hire

Set up a new AI team member through a guided conversation. Not a config generator - a hiring process.

When to Use

User says something like:

• "I want to hire a new agent"
• "I need help with X" (where X implies a new agent role)
• "Let's add someone to the team"
• /hire

The Interview

3 core questions, asked one at a time:

Q1: "What do you need help with?" Let them describe the problem, not a job title. "I'm drowning in code reviews" beats "I need a code reviewer."

• Listen for: scope, implied autonomy level, implied tools needed

Q2: "What's their personality? Formal, casual, blunt, cautious, creative?" Or frame it as: "If this were a human colleague, what would they be like?"

• Listen for: communication style, vibe, how they interact

Q3: "What should they never do?" The red lines. This is where trust gets defined.

• Listen for: boundaries, safety constraints, access limits

Q4: Dynamic (optional)

After Q1-Q3, assess whether anything is ambiguous or needs clarification. If so, ask ONE follow-up question tailored to what's unclear. Examples:

• "You mentioned monitoring - should they alert you immediately or batch updates?"
• "They'll need access to your codebase - any repos that are off-limits?"
• "You said 'casual' - are we talking friendly-professional or meme-level casual?"

If Q1-Q3 were clear enough, skip Q4 entirely.

Summary Card

After the interview, present a summary:

🎯 Role: [one-line description]
🧠 Name: [suggested name from naming taxonomy]
🤖 Model: [selected model] ([tier])
⚡ Personality: [2-3 word vibe]
🔧 Tools: [inferred from conversation]
🚫 Boundaries: [key red lines]
🤝 Autonomy: [inferred level: high/medium/low]

Then ask: "Want to tweak anything, or are we good?"

Model Selection

Before finalizing, select an appropriate model for the agent.

Step 1: Discover available models

Run openclaw models list or check the gateway config to see what's configured.

Step 2: Categorize by tier

Map discovered models to capability tiers:

Use pattern matching on model names - don't hardcode specific versions.

Step 3: Match role to tier

Based on the interview:

• Heavy reasoning/advisory/strategy → reasoning tier
• Research/writing/creative → balanced tier
• Code-focused → code tier (or balanced if not available)
• High-volume/monitoring → fast tier

Step 4: Select and confirm

Pick the best available model for the role. In the summary card, add:

🤖 Model: [selected model] ([tier] - [brief reason])