OpenClaw Cron Jobs: Scheduled AI Tasks

What Are OpenClaw Cron Jobs?

Cron jobs let your agent execute tasks on a precise schedule. Unlike heartbeats (approximate timing, batched checks), cron jobs run at exact times with isolated sessions.

When to Use Cron vs Heartbeats

Creating Cron Jobs

Daily Morning Briefing

openclaw cron add \
  --schedule "0 8 * * *" \
  --task "Send me a morning briefing: weather, calendar for today, any urgent emails" \
  --channel discord

Weekly Report

openclaw cron add \
  --schedule "0 17 * * 5" \
  --task "Generate a weekly summary of what we worked on this week based on memory files"

Hourly Uptime Check

openclaw cron add \
  --schedule "0 * * * *" \
  --task "Check if copypastelearn.com is responding. Only alert if it's down." \
  --model "gpt-4o-mini"

Managing Cron Jobs

# List all cron jobs
openclaw cron list

# Remove a cron job
openclaw cron remove <job-id>

# Pause a cron job
openclaw cron pause <job-id>

Practical Examples

Daily Git Summary

Schedule: Every day at 6 PM
Task: "Check git log for today's commits across all repos. Summarize what was done."

SSL Certificate Monitor

Schedule: Every Monday at 9 AM
Task: "Check SSL certificate expiry for all network sites. Alert if any expire within 30 days."

Content Reminder

Schedule: Every Wednesday at 10 AM
Task: "Remind me to publish this week's blog post on CopyPasteLearn."

Database Backup Verification

Schedule: Daily at 2 AM
Task: "Verify the database backup completed successfully. Check file size and timestamp."

Cost Optimization

Each cron job spawns a session and uses LLM tokens. To minimize costs:

1. Use cheaper models for simple checks (gpt-4o-mini)
2. Be concise in task descriptions
3. Set appropriate intervals — don't check every minute if hourly is fine
4. Combine related checks into single cron jobs
5. Use conditional alerts — "only message me if something is wrong"

Best Practices

• Test cron jobs manually before scheduling
• Start with longer intervals and tighten as needed
• Include the delivery channel in the job configuration
• Log cron results to daily memory files for audit trails

---

Ready to go deeper? Check out our hands-on course: OpenClaw Agent — practical exercises you can follow along on your own machine.

Further reading

To go deeper, the Ansible intelligent assistant and MCP server expands on these patterns in production.