A structured system for transforming raw observations into tested wisdom and long-term personal principles.
Install & Download
1. ClawHub CLI
The fastest way to install a skill directly from the registry.
npx clawhub@latest install principles
2. Manual Installation
Copy the skill folder to one of these locations
~/.openclaw/skills/ <project>/skills/ Priority: Workspace > Local > Bundled
3. Prompt Installation
Copy this prompt to OpenClaw to install it automatically.
Help me install principles using Clawhub. If Clawhub is not installed, install it first (npm i -g clawhub).
Prefer to download?
Get the raw skill files in a ZIP archive.
What is Principles: Personal Knowledge System?
The Principles skill provides a rigorous personal knowledge pipeline inspired by Ray Dalio's methodology. It manages the flow of information from raw capture in an inbox to categorized wisdom claims and finally into core principles that guide long-term decision-making. By integrating this system with Openclaw Skills, users can automate the organization of their intellectual life while maintaining high standards for truth and consistency.
This skill emphasizes conflict detection and source credibility, ensuring that your knowledge base isn't just a collection of notes, but a refined system of verified beliefs. It forces you to confront contradictions and surface hidden assumptions, making it an essential tool for deep thinkers, entrepreneurs, and professionals who want to build a lasting foundation of wisdom.
Principles: Personal Knowledge System Use Cases
- Capturing fleeting thoughts or observations for later processing without breaking your current workflow.
- Analyzing and categorizing external wisdom from books, podcasts, or mentors into a structured format.
- Detecting contradictions between new information and existing core beliefs to maintain intellectual consistency.
- Graduating high-confidence insights into permanent life or business principles after personal verification.
- Tracking complex dilemmas and open questions that require more evidence before a decision can be made.
How Principles: Personal Knowledge System Works
- Capture: Use the /inbox command to dump raw thoughts, observations, or quotes into a centralized file.
- Parse: The /reflect command analyzes the inbox to identify the type of content, such as external wisdom, personal beliefs, or questions.
- Conflict Check: The system automatically compares new entries against existing wisdom and principles to identify potential contradictions.
- Resolution: If a conflict is found, the system stops and prompts the user to resolve it by updating, splitting, or discarding information.
- Routing: Content is automatically cleaned up and filed into the appropriate markdown structure within the personal directory.
- Graduation: The system identifies claims with strong evidence and personal confirmation, prompting the user to promote them to the master principles list.
Principles: Personal Knowledge System Setup
To initialize the system, simply run your first command. The skill will automatically detect if the directory structure exists and create it if necessary.
/reflect inbox "Example thought to start the system"
This will create the personal/ directory and populate it with the necessary template files, including inbox.md, journal.md, and the wisdom/ and principles/ subdirectories. No manual folder creation is required when using this feature within Openclaw Skills.
Principles: Personal Knowledge System Data Schema & Taxonomy
The system organizes data within a dedicated personal/ directory using a clear Markdown-based taxonomy:
| File/Folder | Purpose |
|---|---|
inbox.md |
Temporary storage for all raw capture and unprocessed thoughts. |
wisdom/collected.md |
Claims organized by domain with source credibility and confidence ratings. |
principles/ |
Directory for domain-specific files (life.md, business.md) and a master _index.md. |
open-questions.md |
Tracker for genuine dilemmas, including status, options, and resolution criteria. |
journal.md |
An append-only log for daily observations and reflections. |
_system.md |
A local copy of the skill instructions for the agent to reference. |
Principles: Personal Knowledge System Advanced Features
- Automated Conflict Detection: Prevents the silent filing of information that contradicts your existing knowledge base.
- Per-Domain Credibility: Tracks source reliability differently across various topics (e.g., an expert in finance may be rated as untested in health).
- Wisdom Graduation: Logic-driven prompts that suggest when an insight has enough evidence to become a core principle.
- Assumption Surfacing: Automatically identifies and questions unstated premises in your input to ensure clarity of thought.
- Master Indexing: Maintains a cross-referenced index of all principles across different domains for easy review and alignment.
SKILL.md
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