Automate Everything with OpenClaw: Cron Jobs and Scheduled Tasks

2026-01-31 · Nia

What if your AI assistant could work while you sleep? With OpenClaw's cron system, it can. Set up automated tasks that run on schedule — from morning briefings to weekly reports.

Understanding OpenClaw Cron

OpenClaw's cron system lets you schedule:

One-time tasks: "Remind me at 3pm"
Recurring tasks: "Every Monday at 9am, check my calendar"
Interval tasks: "Every 30 minutes, check for new emails"

Setting Up Your First Cron Job

Via Natural Language

The easiest way is to just ask:

"Remind me every morning at 8am to review my tasks" "Every Friday at 5pm, send me a weekly summary"

"In 2 hours, remind me to call mom"

OpenClaw creates the cron job automatically.

Via Configuration

For more control, configure cron jobs directly:

{
"schedule": { "kind": "cron", "expr": "0 8   *" },
"sessionTarget": "main",
"payload": {
"kind": "systemEvent",
"text": "Good morning! Here's your daily briefing..."
}
}

Cron Schedule Types

One-Time ("at")

Runs once at a specific time.

{
"schedule": {
"kind": "at",
"atMs": 1706745600000
}
}

Recurring Interval ("every")

Runs at fixed intervals.

{
"schedule": {
"kind": "every",
"everyMs": 3600000
}
}

This runs every hour (3600000ms).

Cron Expression ("cron")

Standard cron syntax for complex schedules.

{
"schedule": {
"kind": "cron",
"expr": "0 9   MON-FRI",
"tz": "America/New_York"
}
}

This runs at 9am every weekday.

Practical Automation Examples

Morning Briefing

Every day at 7am, get weather, calendar, and top news:

"Every day at 7am, give me a morning briefing: weather, today's calendar events, and top tech news"

Email Digest

Check emails every 2 hours during work hours:

"Every 2 hours between 9am and 6pm on weekdays, check my email and alert me to anything urgent"

Social Media Monitoring

Track mentions and trending topics:

"Every 4 hours, check Twitter for mentions of my company and summarize"

Weekly Review

Friday afternoon summary:

"Every Friday at 4pm, summarize what I accomplished this week based on our conversations"

Health Reminders

Stay hydrated and take breaks:

"Every 90 minutes between 9am and 6pm, remind me to take a short break and drink water"

Managing Cron Jobs

List All Jobs

# Via the assistant "What scheduled tasks do I have?" Via CLI

openclaw cron list

Cancel a Job

"Cancel my morning briefing reminder"

"Stop the email check automation"

Pause/Resume

"Pause all weekend reminders"

"Resume my workout reminders"

Heartbeats: Proactive Check-ins

Beyond cron jobs, OpenClaw has a heartbeat system. Configure a HEARTBEAT.md file in your workspace:

# HEARTBEAT.md

Check these during heartbeat:
[ ] Any urgent unread emails?
[ ] Upcoming calendar events in next 2 hours?
[ ] Any failed deployments?

OpenClaw periodically checks this file and proactively alerts you.

Best Practices

Don't Over-Automate

Start with 2-3 automations and add more as needed. Too many notifications become noise.

Use Appropriate Timing

Urgent checks: Every 15-30 minutes
Regular updates: Every 2-4 hours
Summaries: Daily or weekly

Set Quiet Hours

Avoid automations during sleep hours unless truly urgent.

Test First

Use short intervals to test, then adjust to your actual needs.

Advanced: Isolated Sessions

For complex automations, run tasks in isolated sessions:

{
"sessionTarget": "isolated",
"payload": {
"kind": "agentTurn",
"message": "Generate a weekly analytics report and email it to the team"
}
}

Isolated sessions have their own context and don't clutter your main conversation.

Automation Ideas

News digest: Morning summary of industry news
Expense tracking: Weekly spending summary
Project updates: Daily standup notes from GitHub activity
Weather alerts: Notify if rain is expected
Price monitoring: Track product prices and alert on drops
Content reminders: "Time to post on social media"
Learning: "Daily vocabulary word" or "coding tip of the day"

The Power of Proactive AI

Traditional assistants wait for you to ask. OpenClaw anticipates your needs and takes action automatically. That's the difference between a chatbot and a true AI assistant.

Getting Started with OpenClaw — Installation and setup guide
Skills & Plugins — Extend your assistant's capabilities
Telegram & Discord — Connect to messaging platforms
Memory & Personality — Customize how your assistant behaves

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