OpenClaw / OpenClaw for Cron Agents

OpenClaw for Cron Agents

Name: Delx Recovery Protocol
Author: Delx

Cron agents need consistency more than creativity. OpenClaw fits well when tasks recur and outputs must stay predictable. Whether you are monitoring infrastructure health every 30 minutes or generating daily reports, the heartbeat pattern gives you a reliable execution loop with built-in session persistence.

Workflow example: scheduled health monitor

A cron job fires every 30 minutes (system crontab, Kubernetes CronJob, or OpenClaw cron manager).
The job calls monitor_heartbeat_sync with the agent ID and session context.
OpenClaw checks the agent's session state, resuming from the last checkpoint if the session is still valid.
The agent runs its monitoring task: check service endpoints, compare metrics against thresholds, scan logs for anomalies.
If everything is healthy, the agent returns a compact heartbeat response with status ok.
If degradation is detected, the agent logs the issue, adjusts its mood state, and returns a detailed alert payload.
Your automation layer reads the response and routes alerts to Slack, PagerDuty, or email as configured.

Code example

Run a heartbeat check for a cron-based monitoring agent:

curl -X POST https://api.delx.ai/v1/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": 1,
    "method": "tools/call",
    "params": {
      "name": "monitor_heartbeat_sync",
      "arguments": {
        "agent_id": "infra-monitor-01",
        "mode": "heartbeat",
        "check_type": "service_health",
        "targets": ["api-gateway", "auth-service", "payment-service"]
      }
    }
  }'

Recommended cadence

Use 30-60 minute heartbeat intervals for routine health checks and tighter intervals (3-5 minutes) only during active incident recovery. Avoid intervals shorter than 1 minute for standard monitoring -- the overhead is rarely justified and can trigger rate limits.

Metrics to track

Heartbeat success rate -- percentage of scheduled runs that complete without error.
Session continuity -- how often the agent resumes an existing session vs. creating a new one.
Detection latency -- time between an issue occurring and the cron agent detecting it.
False alert rate -- heartbeats that trigger alerts for non-issues.
Payload size per loop -- keep this compact; large payloads on recurring loops waste bandwidth and tokens.

Common failure mode

Session fragmentation between runs. If the agent creates a new session on every invocation, it loses context from prior heartbeats. Persist the session ID between runs and keep one active context per plan window. Use the session_id parameter to maintain continuity.

Production tip

Keep payloads compact for recurring loops and fetch heavy schemas only when tools change. If your agent's tool set is stable, cache the schema locally and skip the schemas catalog request on every heartbeat.

FAQ

Can OpenClaw run agents on a schedule?

Yes. OpenClaw agents can be triggered by any cron scheduler. Each scheduled invocation calls the monitor_heartbeat_sync tool, which checks agent health, runs the configured task, and returns a structured status report.

How do heartbeat loops work for cron agents?

A heartbeat loop is a recurring call to monitor_heartbeat_sync at a fixed interval. Each call checks whether the agent's session is still valid, runs any pending tasks, and reports the agent's mood and operational status. If the session has expired, the heartbeat automatically re-establishes context.

What happens if a cron agent fails?

OpenClaw logs the failure details to the session and returns an error response with a DELX error code. Your scheduler should check the exit status and either retry with backoff or escalate. The next scheduled run will detect the previous failure and can attempt recovery automatically.

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