Automation

Automate repetitive tasks with OpenClaw.

Overview

OpenClaw supports various automation methods:

• Cron Jobs: Scheduled tasks
• Webhooks: Trigger on external events
• Heartbeats: Periodic health checks
• Event Handlers: React to messages

Cron Jobs

Creating Jobs

# Run a task every hour
openclaw cron add --name "hourly-report" \
  --schedule "0 * * * *" \
  --task "Summarize today's activity"

# Run at specific time
openclaw cron add --name "morning-brief" \
  --schedule "0 9 * * *" \
  --task "Send morning briefing"

Managing Jobs

# List all jobs
openclaw cron list

# Enable/disable job
openclaw cron enable hourly-report
openclaw cron disable hourly-report

# Run job immediately
openclaw cron run hourly-report

# Delete job
openclaw cron remove hourly-report

Schedule Syntax

Uses standard cron syntax:

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

Examples:

• */15 * * * * - Every 15 minutes
• 0 9 * * 1-5 - 9 AM on weekdays
• 0 0 1 * * - First day of month

Webhooks

Setup

# Create webhook endpoint
openclaw webhook create --path "/my-webhook" --secret "my-secret"

# Get webhook URL
openclaw webhook url
# https://your-domain.com/webhooks/my-webhook

Handler Configuration

{
  "webhooks": {
    "/my-webhook": {
      "secret": "my-secret",
      "action": "notify",
      "message": "Webhook received: {payload}"
    }
  }
}

Heartbeats

Periodic system checks:

{
  "heartbeat": {
    "intervalMs": 60000,
    "checks": [
      "disk-space",
      "memory-usage",
      "api-connectivity"
    ]
  }
}

Event Handlers

React to messages and events:

{
  "handlers": {
    "onMessage": {
      "filter": "urgent|important",
      "action": "priority-notify"
    },
    "onError": {
      "action": "log-and-alert"
    }
  }
}

Automation Examples

Daily Summary

openclaw cron add --name "daily-summary" \
  --schedule "0 20 * * *" \
  --task "Generate daily summary and send to Telegram"

Server Monitoring

openclaw cron add --name "server-check" \
  --schedule "*/5 * * * *" \
  --task "Check server health and alert if issues"

Backup Reminder

openclaw cron add --name "backup-reminder" \
  --schedule "0 10 * * 0" \
  --task "Remind about weekly backup"

Best Practices

1. Test jobs first - Run manually before scheduling
2. Handle failures - Configure retry logic
3. Monitor execution - Check job logs regularly
4. Set reasonable intervals - Don't overload system

Rate Limits

Be mindful of API rate limits when scheduling frequent tasks.