC...",
          dmPolicy: "pairing",
        },
        alerts: {
          botToken: "987654:XYZ...",
          dmPolicy: "allowlist",
          allowFrom: ["tg:123456789"],
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Notes:

Create one bot per agent with BotFather and copy each token.
Tokens live in channels.telegram.accounts.<id>.botToken (default account can use TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN).

WhatsApp numbers per agent

Link each account before starting the gateway:

openclaw channels login --channel whatsapp --account personal
openclaw channels login --channel whatsapp --account biz

~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (JSON5):

{
  agents: {
    list: [
      {
        id: "home",
        default: true,
        name: "Home",
        workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-home",
        agentDir: "~/.openclaw/agents/home/agent",
      },
      {
        id: "work",
        name: "Work",
        workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-work",
        agentDir: "~/.openclaw/agents/work/agent",
      },
    ],
  },

  // Deterministic routing: first match wins (most-specific first).
  bindings: [
    { agentId: "home", match: { channel: "whatsapp", accountId: "personal" } },
    { agentId: "work", match: { channel: "whatsapp", accountId: "biz" } },

    // Optional per-peer override (example: send a specific group to work agent).
    {
      agentId: "work",
      match: {
        channel: "whatsapp",
        accountId: "personal",
        peer: { kind: "group", id: "1203630...@g.us" },
      },
    },
  ],

  // Off by default: agent-to-agent messaging must be explicitly enabled + allowlisted.
  tools: {
    agentToAgent: {
      enabled: false,
      allow: ["home", "work"],
    },
  },

  channels: {
    whatsapp: {
      accounts: {
        personal: {
          // Optional override. Default: ~/.openclaw/credentials/whatsapp/personal
          // authDir: "~/.openclaw/credentials/whatsapp/personal",
        },
        biz: {
          // Optional override. Default: ~/.openclaw/credentials/whatsapp/biz
          // authDir: "~/.openclaw/credentials/whatsapp/biz",
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Example: WhatsApp daily chat + Telegram deep work

Split by channel: route WhatsApp to a fast everyday agent and Telegram to an Opus agent.

{
  agents: {
    list: [
      {
        id: "chat",
        name: "Everyday",
        workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-chat",
        model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5",
      },
      {
        id: "opus",
        name: "Deep Work",
        workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-opus",
        model: "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6",
      },
    ],
  },
  bindings: [
    { agentId: "chat", match: { channel: "whatsapp" } },
    { agentId: "opus", match: { channel: "telegram" } },
  ],
}

Notes:

If you have multiple accounts for a channel, add accountId to the binding (for example { channel: "whatsapp", accountId: "personal" }).
To route a single DM/group to Opus while keeping the rest on chat, add a match.peer binding for that peer; peer matches always win over channel-wide rules.

Example: same channel, one peer to Opus

Keep WhatsApp on the fast agent, but route one DM to Opus:

{
  agents: {
    list: [
      {
        id: "chat",
        name: "Everyday",
        workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-chat",
        model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5",
      },
      {
        id: "opus",
        name: "Deep Work",
        workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-opus",
        model: "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6",
      },
    ],
  },
  bindings: [
    {
      agentId: "opus",
      match: { channel: "whatsapp", peer: { kind: "direct", id: "+15551234567" } },
    },
    { agentId: "chat", match: { channel: "whatsapp" } },
  ],
}

Peer bindings always win, so keep them above the channel-wide rule.

Family agent bound to a WhatsApp group

Bind a dedicated family agent to a single WhatsApp <<<END_EXTERNAL_UNTRUSTED_CONTENT id="7370216b17b2e9bf">>>

15 KiB Raw Blame History

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Documentation Index

Multi-Agent Routing

Multi-Agent Routing

What is "one agent"?

Paths (quick map)

Single-agent mode (default)

Agent helper

Quick start

Multiple agents = multiple people, multiple personalities

One WhatsApp number, multiple people (DM split)

Routing rules (how messages pick an agent)

Multiple accounts / phone numbers

Concepts

Platform examples

Discord bots per agent

Telegram bots per agent

WhatsApp numbers per agent

Example: WhatsApp daily chat + Telegram deep work

Example: same channel, one peer to Opus

Family agent bound to a WhatsApp group

15 KiB

Raw Blame History