Manage OpenClaw Tasks: Essential CLI Commands

It is frustrating when you follow a guide only to find the commands do not work. If you are looking for ClawFlow or trying to use openclaw flows, you are likely looking at older documentation. The tool has changed to make managing background work clearer.

You might see ClawFlow in older release notes as if it were a standalone runtime, but that is no longer the case. The current way to handle detached work is through the openclaw tasks command.

What to use today

Today, you should use openclaw tasks for inspecting and managing detached work. This is the supported CLI surface you need for your operations.

• openclaw tasks list shows tracked detached runs
• openclaw tasks show <lookup> shows one task by task id, run id, or session key
• openclaw tasks cancel <lookup> cancels a running task
• openclaw tasks audit surfaces stale or broken task runs

openclaw tasks list
openclaw tasks show <lookup>
openclaw tasks cancel <lookup>

What this means for older references

If you see ClawFlow or openclaw flows in old release notes, issue threads, stale search results, or your own local notes, you should update them. Translate those old instructions to the current task CLI:

• openclaw flows list -> openclaw tasks list
• openclaw flows show <lookup> -> openclaw tasks show <lookup>
• openclaw flows cancel <lookup> -> openclaw tasks cancel <lookup>

Related

• Background Tasks — detached work ledger
• CLI: flows — compatibility note for the mistaken command name
• Cron Jobs — scheduled jobs that may create tasks

Next Steps

• Check out the Background Tasks documentation for a deeper look at the ledger.
• Review Cron Jobs to see how scheduled jobs interact with these tasks.

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