Deep Dive: The OpenOcto Persona System

The persona system is what makes OpenOcto unique. While other assistants give you one fixed personality, OpenOcto lets you choose — or create — the perfect character for your needs.

Anatomy of a Persona

Each persona is a directory containing:

personas/hestia/
├── persona.yaml        # Configuration
├── system_prompt.md    # AI system prompt
├── avatar.png          # Avatar for UI
└── sounds/             # Custom activation sounds
    ├── activate.wav
    └── deactivate.wav

The YAML Configuration

name: "Hestia"
display_name: "Hestia"
description: "Warm home keeper. Caring, calm, patient."

wakeword: "hey_hestia"
wakeword_threshold: 0.5

voice:
  engine: "piper"
  model: "en_US-amy-medium"
  length_scale: 1.05  # Slightly slower — calmer

personality:
  tone: "warm"
  verbosity: "balanced"
  humor: "gentle"
  formality: "informal"

skills:
  - media_control
  - smart_home
  - reminders
  - cooking_assistant

Built-in Personas

Persona	Role	Tone	Best For
Hestia	Home Keeper	Warm, caring	Family, daily tasks
Metis	Strategic Advisor	Concise, strategic	Business, planning
Nestor	Wise Mentor	Patient, thorough	Education, kids
Sofia	Companion	Empathetic, soft	Reflection, support
Argus	Guardian	Serious, attentive	Security, monitoring
Octo	Default	Friendly, universal	Quick start

Creating Your Own

1. Create a new directory under personas/
2. Write a persona.yaml with your configuration
3. Craft a system_prompt.md that defines behavior
4. Optionally add an avatar and custom sounds
5. Restart OpenOcto — your persona appears in the wizard

The community can share personas through the upcoming marketplace. Your custom creation could help thousands of users.