Cron: enforce cron-owned delivery contract (#40998)

Merged via squash.

Prepared head SHA: 5877389e33
Co-authored-by: mbelinky <132747814+mbelinky@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: mbelinky <132747814+mbelinky@users.noreply.github.com>
Reviewed-by: @mbelinky

docs/automation/cron-jobs.md

@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ Troubleshooting: [/automation/troubleshooting](/automation/troubleshooting)
 - Wakeups are first-class: a job can request “wake now” vs “next heartbeat”.
 - Webhook posting is per job via `delivery.mode = "webhook"` + `delivery.to = "<url>"`.
 - Legacy fallback remains for stored jobs with `notify: true` when `cron.webhook` is set, migrate those jobs to webhook delivery mode.
+- For upgrades, `openclaw doctor --fix` can normalize legacy cron store fields before the scheduler touches them.
 
 ## Quick start (actionable)
 

docs/cli/cron.md

@@ -30,6 +30,12 @@ Note: retention/pruning is controlled in config:
 - `cron.sessionRetention` (default `24h`) prunes completed isolated run sessions.
 - `cron.runLog.maxBytes` + `cron.runLog.keepLines` prune `~/.openclaw/cron/runs/<jobId>.jsonl`.
 
+Upgrade note: if you have older cron jobs from before the current delivery/store format, run
+`openclaw doctor --fix`. Doctor now normalizes legacy cron fields (`jobId`, `schedule.cron`,
+top-level delivery fields, payload `provider` delivery aliases) and migrates simple
+`notify: true` webhook fallback jobs to explicit webhook delivery when `cron.webhook` is
+configured.
+
 ## Common edits
 
 Update delivery settings without changing the message:

docs/cli/doctor.md

@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ Notes:
 - Interactive prompts (like keychain/OAuth fixes) only run when stdin is a TTY and `--non-interactive` is **not** set. Headless runs (cron, Telegram, no terminal) will skip prompts.
 - `--fix` (alias for `--repair`) writes a backup to `~/.openclaw/openclaw.json.bak` and drops unknown config keys, listing each removal.
 - State integrity checks now detect orphan transcript files in the sessions directory and can archive them as `.deleted.<timestamp>` to reclaim space safely.
+- Doctor also scans `~/.openclaw/cron/jobs.json` (or `cron.store`) for legacy cron job shapes and can rewrite them in place before the scheduler has to auto-normalize them at runtime.
 - Doctor includes a memory-search readiness check and can recommend `openclaw configure --section model` when embedding credentials are missing.
 - If sandbox mode is enabled but Docker is unavailable, doctor reports a high-signal warning with remediation (`install Docker` or `openclaw config set agents.defaults.sandbox.mode off`).
 

docs/gateway/doctor.md

@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ cat ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
 - Config normalization for legacy values.
 - OpenCode Zen provider override warnings (`models.providers.opencode`).
 - Legacy on-disk state migration (sessions/agent dir/WhatsApp auth).
+- Legacy cron store migration (`jobId`, `schedule.cron`, top-level delivery/payload fields, payload `provider`, simple `notify: true` webhook fallback jobs).
 - State integrity and permissions checks (sessions, transcripts, state dir).
 - Config file permission checks (chmod 600) when running locally.
 - Model auth health: checks OAuth expiry, can refresh expiring tokens, and reports auth-profile cooldown/disabled states.
@@ -158,6 +159,25 @@ the legacy sessions + agent dir on startup so history/auth/models land in the
 per-agent path without a manual doctor run. WhatsApp auth is intentionally only
 migrated via `openclaw doctor`.
 
+### 3b) Legacy cron store migrations
+
+Doctor also checks the cron job store (`~/.openclaw/cron/jobs.json` by default,
+or `cron.store` when overridden) for old job shapes that the scheduler still
+accepts for compatibility.
+
+Current cron cleanups include:
+
+- `jobId` → `id`
+- `schedule.cron` → `schedule.expr`
+- top-level payload fields (`message`, `model`, `thinking`, ...) → `payload`
+- top-level delivery fields (`deliver`, `channel`, `to`, `provider`, ...) → `delivery`
+- payload `provider` delivery aliases → explicit `delivery.channel`
+- simple legacy `notify: true` webhook fallback jobs → explicit `delivery.mode="webhook"` with `delivery.to=cron.webhook`
+
+Doctor only auto-migrates `notify: true` jobs when it can do so without
+changing behavior. If a job combines legacy notify fallback with an existing
+non-webhook delivery mode, doctor warns and leaves that job for manual review.
+
 ### 4) State integrity checks (session persistence, routing, and safety)
 
 The state directory is the operational brainstem. If it vanishes, you lose