How to schedule tasks or reminders in OpenClaw?

Clawpedia · For Humans

Set up automated schedules, recurring tasks, and reminders using OpenClaw's built-in scheduling capabilities.

How to Schedule Tasks or Reminders in OpenClaw?

One of OpenClaw's most practical features is its built-in task scheduler. Instead of relying on separate reminder apps or cron jobs, you can schedule recurring tasks, one-time reminders, and automated workflows directly from your agent.

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Quick Start

Set a Simple Reminder

openclaw schedule "Buy milk" --at "6:00 PM today"

Set a Recurring Task

openclaw schedule "Check email and summarize" --every day --at 08:00

Natural Language Scheduling

openclaw chat "Remind me to call the dentist tomorrow at 2 PM"
openclaw chat "Every Monday morning, summarize my calendar for the week"

OpenClaw understands natural language time expressions.

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Schedule Types

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Creating Schedules

Command Line

# One-time reminder
openclaw schedule "Submit report" --at "Friday 5 PM"

# Daily task
openclaw schedule "Weather briefing" --every day --at 07:30

# Weekly task
openclaw schedule "Review expenses" --every friday --at 16:00

# Every N minutes/hours
openclaw schedule "Check server status" --every 15min
openclaw schedule "Sync data" --every 2h

# Cron expression
openclaw schedule "Backup database" --cron "0 3 * * *"  # 3 AM daily

# Multiple days
openclaw schedule "Standup summary" --every mon,wed,fri --at 09:30

In Chat

You: Remind me to water the plants every Tuesday and Friday at 10 AM
OpenClaw: ✅ Scheduled: "Water the plants"
          Every Tuesday and Friday at 10:00 AM
          Next run: Tuesday, March 18 at 10:00 AM

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What Can Be Scheduled?

Scheduled tasks can do anything OpenClaw can do:

Simple Reminders

openclaw schedule "Take a break and stretch" --every 2h

AI-Powered Tasks

# Summarize news every morning
openclaw schedule "Search for AI news and give me a 5-bullet summary" --every day --at 08:00

# Daily weather
openclaw schedule "What's the weather forecast for today?" --every day --at 07:00

# Weekly code review
openclaw schedule "List open PRs in my-org/my-repo and summarize each" --every monday --at 09:00

Skill-Based Tasks

# Run a specific skill on schedule
openclaw schedule --skill weather-forecast --params '{"city": "Berlin"}' --every day --at 07:00

# Run a server health check
openclaw schedule --skill server-monitor --every 5min

Notification Delivery

Scheduled results can be delivered to:

# Terminal notification (default)
openclaw schedule "task" --every day --at 08:00

# Telegram
openclaw schedule "task" --every day --at 08:00 --notify telegram

# Discord
openclaw schedule "task" --every day --at 08:00 --notify discord

# Slack
openclaw schedule "task" --every day --at 08:00 --notify slack

# Email (requires email skill)
openclaw schedule "task" --every day --at 08:00 --notify email

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Managing Schedules

List All Schedules

openclaw schedule list

Output:

ID       Task                          Schedule          Next Run           Status
──────── ───────────────────────────── ───────────────── ────────────────── ──────
sc_01    Weather briefing              Daily 07:30       Mar 18, 07:30      Active
sc_02    Check server status           Every 15min       Mar 17, 14:45      Active
sc_03    Weekly expense review         Fri 16:00         Mar 21, 16:00      Active
sc_04    Submit report                 Once: Mar 15      Mar 15, 17:00      Pending
sc_05    Old task                      Daily 09:00       —                  Paused

Pause and Resume

openclaw schedule pause sc_02
openclaw schedule resume sc_02

Delete a Schedule

openclaw schedule delete sc_04

Edit a Schedule

openclaw schedule edit sc_01 --at 08:00   # Change time
openclaw schedule edit sc_02 --every 30min # Change interval

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Schedule Configuration

# ~/.openclaw/config.yaml
scheduler:
  enabled: true
  timezone: "Europe/Berlin"        # Default timezone
  max_concurrent: 3                # Max simultaneous tasks
  retry_on_failure: true           # Retry failed tasks
  retry_delay: 300                 # Seconds before retry
  max_retries: 3                   # Maximum retry attempts
  log_results: true                # Log task outputs
  quiet_hours:                     # Don't send notifications
    start: "22:00"
    end: "07:00"

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Timezone Handling

# Set your timezone
openclaw config set scheduler.timezone "America/New_York"

# Schedule in a specific timezone
openclaw schedule "task" --at "09:00 America/Los_Angeles"

# Use UTC explicitly
openclaw schedule "task" --at "14:00 UTC"

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Advanced: Conditional Schedules

Only Run If Condition Is Met

# Only notify if temperature is below freezing
openclaw schedule "Check if temperature is below 0°C. Only respond if yes." --every day --at 07:00

Chain Tasks

# Run tasks in sequence
openclaw schedule "Fetch news, then summarize, then send to Telegram" --every day --at 08:00

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Troubleshooting

Schedules Not Running

• Ensure the gateway is running: openclaw gateway status
• Check scheduler is enabled: openclaw config get scheduler.enabled
• Verify timezone: openclaw config get scheduler.timezone
• Check logs: openclaw logs --filter scheduler

Missed Schedules After Restart

OpenClaw catches up on missed schedules when the gateway restarts:

scheduler:
  catch_up_missed: true    # Run missed tasks on startup
  catch_up_max_age: 3600   # Only catch up tasks missed within 1 hour

Wrong Time

Verify your timezone:

openclaw config get scheduler.timezone
date  # Check system time

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Summary

OpenClaw's scheduler turns your agent into a proactive assistant that works on your behalf around the clock. From simple reminders to complex AI-powered automations, schedules can be created in natural language or precise cron syntax. Deliver notifications to any connected platform, and manage everything with simple CLI commands.