Automating Tasks with OpenClaw Cron Scheduling

Cron Scheduling

OpenClaw's cron system lets you schedule recurring tasks. The pattern is simple: trigger + action + deliver — define when it runs, what it does, and where results go.

Basic Cron Setup

Add cron jobs to your openclaw.json:

{
  "cron": [
    {
      "schedule": "0 8 * * *",
      "action": "Generate my daily briefing with top news, weather, and calendar events",
      "channel": "telegram"
    }
  ]
}

This sends a daily briefing to Telegram every morning at 8 AM.

Cron Expression Format

┌───────────── minute (0-59)
│ ┌───────────── hour (0-23)
│ │ ┌───────────── day of month (1-31)
│ │ │ ┌───────────── month (1-12)
│ │ │ │ ┌───────────── day of week (0-7, 0 and 7 = Sunday)
│ │ │ │ │
* * * * *

Common Schedules

• 0 8 * * * — Every day at 8 AM
• 0 9 * * 1 — Every Monday at 9 AM
• */30 * * * * — Every 30 minutes
• 0 0 1 * * — First day of each month

Example Automations

Daily News Digest

{
  "schedule": "0 7 * * *",
  "action": "Search for top tech news and send a 5-bullet summary",
  "channel": "whatsapp"
}

Weekly Project Report

{
  "schedule": "0 17 * * 5",
  "action": "Read my project-notes.md and generate a weekly progress summary",
  "channel": "slack"
}

Periodic Website Check

{
  "schedule": "0 */4 * * *",
  "action": "Check if example.com is responding and alert me if it's down",
  "channel": "telegram"
}

Morning Motivation

{
  "schedule": "0 6 * * *",
  "action": "Send me an inspiring quote and a reminder of my top 3 goals from goals.md",
  "channel": "whatsapp"
}

Tips

• Use natural language for the action — OpenClaw interprets it like a regular message
• Cron jobs have full access to your configured skills and tools
• Test your action by sending it as a regular message first
• Check timezone settings in your configuration