Overnight Factory

Set up an AI agent as an Overnight Software Factory operator. Use when configuring an OpenClaw agent to autonomously handle support tickets end-to-end: receive ticket assignments via email or GitHub, analyze issues, spawn Claude Code to implement fixes, open PRs, and notify a human for review. Triggers on phrases like "set up overnight factory", "configure ticket pipeline", "automate support tickets", "set up AI coding agent for tickets", or "overnight software factory".

Configure this agent as an autonomous ticket-to-PR operator. Human reviews PRs; agent handles everything else.

Architecture

text

TinyDesk/support system
  → GitHub issue (assigned to bot account)
  → Email notification to agent inbox
       ↓
  Cron job (every 15min, isolated session)
  ├─ Email check: detect assignment emails
  ├─ GitHub poll: catch missed emails (safety net)
  └─ Dispatch: spawn subagent per ticket
            ↓
       Subagent (Claude Code)
       ├─ Analyze issue + screenshots
       ├─ Explore codebase
       ├─ Post analysis comment on issue
       ├─ Implement fix (branch → commit → push)
       └─ Open PR → notify human

Setup Steps

1. Identity & Credentials

Create workspace files: IDENTITY.md, USER.md (who you're helping), SOUL.md.

Add .env to workspace:

text

GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_...
EMAIL_USER=[e-mail]
EMAIL_PASSWORD=...

Configure git:

bash

git config --global user.name "Your Bot Name"
git config --global user.email "[e-mail]"
echo "https://bot-username:${GITHUB_TOKEN}@github.com" > ~/.git-credentials
git config --global credential.helper store

2. Verify Claude Code

bash

/path/to/claude --version
/path/to/claude -p --dangerously-skip-permissions --output-format text "echo hello"

Note the exact path — you'll need it.

3. Create the Cron Job

bash

openclaw cron add \
  --name "email-check" \
  --every 15m \
  --session isolated \
  --announce \
  --to <YOUR-TELEGRAM-CHAT-ID> \      # explicit ID, NOT --channel last
  --timeout-seconds 120 \
  --description "Check email + GitHub for ticket assignments" \
  --message "$(cat /path/to/cron-prompt.txt)"

See references/cron-prompt.md for the full prompt template.

4. Keep HEARTBEAT.md Lightweight

The cron handles email. Heartbeat should only contain tasks that need main-session context (e.g., PR monitoring).

Critical Rules

Cron delivery: Always use --to <explicit-chat-id>. Never --channel last — it doesn't resolve in isolated sessions.

Cron timeout: Keep the prompt fast. Check email → spawn subagents → log → exit. Never wait for subagents inline. 120s is enough.

Error backoff: After 5+ consecutive errors the cron backs off exponentially. Delete and recreate to reset: openclaw cron delete <id> && openclaw cron add ...

Fire-and-forget: Subagents don't reliably call back to Telegram. Have the cron itself announce dispatches in its own reply (the cron reply is what gets delivered).

Validation Checklist

Before going live:

• Send test email to support address — cron picks it up within 15 min
• Cron dispatch reply arrives on Telegram
• Subagent opens a real branch + PR
• Assign a GitHub issue to bot manually — GitHub poll catches it
• lastDelivered: false on empty runs is expected (HEARTBEAT_OK is silent by design)

Debugging

bash

# Check cron status
openclaw cron list --json | jq '.jobs[0].state'

# Key fields to check:
# lastRunStatus: "ok" or "error"
# consecutiveErrors: should be 0
# lastDelivered: false on empty runs is normal; false on ticket-dispatch runs is a bug
# lastDeliveryStatus: "not-delivered" = delivery config wrong

# Check recent logs
tail -20 memory/heartbeat-log.jsonl

# Check inbox directly
python3 -c "
import imaplib, ssl
ctx = ssl.create_default_context()
M = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL('imap.ionos.com', 993, ssl_context=ctx)
M.login('[e-mail]', 'password')
M.select('INBOX')
print('Unread:', len(M.search(None, 'UNSEEN')[1][0].split()))
M.logout()
"

Reference Files

• references/cron-prompt.md — full cron job prompt template with email check + GitHub poll
• references/ticket-pipeline.md — how to instruct subagents to handle tickets end-to-end
• references/lessons-learned.md — real failure modes and fixes from production use