Cron Setup

Cron Job Setup

Our conventions for creating cron jobs in OpenClaw.

Default Settings

SettingDefaultWhyModelanthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5Reliable tool calls, works with any Anthropic Max plan — no OpenRouter neededSessionisolatedCron jobs run in their own session, not the main chatDelivery"mode": "none"Job handles its own output (posts to Discord, etc.)Timeout120-180sMost 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

PatternCron ExpressionNotesEvery 30 min*/30 * * * *Good for inbox checks, monitoringEvery hour0 * * * *Self-reflection, status checksDaily at 4 AM0 4 * * *Cleanup, backups (during quiet hours)Daily at 6 AM0 6 * * *Morning digests, daily summariesWeekly Monday 2 PM0 14 * * 1Weekly outreach, reviewsOne-shotUse "kind": "at" insteadReminders, one-time tasks

Task Instruction Conventions

Be explicit with commands — Give the cron agent exact bash commands to run. It doesn't have our context. Include skip conditions — If there's nothing to do, the agent should reply SKIP to avoid wasting tokens. 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. Include error handling — What should happen if a command fails? 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

ModeWhen 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