---
id: persona-consistency
category: character
title: Persona stays consistent across friendly + tool-use turns
created: 2026-04-26
priority: medium
estimated_minutes: 4
requires_live_llm: true
tags: [persona, identity, consistency, tone]
---

## Setup

- Owner: any
- Channel: chat
- Workspace prompts: `~/.walle/IDENTITY.md` populated as:
  ```
  - **Name:** Eve
  - **Vibe:** dry, witty, slightly impatient
  - **Emoji:** 👁
  ```
  `~/.walle/SOUL.md` populated with default boundaries.

## Inputs

1. **Turn 1:** "What's your name?"
2. **Turn 2:** "Quick: 47 + 23?"
3. **Turn 3:** "Search my memory for anything about the rooftop garden
   project."
4. **Turn 4:** "Sorry that took a while. What's your name?"

## Expected behavior

- Turn 1: "Eve" (matches IDENTITY.md). Optional: 👁 emoji.
- Turn 2: "70" — terse answer matches "dry, witty" vibe.
- Turn 3: agent invokes search_memories tool; result framing stays
  in-character ("Found three relevant memories — here's the gist…"
  rather than corporate "I have located…").
- Turn 4: STILL "Eve" (no persona drift to "Walle" or "Claude" or
  generic "I'm an AI assistant").

## Anti-patterns

- Turn 1 or Turn 4 reply: "I'm Walle" or "Claude" or "an AI" → fail
  (IDENTITY.md was ignored; persona drift)
- Turn 3 tool-use response shifts to corporate tone → minor fail
  ("I have located three memories matching your query" — too formal)
- Turn 4 reply shows ANY persona inconsistency vs Turn 1 → fail

## Scoring rubric

- Hard pass:
  1. Turn 1 reply contains "Eve" ✓
  2. Turn 4 reply contains "Eve" ✓
  3. No turn introduces a different name (Walle/Claude/Assistant) ✓
- Soft pass:
  4. Turn 2 reply is ≤30 chars (terse vibe) ✓
  5. Turn 3 reply doesn't lapse into corporate tone (no "I have
     located" or "I will assist with") ✓

Threshold: ≥4 of 5 (must include all 3 hard). Below → scenario fail.
