openclaw/docs/cli/cron.md

summary, read_when, title

summary	read_when	title
CLI reference for `openclaw cron` (schedule and run background jobs)	You want scheduled jobs and wakeups You’re debugging cron execution and logs	cron

openclaw cron

Manage cron jobs for the Gateway scheduler.

Related:

• Cron jobs: Cron jobs

Tip: run openclaw cron --help for the full command surface.

Note: isolated cron add jobs default to --announce delivery. Use --no-deliver to keep output internal. --deliver remains as a deprecated alias for --announce.

Note: cron-owned isolated runs expect a plain-text summary and the runner owns the final send path. --no-deliver keeps the run internal; it does not hand delivery back to the agent's message tool.

Note: one-shot (--at) jobs delete after success by default. Use --keep-after-run to keep them.

Note: --session supports main, isolated, current, and session:<id>. Use current to bind to the active session at creation time, or session:<id> for an explicit persistent session key.

Note: for one-shot CLI jobs, offset-less --at datetimes are treated as UTC unless you also pass --tz <iana>, which interprets that local wall-clock time in the given timezone.

Note: recurring jobs now use exponential retry backoff after consecutive errors (30s → 1m → 5m → 15m → 60m), then return to normal schedule after the next successful run.

Note: openclaw cron run now returns as soon as the manual run is queued for execution. Successful responses include { ok: true, enqueued: true, runId }; use openclaw cron runs --id <job-id> to follow the eventual outcome.

Note: openclaw cron run <job-id> force-runs by default. Use --due to keep the older "only run if due" behavior.

Note: isolated cron turns suppress stale acknowledgement-only replies. If the first result is just an interim status update and no descendant subagent run is responsible for the eventual answer, cron re-prompts once for the real result before delivery.

Note: if an isolated cron run returns only the silent token (NO_REPLY / no_reply), cron suppresses direct outbound delivery and the fallback queued summary path as well, so nothing is posted back to chat.

Note: cron add|edit --model ... uses that selected allowed model for the job. If the model is not allowed, cron warns and falls back to the job's agent/default model selection instead. Configured fallback chains still apply, but a plain model override with no explicit per-job fallback list no longer appends the agent primary as a hidden extra retry target.

Note: isolated cron model precedence is Gmail-hook override first, then per-job --model, then any stored cron-session model override, then the normal agent/default selection.

Note: isolated cron fast mode follows the resolved live model selection. Model config params.fastMode applies by default, but a stored session fastMode override still wins over config.

Note: if an isolated run throws LiveSessionModelSwitchError, cron persists the switched provider/model (and switched auth profile override when present) before retrying. The outer retry loop is bounded to 2 switch retries after the initial attempt, then aborts instead of looping forever.

Note: failure notifications use delivery.failureDestination first, then global cron.failureDestination, and finally fall back to the job's primary announce target when no explicit failure destination is configured.

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 including legacy threadId, 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:

openclaw cron edit <job-id> --announce --channel telegram --to "123456789"

Disable delivery for an isolated job:

openclaw cron edit <job-id> --no-deliver

Enable lightweight bootstrap context for an isolated job:

openclaw cron edit <job-id> --light-context

Announce to a specific channel:

openclaw cron edit <job-id> --announce --channel slack --to "channel:C1234567890"

Create an isolated job with lightweight bootstrap context:

openclaw cron add \
  --name "Lightweight morning brief" \
  --cron "0 7 * * *" \
  --session isolated \
  --message "Summarize overnight updates." \
  --light-context \
  --no-deliver

--light-context applies to isolated agent-turn jobs only. For cron runs, lightweight mode keeps bootstrap context empty instead of injecting the full workspace bootstrap set.

Delivery ownership note:

• Cron-owned isolated jobs always route final user-visible delivery through the cron runner (announce, webhook, or internal-only none).
• If the task mentions messaging some external recipient, the agent should describe the intended destination in its result instead of trying to send it directly.

Common admin commands

Manual run:

openclaw cron run <job-id>
openclaw cron run <job-id> --due
openclaw cron runs --id <job-id> --limit 50

Agent/session retargeting:

openclaw cron edit <job-id> --agent ops
openclaw cron edit <job-id> --clear-agent
openclaw cron edit <job-id> --session current
openclaw cron edit <job-id> --session "session:daily-brief"

Delivery tweaks:

openclaw cron edit <job-id> --announce --channel slack --to "channel:C1234567890"
openclaw cron edit <job-id> --best-effort-deliver
openclaw cron edit <job-id> --no-best-effort-deliver
openclaw cron edit <job-id> --no-deliver

Failure-delivery note:

• delivery.failureDestination is supported for isolated jobs.
• Main-session jobs may only use delivery.failureDestination when primary delivery mode is webhook.
• If you do not set any failure destination and the job already announces to a channel, failure notifications reuse that same announce target.