Skills cron-setup

Name: cron-setup
Author: openclaw

Create and manage OpenClaw cron jobs following our conventions. Use when setting up periodic tasks, reminders, automated checks, or any scheduled work.

install

source · Clone the upstream repo

git clone https://github.com/openclaw/skills

Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/

T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/openclaw/skills "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/skills/brennerspear/cron-setup" ~/.claude/skills/openclaw-skills-cron-setup && rm -rf "$T"

OpenClaw · Install into ~/.openclaw/skills/

T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/openclaw/skills "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/skills && cp -r "$T/skills/brennerspear/cron-setup" ~/.openclaw/skills/openclaw-skills-cron-setup && rm -rf "$T"

manifest: skills/brennerspear/cron-setup/SKILL.md

Cron Job Setup

Our conventions for creating cron jobs in OpenClaw.

Default Settings

Setting	Default	Why
Model	`anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5`	Reliable tool calls, works with any Anthropic Max plan — no OpenRouter needed
Session	`isolated`	Cron jobs run in their own session, not the main chat
Delivery	`"mode": "none"`	Job handles its own output (posts to Discord, etc.)
Timeout	120-180s	Most jobs should finish fast

Model Notes

Default to Sonnet (
```
anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5
```
). Reliable, portable (no OpenRouter API key needed).
DeepSeek is unreliable for tool calls — don't use it for cron jobs.
Use Opus (
```
anthropic/claude-opus-4-6
```
) only as a last resort — expensive for scheduled tasks.

Model ID format: Use

anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5

not the full dated version (

anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-20250514

Job Template

{
  "name": "descriptive-kebab-case-name",
  "schedule": {
    "kind": "cron",
    "expr": "*/30 * * * *",
    "tz": "America/New_York"
  },
  "sessionTarget": "isolated",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "agentTurn",
    "message": "TASK INSTRUCTIONS HERE",
    "model": "openrouter/deepseek/deepseek-v3.2",
    "timeoutSeconds": 120
  },
  "delivery": {
    "mode": "none"
  }
}

Schedule Patterns

Pattern	Cron Expression	Notes
Every 30 min	`/30 * * *`	Good for inbox checks, monitoring
Every hour	`0 * * * *`	Self-reflection, status checks
Daily at 4 AM	`0 4 * * *`	Cleanup, backups (during quiet hours)
Daily at 6 AM	`0 6 * * *`	Morning digests, daily summaries
Weekly Monday 2 PM	`0 14 * * 1`	Weekly outreach, reviews
One-shot	Use `"kind": "at"` instead	Reminders, one-time tasks

Task Instruction Conventions

Be explicit with commands — Give the cron agent exact bash commands to run. It doesn't have our context.
Include skip conditions — If there's nothing to do, the agent should reply
```
SKIP
```
to avoid wasting tokens.
Handle its own output — The job should post results to Telegram (or wherever) using the
```
message
```
tool directly. Don't rely on delivery mode for formatted output.
Include error handling — What should happen if a command fails?
Keep instructions self-contained — The cron agent wakes up with no context. Everything it needs should be in the task message.

Telegram Posting from Cron Jobs

When a cron job needs to notify us, include these instructions in the task:

Post to Telegram using the message tool:
- action: send
- channel: telegram
- target: -1003856094222
- threadId: TOPIC_ID
- message: Your formatted message

Topic IDs:

```
1
```
— Main topic (general updates, alerts)
```
573
```
— Research
```
1032
```
— Crypto
```
1488
```
— PR updates / dev notifications
```
1869
```
— Sticker store
```
3188
```
— Activity feed (workspace changes)

Delivery Modes

Mode When to Use

"mode": "none"

Job posts its own output to Telegram (most common)

"mode": "announce"

OpenClaw auto-delivers the agent's final message to a channel. Use when output IS the message (e.g., daily digest). Set

"channel": "telegram"

and

"to": "-1003856094222:TOPIC_ID"

Anti-Patterns

❌ Don't use Opus for cron jobs unless the task genuinely needs it. Most cron tasks are simple checks. ❌ Don't use heartbeat for things that can be a cron job. Heartbeat runs in the main session (Opus) and costs way more. ❌ Don't create cron jobs that loop/poll — each run should be a single check. If you need polling, use a background exec script instead. ❌ Don't set delivery mode to "announce" and also have the job post to Telegram — you'll get duplicate messages.

Existing Jobs (Reference)

Check current jobs anytime with the

cron list

tool. As of setup:

```
workspace-activity-feed
```
— Every 30 min, commits workspace changes, posts to activity feed
```
agentmail-inbox-check
```
— Every 30 min, checks for new emails, responds to agents
```
sub-agent-monitor
```
— Every 15 min, checks on stalled sub-agents
```
self-reflection
```
— Hourly, reviews recent sessions for lessons learned
```
daily-workspace-commit
```
— Daily 4 AM, git commits workspace changes
```
system-watchdog
```
— Daily 4 AM, checks system resources
```
OpenClaw Daily News Digest
```
— Daily 6 AM, generates news digest
```
sticker-sales-loop
```
— Weekly Monday 2 PM, agent outreach for sticker store