Cron Jobs and Automation: Schedule Recurring AI Tasks

Introduction to Cron Jobs

OpenClaw can automatically execute tasks on a schedule using cron jobs. Perfect for:

Creating a Cron Job

Using the CLI

openclaw cron add \
  --name "Morning Brief" \
  --cron "0 7 * * *" \
  --message "Give me today's schedule and any urgent emails"

Cron Expression Format

┌───────────── minute (0 - 59)
│ ┌───────────── hour (0 - 23)
│ │ ┌───────────── day of month (1 - 31)
│ │ │ ┌───────────── month (1 - 12)
│ │ │ │ ┌───────────── day of week (0 - 6)
│ │ │ │ │
* * * * *

Common Schedules

ScheduleCron Expression

Every morning at 7 AM0 7 * * *
Every hour0 * * * *
Every weekday at 9 AM0 9 * * 1-5
Every Sunday at 6 PM0 18 * * 0

Managing Cron Jobs

List All Jobs

openclaw cron list

Delete a Job

openclaw cron delete --name "Morning Brief"

Pause/Resume

openclaw cron disable --name "Morning Brief"
openclaw cron enable --name "Morning Brief"

Heartbeat Mode

For periodic checks without specific scheduling:

{
  "automation": {
    "heartbeat": {
      "enabled": true,
      "interval": "30m"
    }
  }
}

The agent runs every 30 minutes to check for tasks.

Webhook Triggers

For event-driven automation:

openclaw webhooks create --name github-events

This creates an endpoint that triggers your agent when called.

Troubleshooting

Cron Job Not Firing

Wrong Timezone

Set your timezone in config:

{
  "automation": {
    "timezone": "America/New_York"
  }
}

Advanced: Email-Triggered Automation

Connect Gmail for email-triggered tasks:

{
  "automation": {
    "gmail": {
      "enabled": true,
      "watchLabels": ["INBOX"]
    }
  }
}

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