Automation payloads

What a job runs and where it runs: the four payload kinds, their flags, and the four session execution styles. Part of the Automations guide.

Payloads

Every job carries exactly one payload kind, chosen by flag:

System-owned monitor jobs are gateway-converged and cannot be created or edited through the CLI or API. The heartbeat kind creates one heartbeat monitor job per heartbeat-enabled agent (see Heartbeat). The weekly Skill Workshop review is a normal isolated agentTurn job with a reserved declaration key. Both appear in openclaw cron list; use --all to include disabled rows. The skillCollectionReview payload kind is gone; existing rows are replaced with the canonical review job during upgrade.

Skill collection review runs every 7 days. It is enabled when skills.workshop.autonomous.mode is auto; propose and off keep the system-owned job disabled. The Gateway converges these jobs at startup and after config reload. Scheduled reviews require automations. When cron.enabled is false or OPENCLAW_SKIP_CRON=1, the Gateway logs a startup warning and does not run scheduled reviews. There is no separate weekly Gateway timer.

Agent-turn options

New jobs that can run tools always store an explicit tool policy. Jobs created by an agent are capped to the tools available to that creating turn, and the agent cannot widen the stored list. Jobs created by an authenticated operator without --tools store an unrestricted * policy; automations edit --clear-tools restores that explicit unrestricted policy. Existing jobs that predate an explicit tool policy retain their current behavior until their tool policy is explicitly edited or the job is recreated.

--model sets the job's primary model; it does not replace a session /model override, so configured fallback chains still apply on top of it. An unresolved or disallowed model fails the run with an explicit validation error rather than silently falling back to the default. If a job has --model but no explicit or configured fallback list, OpenClaw passes an empty fallback override instead of silently appending the agent primary as a hidden retry target.

Pick the model for the job's difficulty, not the agent's default. Routine automation - summaries, triage, classification, status checks - runs well on a lighter model, which is cheaper and faster per run and adds up across a schedule. Keep your default model for jobs that need deep reasoning, and use --fallbacks when a light primary should escalate on failure.

Model-selection precedence for isolated jobs, highest first:

1. Per-job payload model (explicit config; a disallowed model fails the run)
2. Gmail hook model override (only when the run came from Gmail and that override is allowed)
3. User-selected stored automation-session model override
4. Agent/default model selection

Fast mode follows the resolved live selection. Isolated automation resolves it in this order: stored session fastMode, per-agent agents.entries.*.fastModeDefault, global agents.defaults.fastModeDefault, then selected-model params.fastMode. Auto mode uses the model's params.fastAutoOnSeconds cutoff, defaulting to 60 seconds.

When a runtime reports token usage without a cost, automation estimates use the selected agent's local models.json prices and the model metadata retained for that run.

If a run hits a live model-switch handoff, the scheduler retries with the switched provider/model and persists that selection (and any new auth profile) for the active run. Retries are bounded: after the initial attempt plus 2 switch retries, the scheduler aborts instead of looping.

Before an isolated run starts, OpenClaw checks reachable local endpoints for configured api: "ollama" and api: "openai-completions" providers whose baseUrl is loopback, private-network, or .local. This preflight walks the job's configured fallback chain and only marks the run skipped once every candidate is unreachable; --fallbacks "" keeps that walk strict to just the primary model. A down endpoint records the run as skipped with a clear error instead of starting a model call. The result is cached for 5 minutes per endpoint (not per job or model), so many due jobs sharing a dead local Ollama/vLLM/SGLang/LM Studio server cost one probe instead of a request storm. Skipped preflight runs do not increment execution-error backoff; set failureAlert.includeSkipped to opt into repeated skip alerts.

Command payloads

Command payloads run deterministic scripts inside the Gateway scheduler without starting a model-backed turn. They execute on the Gateway host, capture stdout/stderr, record the run in the job's run history, and reuse the same announce, webhook, and none delivery modes as agent-turn jobs.

openclaw automations create "*/15 * * * *" \  --name "Queue depth probe" \  --command "scripts/check-queue.sh" \  --command-cwd "/srv/app" \  --announce \  --channel telegram \  --to "-1001234567890"

--command <shell> stores argv: ["sh", "-lc", <shell>]. Use --command-argv '["node","scripts/report.mjs"]' for exact argv execution without shell parsing. Optional --command-env KEY=VALUE (repeatable), --command-input, --timeout-seconds (default 10 minutes), --no-output-timeout-seconds, and --output-max-bytes control the process environment, stdin, and output bounds.

Delivered text is derived from process output: non-empty stdout wins; if stdout is empty and stderr is non-empty, stderr is delivered; if both are present, the scheduler sends a small stdout: / stderr: block. Exit code 0 records the run ok; non-zero exit, signal, timeout, or no-output timeout records error and can trigger failure alerts. A command that prints only NO_REPLY uses the normal automation silent-token suppression and posts nothing back to chat.

Script payloads

Script payloads run headlessly in the same code-mode executor as trigger scripts, without starting a conversational agent turn. They are available by default; setting cron.triggers.enabled: false disables creation and execution of script payloads together with condition-trigger scripts and stream schedules. Script jobs support only main and isolated session targets.

openclaw automations create "0 * * * *" \  --name "Hourly queue check" \  --script ./automation/check-queue.js \  --script-timeout-seconds 300 \  --script-tool-budget 50 \  --session isolated \  --announce

Use --script <file|-> to read JavaScript from a file or stdin. The timeout defaults to 300 seconds and is capped at 900; the tool budget defaults to 50 calls and is capped at 200. These payload budgets are separate from the smaller trigger-gate evaluation budgets.

The script may return an object with these optional fields:

• notify: Text delivered through the job's announce, webhook, or none delivery mode. If omitted, nothing is delivered. For a main job, the text becomes a system event.
• wake: "now" requests an immediate heartbeat after enqueueing notify (or a compact completion event); "next-heartbeat" enqueues the event for the next heartbeat.
• state: JSON state, capped at 16 KB and persisted only after a successful run. The next run receives a frozen copy as trigger.state, matching trigger scripts. Because that namespace has one persisted owner, a script payload cannot be combined with a condition trigger on the same job.
• nextCheck: A duration such as "15m". It is valid only for jobs with pacing enabled and uses the same pacing clamp as agent-turn proposals.

Throws, timeouts, exhausted tool budgets, invalid results, and nextCheck without pacing are normal automation run errors: they enter run history, backoff, and failure-alert handling without persisting returned state.

Execution styles

Codex apps in scheduled automations

Codex-created automations can retain the app IDs and permission ceiling available to the authenticated creator thread. At execution, OpenClaw requires the same prepared Codex profile and account, then narrows the stored cap against current app policy. Revoked apps, account/runtime changes, and interactive approval requirements fail closed with a recovery message; they never fall back to broader or different credentials. Older jobs without a captured app envelope continue their ordinary non-app behavior; recreate or reauthorize one only when it needs Codex app access. See Native Codex plugins.

Agent-turn jobs default to the creating conversation when the create request carries session context. Callers without a session key, including CLI and API callers that do not supply one, fall back to isolated. System events and heartbeats still default to main; command and script payloads still default to isolated.