从“只会 heartbeat 吗？”到可控自治：heartbeat + cron 分层执行手册
问题/场景：用户常把 OpenClaw 的自动化误解为“只能 heartbeat 轮询”。前置：可编辑 HEARTBEAT.md、可创建 cron。实施步骤：用 heartbeat 做批处理巡检，用 cron 做准点触发和一次性提醒，再加状态文件去重。关键命令：`openclaw cron list`、`openclaw cron add`。验证：同类任务不重复提醒、准点任务按时触发。风险：把所有任务都塞到 heartbeat 会造成噪音与漂移。来源：Reddit 讨论 + 官方 cron 文档交叉整理。
REDDITDiscovered 2026-02-21Author hotweights
Prerequisites
- Heartbeat is enabled and you can edit `HEARTBEAT.md` in the workspace.
- You have permission to create/update cron jobs for precise schedules.
Steps
- Classify tasks into two buckets: (a) periodic checks tolerant to drift, (b) exact-time triggers.
- Put A-class tasks in `HEARTBEAT.md` as a compact checklist and run them in one batched pass.
- Create cron jobs for B-class tasks (meeting reminders, one-shot follow-ups, fixed-time sends).
- Record last-run timestamps in a state file and skip when not due to prevent duplicate notifications.
- Review weekly: move noisy heartbeat items to cron or reduce frequency if they produce low-value alerts.
Commands
openclaw cron listopenclaw cron addopenclaw cron runs <jobId>Verify
Heartbeat messages stay concise while exact-time reminders arrive on schedule without duplicates for at least 3 days.
Caveats
- Cron payload/sessionTarget combinations are constrained by OpenClaw schema; invalid combinations will fail.
- Exact cron CLI flags may vary by release; verify with local help/docs before applying in production（需验证）.
Source attribution
This tip is aggregated from community/public sources and preserved with attribution.
Open original source ↗