Command Overview
The openclaw cron command manages OpenClaw's scheduled task system. You can set up timed message delivery, periodic AI tasks, or automated workflow triggers.
View Scheduled Tasks
openclaw cron list
Cron Jobs:
ID Schedule Channel Status Description
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
daily-news 0 8 * * * telegram-main Active Daily news digest
weekly-rpt 0 9 * * 1 slack-team Active Weekly report
health-chk */5 * * * * - Active System health check
birthday 0 10 * * * telegram-main Active Birthday reminder
Create a Scheduled Task
Interactive Creation
openclaw cron add
Command-Line Creation
# Send a news digest every day at 8 AM
openclaw cron add daily-news \
--schedule "0 8 * * *" \
--channel telegram-main \
--prompt "Search for today's tech news and generate a brief summary" \
--tools web_search
# Generate a weekly report every Monday at 9 AM
openclaw cron add weekly-report \
--schedule "0 9 * * 1" \
--channel slack-team \
--prompt "Summarize this week's project progress and generate a weekly report" \
--model gpt-4o
# Check system health every 5 minutes
openclaw cron add health-monitor \
--schedule "*/5 * * * *" \
--action health-check \
--notify-on-failure telegram-admin
Cron Expressions
┌───────────── minute (0-59)
│ ┌───────────── hour (0-23)
│ │ ┌───────────── day of month (1-31)
│ │ │ ┌───────────── month (1-12)
│ │ │ │ ┌───────────── day of week (0-7, both 0 and 7 are Sunday)
│ │ │ │ │
* * * * *
Common expressions:
| Expression | Meaning |
|---|---|
0 8 * * * |
Every day at 8:00 |
0 */2 * * * |
Every 2 hours |
0 9 * * 1 |
Every Monday at 9:00 |
0 0 1 * * |
First day of every month at 0:00 |
*/5 * * * * |
Every 5 minutes |
0 8,12,18 * * * |
Daily at 8, 12, and 18 |
Shorthand is also supported:
openclaw cron add task --schedule "@daily" # Every day at 0:00
openclaw cron add task --schedule "@hourly" # Every hour
openclaw cron add task --schedule "@weekly" # Every Sunday at 0:00
Task Types
AI Message Tasks
Have the AI generate and send messages:
openclaw cron add morning-greeting \
--schedule "0 8 * * *" \
--channel telegram-main \
--prompt "Greet everyone with a friendly good morning, include an inspirational quote"
System Tasks
Perform system maintenance operations:
# Periodically clean up expired sessions
openclaw cron add cleanup \
--schedule "0 3 * * *" \
--action sessions-cleanup \
--args "--older-than 7d"
# Periodic backups
openclaw cron add backup \
--schedule "0 2 * * *" \
--action backup \
--args "--output /backups/"
Webhook Trigger Tasks
Periodically call external APIs:
openclaw cron add api-check \
--schedule "*/10 * * * *" \
--action webhook \
--url "https://api.example.com/status" \
--notify-on-failure telegram-admin
Manage Tasks
# Pause a task
openclaw cron pause daily-news
# Resume a task
openclaw cron resume daily-news
# Run once immediately
openclaw cron run daily-news
# Update the schedule
openclaw cron update daily-news --schedule "0 9 * * *"
# Delete a task
openclaw cron delete old-task
View Execution Logs
openclaw cron logs daily-news
openclaw cron logs daily-news --last 10
Execution Log: daily-news
[2026-03-18 08:00:01] ✓ Completed (2.5s) - Message sent
[2026-03-17 08:00:01] ✓ Completed (3.1s) - Message sent
[2026-03-16 08:00:02] ✗ Failed - Provider timeout
[2026-03-15 08:00:01] ✓ Completed (1.8s) - Message sent
Timezone Settings
# Set global timezone
openclaw cron set-timezone "Asia/Shanghai"
# Set timezone for a specific task
openclaw cron update daily-news --timezone "America/New_York"
Summary
openclaw cron transforms the AI assistant from a purely reactive tool into one that can proactively perform scheduled tasks. From daily news digests to system maintenance, scheduled tasks greatly expand OpenClaw's automation capabilities.