Editing and evolving your files after forging

Forging is the beginning, not the end. The four files AgentSoul gives you are plain text, and they are yours to edit. The best results come from treating each file differently: keep soul.md stable, update user.md as life changes, refine agents.md as you watch the agent work, and keep your edits safe off the phone.

In the old stories, a sword was never finished at the forge. It was ground, polished and fitted to the hand that would carry it. Your agent works the same way.

First, save a copy off your phone

The My souls library keeps your souls on your iPhone, tied to an anonymous device ID. There is no account and no cloud backup, so deleting the app deletes them too. Before you start editing, open your soul, tap “Get the four files”, then “Send to computer”, and AirDrop them to a Mac, save them to Files, or email them to yourself. That copy becomes your master version — the one you edit and the one you return to.

Each file changes at its own speed

• soul.md — rarely. It is the agent’s core: values, shadow and, for Gao Dao results, the Enneagram type. Some forged files even end with a note that the soul does not change and everything else is adaptation. Edit it deliberately, one change at a time.
• identity.md — occasionally. Rename the agent, adjust its voice, or change its role when you move it to a new job or a new platform.
• agents.md — often at first. Watch the agent work for a week and tighten the steps and escalation rule around what actually happens.
• user.md — whenever your situation changes. New goals, a new job, a new project, different access rules.

A simple editing routine

1. Notice. When the agent does something that does not feel right, write down what happened and what you expected.
2. Locate. Decide which file the problem belongs to: character (soul.md), presentation (identity.md), context about you (user.md) or procedure (agents.md).
3. Change one thing. Edit a single line or reorder a list, rather than rewriting a whole section.
4. Observe. Run a few sessions before changing anything else, so you know which edit made the difference.
5. Record. Add a short dated note of what you changed and why, at the bottom of the file or in a separate log.

Keep versions

If you already use git, put the four files in a repository and commit each meaningful change; a diff shows exactly how your agent has evolved. If not, dated copies in a folder work too. Versions let you roll back an edit that made things worse, and they make a fascinating record of how your understanding of the agent — and of yourself — has shifted.

When to forge again

People change, and so do the ways we write and talk. After a big shift — a new role, a move abroad, a year of different habits — a fresh forge can be illuminating. Try Flash Forge with a new set of 3–10 screenshots, or have a Gao Dao conversation about recent moments in your life. Each forge creates a new soul alongside the old ones in My souls, so you can compare. If two Gao Dao readings land on the same type, or two Flash readings describe the same temperament, that is a good sign the core is stable. If they differ, read both and keep the parts that describe you best; the result is an AI-generated hypothesis, not a diagnosis, and you are the final judge.

Deep Forge, the 49-question Enneagram questionnaire, is available on the web at agentsoul.market today and comes to the app in version 1.1 — another way to get a second reading when you want one.