Cron Setup

Create and manage OpenClaw cron jobs following our conventions. Use when setting up periodic tasks, reminders, automated checks, or any scheduled work.

Cron Job Setup

Our conventions for creating cron jobs in OpenClaw.

Default Settings

Setting	Default	Why
Model	anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5	Reliable tool calls, works with any Anthropic Max plan — no OpenRouter needed
Session	isolated	Cron jobs run in their own session, not the main chat
Delivery	"mode": "none"	Job handles its own output (posts to Discord, etc.)
Timeout	120-180s	Most jobs should finish fast

Model Notes

• Default to Sonnet (anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5). Reliable, portable (no OpenRouter API key needed).
• DeepSeek is unreliable for tool calls — don't use it for cron jobs.
• Use Opus (anthropic/claude-opus-4-6) only as a last resort — expensive for scheduled tasks.
• Model ID format: Use anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5 not the full dated version (anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-20250514).

Job Template

{
  "name": "descriptive-kebab-case-name",
  "schedule": {
    "kind": "cron",
    "expr": "*/30 * * * *",
    "tz": "America/New_York"
  },
  "sessionTarget": "isolated",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "agentTurn",
    "message": "TASK INSTRUCTIONS HERE",
    "model": "openrouter/deepseek/deepseek-v3.2",
    "timeoutSeconds": 120
  },
  "delivery": {
    "mode": "none"
  }
}

Schedule Patterns

Pattern	Cron Expression	Notes
Every 30 min	*/30 * * * *	Good for inbox checks, monitoring
Every hour	0 * * * *	Self-reflection, status checks
Daily at 4 AM	0 4 * * *	Cleanup, backups (during quiet hours)
Daily at 6 AM	0 6 * * *	Morning digests, daily summaries
Weekly Monday 2 PM	0 14 * * 1	Weekly outreach, reviews
One-shot	Use "kind": "at" instead	Reminders, one-time tasks

Task Instruction Conventions

1. Be explicit with commands — Give the cron agent exact bash commands to run. It doesn't have our context.
2. Include skip conditions — If there's nothing to do, the agent should reply SKIP to avoid wasting tokens.
3. Handle its own output — The job should post results to Telegram (or wherever) using the message tool directly. Don't rely on delivery mode for formatted output.
4. Include error handling — What should happen if a command fails?
5. Keep instructions self-contained — The cron agent wakes up with no context. Everything it needs should be in the task message.

Telegram Posting from Cron Jobs

When a cron job needs to notify us, include these instructions in the task:

Post to Telegram using the message tool:
- action: send
- channel: telegram
- target: -1003856094222
- threadId: TOPIC_ID
- message: Your formatted message

Topic IDs:

• 1 — Main topic (general updates, alerts)
• 573 — Research
• 1032 — Crypto
• 1488 — PR updates / dev notifications
• 1869 — Sticker store
• 3188 — Activity feed (workspace changes)

Delivery Modes

Mode	When to Use
"mode": "none"	Job posts its own output to Telegram (most common)
"mode": "announce"	OpenClaw auto-delivers the agent's final message to a channel. Use when output IS the message (e.g., daily digest). Set "channel": "telegram" and "to": "-1003856094222:TOPIC_ID"

Anti-Patterns

❌ Don't use Opus for cron jobs unless the task genuinely needs it. Most cron tasks are simple checks. ❌ Don't use heartbeat for things that can be a cron job. Heartbeat runs in the main session (Opus) and costs way more. ❌ Don't create cron jobs that loop/poll — each run should be a single check. If you need polling, use a background exec script instead. ❌ Don't set delivery mode to "announce" and also have the job post to Telegram — you'll get duplicate messages.

Existing Jobs (Reference)

Check current jobs anytime with the cron list tool. As of setup:

• workspace-activity-feed — Every 30 min, commits workspace changes, posts to activity feed
• agentmail-inbox-check — Every 30 min, checks for new emails, responds to agents
• sub-agent-monitor — Every 15 min, checks on stalled sub-agents
• self-reflection — Hourly, reviews recent sessions for lessons learned
• daily-workspace-commit — Daily 4 AM, git commits workspace changes
• system-watchdog — Daily 4 AM, checks system resources
• OpenClaw Daily News Digest — Daily 6 AM, generates news digest
• sticker-sales-loop — Weekly Monday 2 PM, agent outreach for sticker store