Openclaw Daily Ops

Daily cost reporting + session hygiene for OpenClaw deployments. Tracks per-session API spend, shows 7-day trend, and wipes zombie sessions >24h old to preve...

Security Scan

The skill's code, instructions, and configuration requests are coherent with its stated purpose (daily cost reporting and removing stale session files); it requires local file access and a user-provided Discord webhook and will truncate session JSONL files as intended.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description match the included scripts and README. The skill only needs access to OpenClaw session files and a Discord webhook (provided in config.json) to generate reports and reset stale sessions; nothing requested or installed is unrelated to that purpose.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md and the scripts are explicit about reading sessions.json/sessions_dir and truncating session JSONL files older than the configured threshold. This is destructive by design (it intentionally truncates files) — the instructions limit action to the configured sessions_dir and workspace_dir but you should confirm those paths before running. The only external endpoint used is the Discord webhook you configure.

Install Mechanism

No install spec or remote downloads; the skill is pure Python scripts and docs, so nothing is written to disk beyond the files shipped and the logs the scripts create. Risk from installation is low.

Credentials

No required environment variables or unrelated credentials. The only secret-like value is the Discord webhook supplied in config.json, which is appropriate for posting reports. The scripts write logs under the configured workspace_dir.

Persistence & Privilege

The skill is not always-enabled and does not request elevated platform privileges. It does not modify other skills or system-wide agent settings. It is intended to be scheduled via cron (user-controlled).

Assessment

This skill appears to do what it says, but before enabling it: 1) Review and edit config.json so sessions_dir and workspace_dir point only to your OpenClaw session paths (not broader system directories). 2) Test both scripts with --dry-run to verify reported sessions and the zombie summary. 3) Back up your session files (or run the zombie killer in dry-run) before allowing it to truncate files. 4) Use a private Discord channel/webhook and avoid exposing the webhook URL; rotate the webhook if it ever leaks. 5) When scheduling with cron, run under the intended user account (not root) to limit file-scope. If any behavior seems unexpected, inspect the scripts again — they are small and readable.

Two tasks in one nightly cron: know what you spent, kill what's dead.

• Parses all OpenClaw session JSONL files → computes today's API cost per session
• Posts a clean cost report to Discord with 7-day trend
• Wipes sessions older than 24h with >1MB context (zombie killer)
• Logs everything to state/cost-log.json and state/session-reset-log.json

Zero AI credits spent — pure Python + one Discord message.

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Setup

1. Configure

Copy config.example.json to config.json and fill in your values:

cp config.example.json config.json

Edit config.json:

{
  "sessions_dir": "~/.openclaw/agents/main/sessions",
  "workspace_dir": "~/.openclaw/workspace",
  "discord_webhook": "https://discord.com/api/webhooks/YOUR/WEBHOOK",
  "discord_user_id": "YOUR_DISCORD_USER_ID",
  "channel_names": {
    "channel:YOUR_CHANNEL_ID": "#your-channel-name"
  },
  "zombie_min_age_hours": 24,
  "zombie_min_size_mb": 1,
  "alert_high_cost": 50,
  "alert_low_cost": 10,
  "timezone_offset_hours": -6
}

How to get a Discord webhook:

1. Go to your Discord channel → Edit Channel → Integrations → Webhooks → New Webhook
2. Copy the webhook URL

How to get your Discord user ID:

1. Enable Developer Mode in Discord (Settings → Advanced → Developer Mode)
2. Right-click your username → Copy User ID

Channel names (optional): Map your OpenClaw channel session keys to human-readable names for the report. Find session keys in ~/.openclaw/agents/main/sessions/sessions.json.

2. Test it

python3 scripts/cost_report.py --config config.json --dry-run

This prints the report without posting to Discord or writing logs.

3. Set up the cron

Add a nightly OpenClaw cron job. In your OpenClaw config or via CLI:

Schedule: 0 21 * * * (9 PM daily — adjust to your timezone)
Model: haiku (cost report is simple, no need for a heavy model)
Payload: Read /path/to/openclaw-daily-ops/SKILL.md and follow it exactly.

Or run it as a system cron:

# Add to crontab -e
0 21 * * * python3 /path/to/openclaw-daily-ops/scripts/cost_report.py --config /path/to/config.json >> /path/to/cost_report.log 2>&1

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What the Report Looks Like

📊 Daily Cost Report — Mar 9, 2026

💰 Total: $4.21 · 8.3M tokens

By Session:
🔴 #general — $2.45 · 4.1M tok
🟡 #posting — $1.32 · 2.8M tok
🟢 heartbeat — $0.44 · 1.4M tok

7-day trend: $12 → $8 → $6 → $5 → $4 → $4 → $4

✅ UNDER BUDGET
🔄 Reset 2 stale sessions (3.2MB freed)

Color coding:

• 🔴 session cost > $5
• 🟡 session cost $1–$5
• 🟢 session cost < $1

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Skill Steps (for OpenClaw cron payload)

When running as an OpenClaw cron agentTurn, the agent should:

Step 1 — Run cost parser

Execute scripts/cost_report.py --config /path/to/config.json and capture output.

Step 2 — Run zombie killer

Execute scripts/zombie_killer.py --config /path/to/config.json and capture output.

Step 3 — Format and post

Combine both outputs into the report format above and post to your Discord webhook.

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Configuration Reference

Key	Type	Description
sessions_dir	string	Path to OpenClaw sessions directory
workspace_dir	string	Path to OpenClaw workspace (for state logs)
discord_webhook	string	Discord webhook URL to post the report
discord_user_id	string	Your Discord ID — tagged on urgent alerts
channel_names	object	Map session keys → display names (optional)
zombie_min_age_hours	number	Sessions older than this get reset (default: 24)
zombie_min_size_mb	number	Minimum file size to reset (default: 1MB)
alert_high_cost	number	Daily cost threshold for 🚨 URGENT flag (default: $50)
alert_low_cost	number	Daily cost threshold for ✅ UNDER BUDGET flag (default: $10)
timezone_offset_hours	number	Your UTC offset for date filtering (default: -6 for CST)

---

Files

openclaw-daily-ops/
├── SKILL.md                 ← this file
├── config.example.json      ← template config (copy to config.json)
├── scripts/
│   ├── cost_report.py       ← parses sessions, computes costs, posts to Discord
│   └── zombie_killer.py     ← wipes stale sessions, logs what was cleared
└── state/                   ← created automatically
    ├── cost-log.json        ← rolling 90-day cost history
    └── session-reset-log.json ← log of all zombie kills

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FAQ

Q: Will this break my active sessions? No. The zombie killer only resets sessions older than 24h AND larger than 1MB. Active sessions are never touched.

Q: What does "reset" mean? It truncates the session JSONL file to empty. OpenClaw recreates it fresh on next use. All logs are saved to session-reset-log.json before wiping.

Q: Can I adjust the thresholds? Yes — zombie_min_age_hours and zombie_min_size_mb in config.json.

Q: Does this work on Andre/multi-machine setups? Yes. Run the setup on each machine with its own config.json. Both can post to the same Discord webhook.