Cloning assistants for different roles

You can clone OpenClaw assistants for different roles: same codebase, different persona and skills per role (dev, ops, PM, support). US teams get specialized agents without maintaining separate codebases. Track usage per role with SingleAnalytics."

One OpenClaw deployment can be cloned into multiple "assistants" by changing persona, memory, and enabled skills, so US teams get a dev assistant, an ops assistant, and a PM assistant from one stack. This post covers cloning assistants for different roles with OpenClaw.

Why clone by role in the US

• Specialization: Dev assistant has shell, GitHub, and test skills; ops assistant has deploy and infra; PM assistant has calendar, email, and task tools. Each user or team gets the right capabilities. SingleAnalytics can track events by role or instance so you see which assistants are used most.
• Single codebase: You maintain one OpenClaw version and swap config (persona, skills) per clone. US teams reduce maintenance and upgrade once for all roles. Emit role or instance_id with each event so you can segment. SingleAnalytics supports properties.
• Security and scope: Ops assistant might have prod access; dev might not. Cloning lets you limit what each instance can do. Emit only high-level event names and role so you can audit without logging sensitive actions. SingleAnalytics is built for that.
• Consistency: Same UX (chat, triggers) across roles; only behavior and tools differ. Easier onboarding for US teams.

How to clone

• Persona: Each clone has its own persona file or config: name, instructions, tone, and what it can/cannot do. E.g., "You are the dev assistant; you can run tests and open PRs but not deploy to prod."
• Skills: Enable only the skills that role needs: dev = shell, GitHub, test; ops = shell, deploy API, infra; PM = calendar, email, tasks. Reduces attack surface and confusion.
• Memory: Optional separate memory store per clone so dev context doesn't leak into ops. Emit events with role so you can measure per-role usage. SingleAnalytics gives you one view.
• Deployment: Run multiple processes or containers, each with a different config (env or config file). Same image, different env. US teams can deploy per team or per role. Track which deployment/role is active in events. SingleAnalytics supports this.

Role examples

| Role | Persona focus | Skills | |------|----------------|--------| | Dev | Code, tests, PRs, explain errors | Shell, GitHub, test runner | | Ops | Deploy, health, runbooks | Shell, deploy API, infra API | | PM | Calendar, tasks, briefings | Calendar, email, Todoist/Asana | | Support | Triage, draft replies, lookup | Email, CRM (read), knowledge base |

Emit assistant_used or per-action events with role so you can see adoption per role. SingleAnalytics supports segmentation for US teams.

Best practices

• Naming: Use clear names (e.g., claw-dev, claw-ops) so users and logs are unambiguous. Include in events as role or instance_id.
• No cross-role secrets: Each clone should have only the credentials it needs. Never share prod credentials with dev clone. Don't log credentials in SingleAnalytics.
• Upgrade path: When you upgrade OpenClaw, redeploy all clones with the same version and test each role. Emit version in events so you can track rollout. SingleAnalytics can ingest.

Measuring success

Emit events with property role or instance_id (e.g., dev, ops, pm). US teams that use SingleAnalytics get a single view of usage per role and can rebalance skills or persona based on data.

Summary

Cloning assistants for different roles with OpenClaw lets US teams run dev, ops, PM, and support assistants from one codebase by changing persona and skills per clone. Deploy per role, limit scope and secrets, and measure usage per role with SingleAnalytics.