Master OpenClaw Automation: Choose the Right Mechanism

Managing agents manually is a drag. You want your tools to work for you while you sleep, whether that’s checking your email or running a report every Monday. OpenClaw gives you several ways to automate these tasks, but it isn’t always obvious which one to pick.

This guide breaks down the different automation styles so you can get your setup running without the guesswork.

Quick decision guide

flowchart TD
    A{Run on a schedule?} -->|Yes| B{Exact timing needed?}
    A -->|No| C{React to events?}
    B -->|Yes| D[Cron]
    B -->|No| E[Heartbeat]
    C -->|Yes| F[Hooks]
    C -->|No| G[Standing Orders]

Mechanisms at a glance

Mechanism	What it does	Runs in	Creates task record
Heartbeat	Periodic main-session turn — batches multiple checks	Main session	No
Cron	Scheduled jobs with precise timing	Main or isolated session	Yes (all types)
Background Tasks	Tracks detached work (cron, ACP, subagents, CLI)	N/A (ledger)	N/A
Hooks	Event-driven scripts triggered by agent lifecycle events	Hook runner	No
Standing Orders	Persistent instructions injected into the system prompt	Main session	No
Webhooks	Receive inbound HTTP events and route to the agent	Gateway HTTP	No

Specialized automation

Mechanism	What it does
Gmail PubSub	Real-time Gmail notifications via Google PubSub
Polling	Periodic data source checks (RSS, APIs, etc.)
Auth Monitoring	Credential health and expiry alerts

How they work together

Most effective setups use a mix of these tools. Here is how they usually fit into a workflow:

1. Heartbeat handles routine monitoring (inbox, calendar, notifications) in one batched turn every 30 minutes.
2. Cron handles precise schedules (daily reports, weekly reviews) and one-shot reminders.
3. Hooks react to specific events (tool calls, session resets, compaction) with custom scripts.
4. Standing Orders give the agent persistent context (“always check the project board before replying”).
5. Background Tasks automatically track all detached work so you can inspect and audit it.

See Cron vs Heartbeat for a detailed comparison of the two scheduling mechanisms.

Older ClawFlow references

Older release notes and docs may mention ClawFlow or openclaw flows, but the current CLI surface in this repo is openclaw tasks.

See Background Tasks for the supported task ledger commands, plus ClawFlow and CLI: flows for compatibility notes.

Related

• Cron vs Heartbeat — detailed comparison guide
• ClawFlow — compatibility note for older docs and release notes
• Troubleshooting — debugging automation issues
• Configuration Reference — all config keys

Next steps

If you are ready to start building, I recommend checking out the Cron vs Heartbeat guide first. It helps you decide how to handle your recurring tasks. You can also look at Background Tasks to see how to manage your work once it is running.

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