Automation & Integrations

OpenClaw can be triggered by schedules, webhooks, and CI/CD pipelines — not just chat messages. This guide covers proactive automation beyond the basic heartbeat.

Cron Jobs

OpenClaw has a built-in cron system that persists jobs across restarts. Unlike the heartbeat (which runs the same check every N minutes), cron jobs run specific tasks at specific times.

Creating a Cron Job

Via CLI:

openclaw cron add \
  --name "Morning brief" \
  --cron "0 7 * * *" \
  --tz "America/Los_Angeles" \
  --session isolated \
  --message "Summarize overnight updates." \
  --announce \
  --channel slack \
  --to "channel:C1234567890"

Via config:

~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
{
  "cron": [
    {
      "name": "Morning brief",
      "schedule": {
        "kind": "cron",
        "expr": "0 7 * * *",
        "tz": "America/Los_Angeles"
      },
      "sessionTarget": "isolated",
      "wakeMode": "next-heartbeat",
      "payload": {
        "kind": "agentTurn",
        "message": "Summarize overnight updates."
      },
      "delivery": {
        "mode": "announce",
        "channel": "slack",
        "to": "channel:C1234567890",
        "bestEffort": true
      }
    }
  ]
}

Jobs persist under ~/.openclaw/cron/ so restarts don't lose schedules.

Cron vs Heartbeat

Feature	Heartbeat	Cron Jobs
Trigger	Every N minutes (default: 30)	Specific cron schedule
Task	Reads `HEARTBEAT.md`, checks for work	Runs a specific message/command
Session	Continues existing session	Can run isolated
Cost	Runs even when idle	Only runs at scheduled time
Use case	Monitoring, reactive checks	Scheduled reports, daily tasks

Rule of thumb: Use heartbeat for monitoring and reactive behavior. Use cron for scheduled, predictable tasks.

Example Cron Jobs

# Daily standup summary at 9 AM
openclaw cron add --name "Standup" --cron "0 9 * * 1-5" \
  --message "Summarize what I worked on yesterday from git logs and calendar."

# Weekly report every Friday at 5 PM
openclaw cron add --name "Weekly report" --cron "0 17 * * 5" \
  --message "Generate my weekly status report from this week's git activity."

# Hourly news check during work hours
openclaw cron add --name "News check" --cron "0 9-17 * * 1-5" \
  --message "Check for breaking news in AI and tech. Only alert if significant."

# Nightly backup verification
openclaw cron add --name "Backup check" --cron "0 2 * * *" \
  --message "Verify that nightly backups completed successfully."

Managing Cron Jobs

openclaw cron list              # List all jobs
openclaw cron remove <name>     # Remove a job
openclaw cron pause <name>      # Pause without removing
openclaw cron resume <name>     # Resume a paused job

Webhooks

OpenClaw can receive and send webhooks for event-driven automation.

Incoming Webhooks

Trigger agent actions from external events:

~/.openclaw/config.yml
webhooks:
  incoming:
    enabled: true
    secret: "your-webhook-secret"
    endpoints:
      - path: /deploy-alert
        message: "A deployment just completed: {{body}}"
      - path: /error-alert
        message: "Production error detected: {{body}}"

External services send a POST to http://localhost:18789/webhook/<path> with the webhook secret, and the agent processes the message.

Outgoing Webhooks

Have OpenClaw notify external services when events occur:

~/.openclaw/config.yml
webhooks:
  outgoing:
    - event: "agent.task.completed"
      url: "https://hooks.slack.com/services/YOUR/WEBHOOK/URL"
    - event: "security.alert"
      url: "https://your-monitoring.example.com/alerts"

CI/CD Integration

GitHub Actions

OpenClaw can automate code review, PR management, and CI tasks via GitHub Actions:

.github/workflows/openclaw-review.yml
name: OpenClaw PR Review
on:
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize]

jobs:
  review:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Install OpenClaw
        run: npm install -g openclaw
      - name: Review PR
        env:
          ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY }}
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        run: |
          openclaw chat --once "Review this pull request. Check for bugs, security issues, and style. Post your review as a GitHub comment."

Best practice: Use read-only access. OpenClaw excels at reviewing code without needing push access:

Pattern	Access	Use Case
PR review	Read	Code review comments, suggestions
Issue triage	Read + Comment	Label, categorize, request info
Release notes	Read	Generate changelogs from commits
Test analysis	Read	Analyze test failures, suggest fixes

Lobster Workflows

Lobster is OpenClaw's official workflow shell for composable pipelines:

workflows/deploy.yml
name: Deploy Pipeline
steps:
  - name: lint
    skill: code-lint
    input: "{{ files.changed }}"
  - name: test
    skill: run-tests
    needs: [lint]
  - name: deploy
    skill: deploy-staging
    needs: [test]
    approval: required

Lobster provides typed pipelines, approval gates for side-effect actions, and persistent state between runs.

Service Integrations

Messaging Platforms

Full integration guides are in Channels & Integrations. Quick reference:

Platform	Setup	Automation Use Case
Slack	OAuth app	Team notifications, standup bots, incident response
Discord	Bot token	Community management, moderation, FAQ bot
Telegram	Bot token	Personal assistant, alerts, remote control
WhatsApp	QR scan	Personal messaging, family coordination
iMessage	macOS only	Personal assistant (calendar, reminders)

Developer Tools

Service	Integration	Key Capabilities
GitHub	OAuth/token	Issues, PRs, code review, notifications
Gmail	OAuth	Read, send, search, label emails
Google Calendar	OAuth	Create events, check availability, reminders
Notion	API token	Read/write pages, database queries
Linear	API token	Issue tracking, sprint management
Jira	API token	Issue management, status updates

Smart Home

Platform	Integration	Capabilities
Home Assistant	REST API	Control lights, locks, thermostats, automations
Philips Hue	Bridge API	Smart light control
IFTTT	Webhooks	Bridge to 700+ services

See the Smart Home recipe for a complete setup guide.

Automation Patterns

Morning Briefing

Combine cron + multiple integrations:

openclaw cron add --name "Morning brief" --cron "0 7 * * 1-5" \
  --message "Good morning. Check my calendar for today, summarize unread emails, check GitHub notifications, and give me a weather forecast. Send the summary to WhatsApp."

Inbox Monitor

Use heartbeat for reactive monitoring:

~/.openclaw/HEARTBEAT.md
## Email Monitor
- Check Gmail for unread emails from VIP contacts
- If urgent (contains "urgent", "ASAP", "emergency"), send me a Telegram alert
- Otherwise, batch summary at next heartbeat

Deploy Watcher

~/.openclaw/HEARTBEAT.md
## Deploy Monitor
- Check GitHub Actions for failed deployments in my repos
- If a deploy failed, analyze the logs and send me a Slack message
  with the error summary and suggested fix

Content Pipeline

# Daily content automation
openclaw cron add --name "Content pipeline" --cron "0 8 * * 1-5" \
  --message "Check my content calendar in Notion. For any post due today, draft it based on the outline and save to Google Docs. Notify me on Slack when ready for review."

Security Considerations

Automation increases risk because actions happen without human oversight:

Limit scope: Give cron jobs and heartbeat tasks the minimum permissions needed
Set quiet hours: Disable autonomous operation during sleep — see Cost Management
Audit regularly: Review ~/.openclaw/cron/ and HEARTBEAT.md for unauthorized entries
Webhook secrets: Always use shared secrets for incoming webhooks
CI/CD tokens: Use repository-scoped tokens with minimal permissions
Read-only patterns: Prefer read-only integrations for automated tasks

Cron Jobs​

Creating a Cron Job​

Cron vs Heartbeat​

Example Cron Jobs​

Managing Cron Jobs​

Webhooks​

Incoming Webhooks​

Outgoing Webhooks​

CI/CD Integration​

GitHub Actions​

Lobster Workflows​

Service Integrations​

Messaging Platforms​

Developer Tools​

Smart Home​

Automation Patterns​

Morning Briefing​

Inbox Monitor​

Deploy Watcher​

Content Pipeline​

Security Considerations​

See Also​