HEARTBEAT.md Example

Heartbeat is for periodic awareness. Use it for checks that can run approximately on a cadence and benefit from the agent’s context.

Use cron when timing must be exact.

Current Pattern: tasks: Block

OpenClaw can parse a small tasks: block inside HEARTBEAT.md. Each task has its own interval, and only due tasks are included in that heartbeat tick.

# HEARTBEAT.md

tasks:

- name: inbox-triage
  interval: 30m
  prompt: "Check for urgent unread messages from allowlisted senders. Alert only if action is needed."
- name: calendar-scan
  interval: 2h
  prompt: "Check the next 24 hours for meetings that need prep or follow-up."
- name: task-review
  interval: 1h
  prompt: "Review active background tasks and surface stalled or failed work."
- name: system-check
  interval: 24h
  prompt: "Check gateway status, recent errors, and task audit output."

# General rules

- Keep alerts short.
- Do not repeat old alerts.
- If nothing needs attention, reply HEARTBEAT_OK.

Heartbeat Config

For a low-cost heartbeat, combine an isolated session with light context:

{
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "heartbeat": {
        "every": "30m",
        "target": "last",
        "lightContext": true,
        "isolatedSession": true,
        "skipWhenBusy": true,
        "ackMaxChars": 300
      }
    }
  }
}

Notes:

• target: "none" runs the heartbeat without sending external messages.
• target: "last" sends alerts to the last external contact.
• HEARTBEAT_OK suppresses no-op replies.
• lightContext: true keeps the prompt smaller.
• isolatedSession: true avoids sending the full main conversation into every heartbeat.
• skipWhenBusy: true keeps the same agent from stacking heartbeat work on top of active nested work.

Prompt to Build Your HEARTBEAT.md

Create a small HEARTBEAT.md for my OpenClaw workspace.

Use a tasks: block instead of a custom state file.

Checks:
- inbox-triage every 30m
- calendar-scan every 2h
- task-review every 1h
- system-check every 24h

Rules:
- Alert only for actionable issues.
- Do not include secrets, tokens, or private IDs.
- If nothing needs attention, reply HEARTBEAT_OK.
- Keep each task prompt short.

When to Use Cron Instead

Use cron for:

• reports that must send at a specific time;
• one-shot reminders;
• weekly or daily jobs that should run in isolated sessions;
• long tasks that should produce background task records.

Example:

openclaw cron add \
  --name "Daily brief" \
  --cron "0 7 * * *" \
  --session isolated \
  --message "Prepare my daily brief from weather, calendar, and active tasks."

Inspect runs with:

openclaw cron list
openclaw cron runs --id <job-id>
openclaw tasks list

Related

• Config guide
• Task tracking
• Security hardening