openclone

openclone - AI Persona Clone Conversations

Keyword: openclone · clone persona · persona chat · persona panel

Only use persona clones built from publicly available information. Never impersonate private individuals or fabricate statements.

OpenClone lets you create AI persona clones of real people based on their public interviews, writings, and statements — then chat with them individually, run group conversations, or broadcast questions to an entire category of clones for multi-angle analysis.

All clones are stored as local markdown files. No servers, accounts, or SaaS required.

When to use this skill

You need diverse expert perspectives (VCs, founders, researchers, domain specialists) before a decision
You want to simulate a group discussion between multiple real-world thinkers
You want to inject specific knowledge (URLs, videos, documents) into a clone's context
You need a repeatable multi-persona consultation workflow with no external dependencies
You're building a domain-specific knowledge base from curated public sources

Instructions

Step 1: Install OpenClone

# Option 1: Paste the install command into Claude Code (recommended)
# Visit https://github.com/open-clone/openclone and copy the install command

# Option 2: Manual sparse checkout
git clone --filter=blob:none --sparse https://github.com/open-clone/openclone ~/.openclone
cd ~/.openclone && git sparse-checkout set . && ./setup

Verify installation:

/openclone

The home panel lists all available clones organized by category.

Step 2: Browse and activate a clone

# Show the home panel with all clones by category
/openclone

# Activate a specific clone by name
/openclone douglas
/openclone alice

# Create a new clone via Socratic interview
/openclone new hayun

When activated, the clone responds in character based on its training corpus. Deactivate with /openclone stop.

Step 3: Group and panel conversations

# Group chat — most relevant clone auto-responds
/openclone room douglas alice

# Broadcast to all clones in a category simultaneously
/openclone panel vc "What's your take on AI infrastructure investments?"
/openclone panel founders "How did you approach product-market fit?"

Use room when you want natural back-and-forth. Use panel when you want all experts in a category to answer the same question independently.

Step 4: Inject knowledge into a clone

# Inject from a URL (article, transcript, doc)
/openclone ingest https://example.com/interview-with-douglas

# Inject from a local file
/openclone ingest ./docs/hayun-interview.md

# Inject a YouTube transcript
/openclone ingest https://youtube.com/watch?v=...

Knowledge is stored in the clone's local markdown file and used in all future conversations with that clone.

Step 5: Create a new clone

/openclone new <name>

OpenClone runs a Socratic interview to gather:

The person's background, expertise, and public statements
Key beliefs, frameworks, and decision-making patterns
Source URLs for knowledge injection

The result is a local .md file you can edit and extend manually.

Step 6: Stop all active clones

/openclone stop

Clone storage format

Clones are stored in ~/.openclone/clones/<category>/<name>.md:

~/.openclone/
└── clones/
    ├── vc/
    │   ├── douglas.md
    │   └── alice.md
    ├── founders/
    │   └── hayun.md
    └── researchers/
        └── geoffrey.md

Each clone file contains the persona prompt, knowledge corpus, and metadata. Edit directly to refine behavior.

Plugin installation (Claude Code)

OpenClone can also be installed as a Claude Code plugin:

/plugin marketplace add https://github.com/open-clone/openclone

Or via the skills CLI:

skills add -g https://github.com/akillness/oh-my-gods --skill openclone --yes --copy

Examples

Example 1: Quick expert consultation

/openclone douglas
# → "What do you think about vertical AI agents in 2025?"

Example 2: Multi-VC panel on an investment thesis

/openclone panel vc "Evaluate this B2B SaaS idea: AI-powered procurement automation for mid-market"

Example 3: Group debate between founders

/openclone room alice hayun douglas
# → Facilitates a natural conversation — most relevant clone responds each turn

Example 4: Build a new researcher clone

/openclone new geoffrey
# → Interview wizard collects background, beliefs, and source URLs
/openclone ingest https://example.com/geoffrey-turing-lecture

Example 5: Knowledge-augmented clone

/openclone douglas
/openclone ingest https://example.com/douglas-latest-essay
# → Douglas now responds with knowledge from the essay

Best practices

Build clones from multiple, diverse public sources for more nuanced responses.
Use panel for parallel independent analysis; use room for emergent group dialogue.
Edit clone .md files directly to fix inaccuracies or add domain constraints.
Inject recent content regularly to keep clones current with a person's evolving views.
Never use clones to fabricate statements, spread misinformation, or impersonate private individuals.
Keep clone categories consistent (vc, founders, researchers) for predictable panel targeting.

About this skill