identity.*

Identity methods manage the AI's identity (soul) during sessions. Get the effective identity, set session-level overrides, and list available identity sources.

Methods

identity.get

Returns the effective SoulManifest for the current session, including whether a session override is active.

Request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "identity.get"
}

Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "result": {
    "soul": {
      "identity": "I am Aleph, your AI assistant.",
      "directives": ["Be helpful", "Be concise"]
    },
    "has_session_override": false
  }
}

identity.set

Sets a session-level identity override. This temporarily changes the AI's behavior for the current session without modifying the global identity file.

Request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 2,
  "method": "identity.set",
  "params": {
    "soul": {
      "identity": "I am a specialized coding assistant.",
      "directives": ["Focus on code quality", "Explain concisely"]
    }
  }
}

Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 2,
  "result": {
    "success": true
  }
}

Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`soul`	object	Yes	SoulManifest to apply
`soul.identity`	string	Yes	Identity statement
`soul.directives`	string[]	No	Behavioral directives

identity.clear

Clears the session-level identity override, reverting to the global identity.

Request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 3,
  "method": "identity.clear"
}

Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 3,
  "result": {
    "success": true,
    "had_override": true
  }
}

identity.list

Lists all available identity sources and their load status.

Request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 4,
  "method": "identity.list"
}

Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 4,
  "result": {
    "sources": [
      {
        "source_type": "global",
        "path": "/Users/user/.aleph/soul.md",
        "loaded": true
      },
      {
        "source_type": "session",
        "path": "<session>",
        "loaded": true
      }
    ]
  }
}

Source Types:

Type	Description
`global`	Loaded from `~/.aleph/soul.md`
`session`	Session-level override (set via `identity.set`)

Identity File

The global identity is loaded from ~/.aleph/soul.md. This is a markdown file containing:

# Soul

I am Aleph, a polymorphic AI assistant.

## Directives

- Be helpful and accurate
- Be concise unless asked for detail
- Respect user privacy

identity.*

Methods

identity.get

identity.set

identity.clear

identity.list

Identity File

See Also

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