Automations

Automations are OpenClaw's built-in scheduler. The scheduler persists jobs, wakes the agent at the right time, and can deliver output to a chat channel, a webhook, or nowhere.

Manage automations with the openclaw automations CLI; openclaw cron remains an alias for the same commands.

Quick start

openclaw automations create "2027-02-01T16:00:00Z" \  --name "Reminder" \  --session main \  --system-event "Reminder: check the automations docs draft" \  --wake now \  --delete-after-run

openclaw automations listopenclaw automations get <job-id>openclaw automations show <job-id>

openclaw automations runs <job-id>

Where each section moved

This page is an index. Each section below moved to a child page, and every anchor from the single-page version still resolves here.

Runtime model and promotion

How automations work — Runtime model, run lifecycle, and job promotion.

• How automations work
• Isolated run hardening
• Task reconciliation
• Promoting a repeated job into an automation

Schedule and trigger sections

Automation schedules — Schedule kinds, cron rules, pacing, and condition watchers.

• Schedule types
• Heartbeat task migration
• Stream sources
• Dynamic cadence (pacing)
• /loop chat shortcut
• Day-of-month and day-of-week use OR logic
• Event triggers (condition watchers)

Payload and execution sections

Automation payloads — Payload kinds, agent-turn flags, and session execution styles.

• Payloads
• Agent-turn options
• --message
• --model
• --fallbacks
• --clear-fallbacks
• --clear-model
• --thinking
• --clear-thinking
• --light-context
• --tools
• Command payloads
• Script payloads
• Execution styles
• Codex apps in scheduled automations
• Main session vs current vs isolated vs custom
• What 'fresh session' means for isolated jobs
• Unattended run contract
• Subagent and Discord delivery

Delivery sections

Automation delivery — Delivery modes, failure notifications, and output language.

• Delivery and output
• Failure notifications
• Output language

Management and configuration sections

Manage automations — CLI examples, management commands, run history, and config keys.

• CLI examples
• One-shot reminder
• Recurring isolated job
• Model and thinking override
• Webhook output
• Command output
• Managing jobs
• Conversational management
• CLI management
• Configuration
• Retry behavior
• Maintenance
• Legacy store migration

Inbound webhook sections

Inbound webhooks — Gateway HTTP hooks for external callers.

• Webhooks
• Enable and test an agent hook
• Authentication
• POST /hooks/wake
• POST /hooks/agent
• Mapped hooks (POST /hooks/<name>)
• Verify and troubleshoot hook requests

Gmail sections

Gmail PubSub triggers — Gmail inbox triggers through Google Pub/Sub.

• Gmail PubSub integration
• Configure a restricted Gmail reader (recommended)
• Authenticate the reader model
• Connect Gmail transport
• Verify the reader boundary
• Gateway auto-start
• Manual one-time setup
• Select the GCP project
• Create topic and grant Gmail push access
• Start the watch
• Gmail model override

Troubleshooting sections

Automation troubleshooting — Command ladder and common automation failure shapes.

• Troubleshooting
• Command ladder
• Automations not firing
• Job fired but no delivery
• Automations or heartbeat appear to prevent /new-style rollover
• Timezone gotchas

Related

• Automation — all automation mechanisms at a glance
• Background Tasks — task ledger for automation runs
• Heartbeat — periodic main-session turns
• Standing intents — event-triggered work instead of a schedule
• Standing orders — the operating authority a scheduled run acts under
• Timezone — timezone configuration