OpenClaw Cron + Heartbeat: The Features That Make It Actually Autonomous

ChatGPT waits for you to type. Claude waits for you to type. OpenClaw does things while you sleep.

The two features that make this possible: cron jobs and heartbeats.

What Makes OpenClaw Different

Regular AI chatbots are reactive. OpenClaw is proactive:

• Checks your email before you wake up
• Monitors servers while you’re in meetings
• Publishes content on schedule
• Alerts you when something needs attention

Cron Jobs Explained

Morning Briefing 0 8 * * * Check weather, calendar, email inbox. Compile and send to Discord.

Website Monitor */15 * * * * Ping endpoints every 15 min. Alert if down or slow.

Weekly Report 0 17 * * 5 Compile metrics, summarize week, send report.

Social Publishing 0 10,14,18 * * 1-5 Pull from content queue, format, publish.

The Heartbeat System

Heartbeats are periodic wake-up calls where your agent checks a task list and decides what needs attention.

1. OpenClaw sends the heartbeat prompt (every 30 min default)
2. Agent reads HEARTBEAT.md
3. Checks each item, acts if needed, or replies HEARTBEAT_OK
4. State tracked in memory/heartbeat-state.json

HEARTBEAT.md Recipes

Email Watcher:

Check for unread emails from: [email protected], [email protected]
If found, summarize and alert immediately.

Calendar Guardian:

Check calendar for events in next 2 hours.
If meeting in <30 min, send reminder with prep notes.

Market Monitor:

Check BTC price. Alert if >5% change since last check.
Check Polymarket positions for >10% probability shifts.

Server Babysitter:

Ping: api.myapp.com, dashboard.myapp.com
Alert if response >3000ms or down.
Check disk usage. Alert if >85%.

Real Automations We Run

Our OpenClaw on a Raspberry Pi does daily:

1. 7:00 AM — Morning briefing
2. Every 30 min — Heartbeat checks
3. 10:00 AM — Content publishing check
4. Every 2 hours — SEO rank tracking
5. 6:00 PM — End-of-day summary
6. Friday 5 PM — Weekly metrics report

Total API cost: ~$15/month (hybrid local + cloud).

Scheduling Strategies

Don’t over-schedule. Start with 3–5 cron jobs.

Batch with heartbeats. One heartbeat checking 5 things beats 5 separate cron jobs.

Use local models for routine checks. Monitoring doesn’t need Claude Opus.

Time-zone awareness. 9 AM UTC is 4 AM Eastern.

Need pre-built recipes? The Business Automation Starter Pack includes 15+ cron job templates and HEARTBEAT.md configurations.

Want to build this yourself? The Automation Playbook ($19) has everything you need.