diff --git a/scripts/nemoclaw-start.sh b/scripts/nemoclaw-start.sh
index 42d86d72197..1251b9eef55 100755
--- a/scripts/nemoclaw-start.sh
+++ b/scripts/nemoclaw-start.sh
@@ -1472,6 +1472,79 @@ migrate_legacy_layout() {
 
   echo "[migration] Completed ${label} layout migration (${data_dir} removed)" >&2
 }
+
+# Seed default OpenClaw workspace template files when the workspace is
+# pristine. OpenClaw normally writes these from bundled templates at first
+# agent boot via ensureAgentWorkspace(), but when
+# `agents.defaults.skipBootstrap=true` (set by NemoClaw to suppress the
+# interactive identity-setup turn) that path short-circuits before any
+# template is written, leaving /sandbox/.openclaw/workspace/ empty.
+# Reuse OpenClaw's own bundled templates so seeded content matches what
+# upstream would have produced. BOOTSTRAP.md is intentionally excluded —
+# its presence is what triggers the interactive turn we are skipping.
+# Ref: https://github.com/NVIDIA/NemoClaw/issues/3240
+seed_default_workspace_templates() {
+  local workspace_dir="${1:-/sandbox/.openclaw/workspace}"
+  local templates_dir="${2:-}"
+  local config_file="${3:-/sandbox/.openclaw/openclaw.json}"
+
+  if [ ! -f "$config_file" ]; then
+    return 0
+  fi
+  if ! command -v node >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    return 0
+  fi
+  if ! node - "$config_file" <<'NODE' >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+const fs = require("fs");
+const configPath = process.argv[2];
+const cfg = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(configPath, "utf8"));
+process.exit(cfg?.agents?.defaults?.skipBootstrap === true ? 0 : 1);
+NODE
+    return 0
+  fi
+
+  [ -e "$workspace_dir" ] || return 0
+  if [ -L "$workspace_dir" ]; then
+    echo "[SECURITY] refusing to seed symlinked workspace dir: $workspace_dir" >&2
+    return 0
+  fi
+  [ -d "$workspace_dir" ] || return 0
+  # Only seed pristine workspaces — never clobber user content.
+  if [ -n "$(ls -A "$workspace_dir" 2>/dev/null)" ]; then
+    return 0
+  fi
+  if [ -z "$templates_dir" ]; then
+    local npm_root
+    npm_root="$(npm root -g 2>/dev/null)" || return 0
+    [ -n "$npm_root" ] || return 0
+    templates_dir="${npm_root}/openclaw/dist/docs/reference/templates"
+  fi
+  if [ ! -d "$templates_dir" ]; then
+    echo "[setup] openclaw templates dir not found at ${templates_dir}; skipping workspace seed" >&2
+    return 0
+  fi
+  local file src dst tmp seeded=0
+  for file in AGENTS.md SOUL.md IDENTITY.md USER.md TOOLS.md HEARTBEAT.md; do
+    src="$templates_dir/$file"
+    dst="$workspace_dir/$file"
+    if [ -f "$src" ] && [ ! -e "$dst" ]; then
+      tmp="${dst}.tmp.$$"
+      if awk '
+        NR == 1 && $0 == "---" { in_frontmatter = 1; next }
+        in_frontmatter && $0 == "---" { in_frontmatter = 0; next }
+        !in_frontmatter { print }
+      ' "$src" >"$tmp" 2>/dev/null && mv "$tmp" "$dst" 2>/dev/null; then
+        seeded=$((seeded + 1))
+      else
+        rm -f "$tmp" 2>/dev/null || true
+      fi
+    fi
+  done
+  if [ "$seeded" -gt 0 ]; then
+    echo "[setup] seeded ${seeded} default workspace template(s) into ${workspace_dir}" >&2
+  fi
+}
+
 # ── Main ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
 # Migrate legacy symlink layout before anything else reads .openclaw
@@ -1536,6 +1609,7 @@ if [ "$(id -u)" -ne 0 ]; then
   }
   fix_openclaw_ownership
   normalize_mutable_config_perms
+  seed_default_workspace_templates
   write_auth_profile
   harden_auth_profiles
 
@@ -1707,6 +1781,12 @@ NODE
 }
 provision_agent_workspaces
 
+# Seed default workspace templates if the default workspace is empty.
+# Run as the sandbox user so the seeded files inherit sandbox:sandbox
+# ownership (the function's own cp calls would otherwise produce
+# root-owned files in this branch). See function comment for context.
+gosu sandbox bash -c "$(declare -f seed_default_workspace_templates); seed_default_workspace_templates"
+
 # Defence-in-depth: verify /tmp file permissions before launching services.
 # Pass the HTTP proxy-fix path so it is validated alongside proxy-env.sh
 # (both are trust-boundary files; tampering would let the sandbox user
diff --git a/test/nemoclaw-start.test.ts b/test/nemoclaw-start.test.ts
index 0f988b8a196..ebdd2410514 100644
--- a/test/nemoclaw-start.test.ts
+++ b/test/nemoclaw-start.test.ts
@@ -1394,6 +1394,137 @@ describe("NC-2227-01: legacy migration behavior", () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe("seed_default_workspace_templates (#3240)", () => {
+  const src = fs.readFileSync(START_SCRIPT, "utf-8");
+
+  function runSeed(
+    workspaceDir: string,
+    templatesDir: string,
+    scriptPath: string,
+    options: { skipBootstrap?: boolean } = {},
+  ) {
+    const configPath = path.join(path.dirname(scriptPath), "openclaw.json");
+    fs.writeFileSync(
+      configPath,
+      JSON.stringify({ agents: { defaults: { skipBootstrap: options.skipBootstrap ?? true } } }),
+    );
+    fs.writeFileSync(
+      scriptPath,
+      [
+        "#!/usr/bin/env bash",
+        "set -euo pipefail",
+        extractShellFunctionFromSource(src, "seed_default_workspace_templates"),
+        `seed_default_workspace_templates ${JSON.stringify(workspaceDir)} ${JSON.stringify(templatesDir)} ${JSON.stringify(configPath)}`,
+      ].join("\n"),
+      { mode: 0o700 },
+    );
+    return spawnSync("bash", [scriptPath], { encoding: "utf-8", timeout: 5000 });
+  }
+
+  it("seeds the documented workspace templates and skips BOOTSTRAP.md", () => {
+    const tmpDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "nemoclaw-seed-"));
+    const workspaceDir = path.join(tmpDir, "workspace");
+    const templatesDir = path.join(tmpDir, "templates");
+    fs.mkdirSync(workspaceDir, { recursive: true });
+    fs.mkdirSync(templatesDir, { recursive: true });
+    for (const name of [
+      "AGENTS.md",
+      "SOUL.md",
+      "IDENTITY.md",
+      "USER.md",
+      "TOOLS.md",
+      "HEARTBEAT.md",
+      "BOOTSTRAP.md",
+    ]) {
+      fs.writeFileSync(
+        path.join(templatesDir, name),
+        `---\nsummary: "${name} template"\n---\n# ${name} template content\n`,
+      );
+    }
+    try {
+      const result = runSeed(workspaceDir, templatesDir, path.join(tmpDir, "seed.sh"));
+      expect(result.status).toBe(0);
+      for (const name of [
+        "AGENTS.md",
+        "SOUL.md",
+        "IDENTITY.md",
+        "USER.md",
+        "TOOLS.md",
+        "HEARTBEAT.md",
+      ]) {
+        expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(workspaceDir, name))).toBe(true);
+      }
+      // BOOTSTRAP.md must NOT be seeded — its presence triggers the
+      // interactive identity-setup turn that skipBootstrap=true is meant
+      // to suppress.
+      expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(workspaceDir, "BOOTSTRAP.md"))).toBe(false);
+      expect(fs.readFileSync(path.join(workspaceDir, "SOUL.md"), "utf-8")).toBe(
+        "# SOUL.md template content\n",
+      );
+    } finally {
+      fs.rmSync(tmpDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("does not seed unless OpenClaw bootstrap is explicitly skipped", () => {
+    const tmpDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "nemoclaw-seed-bootstrap-on-"));
+    const workspaceDir = path.join(tmpDir, "workspace");
+    const templatesDir = path.join(tmpDir, "templates");
+    fs.mkdirSync(workspaceDir, { recursive: true });
+    fs.mkdirSync(templatesDir, { recursive: true });
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(templatesDir, "SOUL.md"), "soul template");
+    try {
+      const result = runSeed(workspaceDir, templatesDir, path.join(tmpDir, "seed.sh"), {
+        skipBootstrap: false,
+      });
+      expect(result.status).toBe(0);
+      expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(workspaceDir, "SOUL.md"))).toBe(false);
+    } finally {
+      fs.rmSync(tmpDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("does not clobber an already-populated workspace", () => {
+    const tmpDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "nemoclaw-seed-existing-"));
+    const workspaceDir = path.join(tmpDir, "workspace");
+    const templatesDir = path.join(tmpDir, "templates");
+    fs.mkdirSync(workspaceDir, { recursive: true });
+    fs.mkdirSync(templatesDir, { recursive: true });
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(workspaceDir, "USER.md"), "user content");
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(templatesDir, "USER.md"), "template content");
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(templatesDir, "SOUL.md"), "soul template");
+    try {
+      const result = runSeed(workspaceDir, templatesDir, path.join(tmpDir, "seed.sh"));
+      expect(result.status).toBe(0);
+      expect(fs.readFileSync(path.join(workspaceDir, "USER.md"), "utf-8")).toBe("user content");
+      // Workspace was non-empty, so no other templates were copied in.
+      expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(workspaceDir, "SOUL.md"))).toBe(false);
+    } finally {
+      fs.rmSync(tmpDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("refuses to seed a symlinked workspace dir", () => {
+    const tmpDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "nemoclaw-seed-symlink-"));
+    const realDir = path.join(tmpDir, "real");
+    const linkDir = path.join(tmpDir, "link");
+    const templatesDir = path.join(tmpDir, "templates");
+    fs.mkdirSync(realDir);
+    fs.mkdirSync(templatesDir);
+    fs.symlinkSync(realDir, linkDir);
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(templatesDir, "SOUL.md"), "soul template");
+    try {
+      const result = runSeed(linkDir, templatesDir, path.join(tmpDir, "seed.sh"));
+      expect(result.status).toBe(0);
+      expect(result.stderr).toContain("refusing to seed symlinked workspace dir");
+      expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(realDir, "SOUL.md"))).toBe(false);
+    } finally {
+      fs.rmSync(tmpDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
+});
+
 describe("Slack token rewriter (#2085)", () => {
   const src = fs.readFileSync(START_SCRIPT, "utf-8");
 
@@ -1577,6 +1708,7 @@ describe("Telegram diagnostics (#2766)", () => {
         'verify_no_slack_secrets_on_disk() { :; }',
         'write_auth_profile() { :; }',
         'harden_auth_profiles() { :; }',
+        'seed_default_workspace_templates() { :; }',
         'chown() { :; }',
         'chown_tree_no_symlink_follow() { :; }',
         'start_persistent_gateway_log_mirror() { :; }',