Scheduled Tasks

Scheduled Tasks (Cron)

Cron is the Gateway’s built-in scheduler. It persists jobs, wakes the agent at the right time, and can deliver output back to a chat channel or webhook endpoint.

Quick start

# Add a one-shot reminder
openclaw cron add \
  --name "Reminder" \
  --at "2026-02-01T16:00:00Z" \
  --session main \
  --system-event "Reminder: check the cron docs draft" \
  --wake now \
  --delete-after-run

# Check your jobs
openclaw cron list

# See run history
openclaw cron runs --id <job-id>

How cron works

• Cron runs inside the Gateway process (not inside the model).
• Jobs persist at ~/.openclaw/cron/jobs.json so restarts do not lose schedules.
• All cron executions create background task records.
• One-shot jobs (--at) auto-delete after success by default.
• Isolated cron runs best-effort close tracked browser tabs/processes for their cron:<jobId> session when the run completes, so detached browser automation does not leave orphaned processes behind.
• Isolated cron runs also guard against stale acknowledgement replies. If the first result is just an interim status update (on it, pulling everything together, and similar hints) and no descendant subagent run is still responsible for the final answer, OpenClaw re-prompts once for the actual result before delivery.

Task reconciliation for cron is runtime-owned: an active cron task stays live while the cron runtime still tracks that job as running, even if an old child session row still exists. Once the runtime stops owning the job and the 5-minute grace window expires, maintenance can mark the task lost.

Schedule types

Kind	CLI flag	Description
at	--at	One-shot timestamp (ISO 8601 or relative like 20m)
every	--every	Fixed interval
cron	--cron	5-field or 6-field cron expression with optional --tz

Timestamps without a timezone are treated as UTC. Add --tz America/New_York for local wall-clock scheduling.

Recurring top-of-hour expressions are automatically staggered by up to 5 minutes to reduce load spikes. Use --exact to force precise timing or --stagger 30s for an explicit window.

Execution styles

Style	--session value	Runs in	Best for
Main session	main	Next heartbeat turn	Reminders, system events
Isolated	isolated	Dedicated cron:<jobId>	Reports, background chores
Current session	current	Bound at creation time	Context-aware recurring work
Custom session	session:custom-id	Persistent named session	Workflows that build on history

Main session jobs enqueue a system event and optionally wake the heartbeat (--wake now or --wake next-heartbeat). Isolated jobs run a dedicated agent turn with a fresh session. Custom sessions (session:xxx) persist context across runs, enabling workflows like daily standups that build on previous summaries.

For isolated jobs, runtime teardown now includes best-effort browser cleanup for that cron session. Cleanup failures are ignored so the actual cron result still wins.

When isolated cron runs orchestrate subagents, delivery also prefers the final descendant output over stale parent interim text. If descendants are still running, OpenClaw suppresses that partial parent update instead of announcing it.

Payload options for isolated jobs

• --message: prompt text (required for isolated)
• --model / --thinking: model and thinking level overrides
• --light-context: skip workspace bootstrap file injection
• --tools exec,read: restrict which tools the job can use

--model uses the selected allowed model for that job. If the requested model is not allowed, cron logs a warning and falls back to the job’s agent/default model selection instead. Configured fallback chains still apply, but a plain model override with no explicit per-job fallback list no longer appends the agent primary as a hidden extra retry target.

Model-selection precedence for isolated jobs is:

1. Gmail hook model override (when the run came from Gmail and that override is allowed)
2. Per-job payload model
3. Stored cron session model override
4. Agent/default model selection

Fast mode follows the resolved live selection too. If the selected model config has params.fastMode, isolated cron uses that by default. A stored session fastMode override still wins over config in either direction.

If an isolated run hits a live model-switch handoff, cron retries with the switched provider/model and persists that live selection before retrying. When the switch also carries a new auth profile, cron persists that auth profile override too. Retries are bounded: after the initial attempt plus 2 switch retries, cron aborts instead of looping forever.

Delivery and output

Mode	What happens
announce	Deliver summary to target channel (default for isolated)
webhook	POST finished event payload to a URL
none	Internal only, no delivery

Use --announce --channel telegram --to "-1001234567890" for channel delivery. For Telegram forum topics, use -1001234567890:topic:123. Slack/Discord/Mattermost targets should use explicit prefixes (channel:<id>, user:<id>).

For cron-owned isolated jobs, the runner owns the final delivery path. The agent is prompted to return a plain-text summary, and that summary is then sent through announce, webhook, or kept internal for none. --no-deliver does not hand delivery back to the agent; it keeps the run internal.

If the original task explicitly says to message some external recipient, the agent should note who/where that message should go in its output instead of trying to send it directly.

Failure notifications follow a separate destination path:

• cron.failureDestination sets a global default for failure notifications.
• job.delivery.failureDestination overrides that per job.
• If neither is set and the job already delivers via announce, failure notifications now fall back to that primary announce target.
• delivery.failureDestination is only supported on sessionTarget="isolated" jobs unless the primary delivery mode is webhook.

CLI examples

One-shot reminder (main session):

openclaw cron add \
  --name "Calendar check" \
  --at "20m" \
  --session main \
  --system-event "Next heartbeat: check calendar." \
  --wake now

Recurring isolated job with delivery:

openclaw cron add \
  --name "Morning brief" \
  --cron "0 7 * * *" \
  --tz "America/Los_Angeles" \
  --session isolated \
  --message "Summarize overnight updates." \
  --announce \
  --channel slack \
  --to "channel:C1234567890"

Isolated job with model and thinking override:

openclaw cron add \
  --name "Deep analysis" \
  --cron "0 6 * * 1" \
  --tz "America/Los_Angeles" \
  --session isolated \
  --message "Weekly deep analysis of project progress." \
  --model "opus" \
  --thinking high \
  --announce

Webhooks

Gateway can expose HTTP webhook endpoints for external triggers. Enable in config:

{
  hooks: {
    enabled: true,
    token: "shared-secret",
    path: "/hooks",
  },
}

Authentication

Every request must include the hook token via header:

• Authorization: Bearer <token> (recommended)
• x-openclaw-token: <token>

Query-string tokens are rejected.

POST /hooks/wake

Enqueue a system event for the main session:

curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:18789/hooks/wake \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer SECRET' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"text":"New email received","mode":"now"}'

• text (required): event description
• mode (optional): now (default) or next-heartbeat

POST /hooks/agent

Run an isolated agent turn:

curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:18789/hooks/agent \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer SECRET' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"message":"Summarize inbox","name":"Email","model":"openai/gpt-5.4-mini"}'

Fields: message (required), name, agentId, wakeMode, deliver, channel, to, model, thinking, timeoutSeconds.

Mapped hooks (POST /hooks/<name>)

Custom hook names are resolved via hooks.mappings in config. Mappings can transform arbitrary payloads into wake or agent actions with templates or code transforms.

Security

• Keep hook endpoints behind loopback, tailnet, or trusted reverse proxy.
• Use a dedicated hook token; do not reuse gateway auth tokens.
• Keep hooks.path on a dedicated subpath; / is rejected.
• Set hooks.allowedAgentIds to limit explicit agentId routing.
• Keep hooks.allowRequestSessionKey=false unless you require caller-selected sessions.
• If you enable hooks.allowRequestSessionKey, also set hooks.allowedSessionKeyPrefixes to constrain allowed session key shapes.
• Hook payloads are wrapped with safety boundaries by default.

Gmail PubSub integration

Wire Gmail inbox triggers to OpenClaw via Google PubSub.

Prerequisites: gcloud CLI, gog (gogcli), OpenClaw hooks enabled, Tailscale for the public HTTPS endpoint.

Wizard setup (recommended)

openclaw webhooks gmail setup --account [e-mail]

This writes hooks.gmail config, enables the Gmail preset, and uses Tailscale Funnel for the push endpoint.

Gateway auto-start

When hooks.enabled=true and hooks.gmail.account is set, the Gateway starts gog gmail watch serve on boot and auto-renews the watch. Set OPENCLAW_SKIP_GMAIL_WATCHER=1 to opt out.

Manual one-time setup

1. Select the GCP project that owns the OAuth client used by gog:

gcloud auth login
gcloud config set project <project-id>
gcloud services enable gmail.googleapis.com pubsub.googleapis.com

2. Create topic and grant Gmail push access:

gcloud pubsub topics create gog-gmail-watch
gcloud pubsub topics add-iam-policy-binding gog-gmail-watch \
  --member=serviceAccount:[e-mail] \
  --role=roles/pubsub.publisher

3. Start the watch:

gog gmail watch start \
  --account [e-mail] \
  --label INBOX \
  --topic projects/<project-id>/topics/gog-gmail-watch

Gmail model override

{
  hooks: {
    gmail: {
      model: "openrouter/meta-llama/llama-3.3-70b-instruct:free",
      thinking: "off",
    },
  },
}

Managing jobs

# List all jobs
openclaw cron list

# Edit a job
openclaw cron edit <jobId> --message "Updated prompt" --model "opus"

# Force run a job now
openclaw cron run <jobId>

# Run only if due
openclaw cron run <jobId> --due

# View run history
openclaw cron runs --id <jobId> --limit 50

# Delete a job
openclaw cron remove <jobId>

# Agent selection (multi-agent setups)
openclaw cron add --name "Ops sweep" --cron "0 6 * * *" --session isolated --message "Check ops queue" --agent ops
openclaw cron edit <jobId> --clear-agent

Model override note:

• openclaw cron add|edit --model ... changes the job’s selected model.
• If the model is allowed, that exact provider/model reaches the isolated agent run.
• If it is not allowed, cron warns and falls back to the job’s agent/default model selection.
• Configured fallback chains still apply, but a plain --model override with no explicit per-job fallback list no longer falls through to the agent primary as a silent extra retry target.

Configuration

{
  cron: {
    enabled: true,
    store: "~/.openclaw/cron/jobs.json",
    maxConcurrentRuns: 1,
    retry: {
      maxAttempts: 3,
      backoffMs: [60000, 120000, 300000],
      retryOn: ["rate_limit", "overloaded", "network", "server_error"],
    },
    webhookToken: "replace-with-dedicated-webhook-token",
    sessionRetention: "24h",
    runLog: { maxBytes: "2mb", keepLines: 2000 },
  },
}

Disable cron: cron.enabled: false or OPENCLAW_SKIP_CRON=1.

One-shot retry: transient errors (rate limit, overload, network, server error) retry up to 3 times with exponential backoff. Permanent errors disable immediately.

Recurring retry: exponential backoff (30s to 60m) between retries. Backoff resets after the next successful run.

Maintenance: cron.sessionRetention (default 24h) prunes isolated run-session entries. cron.runLog.maxBytes / cron.runLog.keepLines auto-prune run-log files.

Troubleshooting

Command ladder

openclaw status
openclaw gateway status
openclaw cron status
openclaw cron list
openclaw cron runs --id <jobId> --limit 20
openclaw system heartbeat last
openclaw logs --follow
openclaw doctor

Cron not firing

• Check cron.enabled and OPENCLAW_SKIP_CRON env var.
• Confirm the Gateway is running continuously.
• For cron schedules, verify timezone (--tz) vs the host timezone.
• reason: not-due in run output means manual run was checked with openclaw cron run <jobId> --due and the job was not due yet.

Cron fired but no delivery

• Delivery mode is none means no external message is expected.
• Delivery target missing/invalid (channel/to) means outbound was skipped.
• Channel auth errors (unauthorized, Forbidden) mean delivery was blocked by credentials.
• If the isolated run returns only the silent token (NO_REPLY / no_reply), OpenClaw suppresses direct outbound delivery and also suppresses the fallback queued summary path, so nothing is posted back to chat.
• For cron-owned isolated jobs, do not expect the agent to use the message tool as a fallback. The runner owns final delivery; --no-deliver keeps it internal instead of allowing a direct send.

Timezone gotchas

• Cron without --tz uses the gateway host timezone.
• at schedules without timezone are treated as UTC.
• Heartbeat activeHours uses configured timezone resolution.

Related

• Automation & Tasks — all automation mechanisms at a glance
• Background Tasks — task ledger for cron executions
• Heartbeat — periodic main-session turns
• Timezone — timezone configuration