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Automation troubleshooting

Use this page for scheduler and delivery issues (cron + heartbeat).

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Command ladder

openclaw status
openclaw gateway status
openclaw logs --follow
openclaw doctor
openclaw channels status --probe
Then run automation checks: 
openclaw cron status
openclaw cron list
openclaw system heartbeat last

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Cron not firing

openclaw cron status
openclaw cron list
openclaw cron runs --id <jobId> --limit 20
openclaw logs --follow
Good output looks like:
  • cron status reports enabled and a future nextWakeAtMs.
  • Job is enabled and has a valid schedule/timezone.
  • cron runs shows ok or explicit skip reason.
Common signatures:
  • cron: scheduler disabled; jobs will not run automatically → cron disabled in config/env.
  • cron: timer tick failed → scheduler tick crashed; inspect surrounding stack/log context.
  • reason: not-due in run output → manual run called without --force and job not due yet.

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Cron fired but no delivery

openclaw cron runs --id <jobId> --limit 20
openclaw cron list
openclaw channels status --probe
openclaw logs --follow
Good output looks like:
  • Run status is ok.
  • Delivery mode/target are set for isolated jobs.
  • Channel probe reports target channel connected.
Common signatures:
  • Run succeeded but delivery mode is none → no external message is expected.
  • Delivery target missing/invalid (channel/to) → run may succeed internally but skip outbound.
  • Channel auth errors (unauthorized, missing_scope, Forbidden) → delivery blocked by channel credentials/permissions.

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Heartbeat suppressed or skipped

openclaw system heartbeat last
openclaw logs --follow
openclaw config get agents.defaults.heartbeat
openclaw channels status --probe
Good output looks like:
  • Heartbeat enabled with non-zero interval.
  • Last heartbeat result is ran (or skip reason is understood).
Common signatures:
  • heartbeat skipped with reason=quiet-hours → outside activeHours.
  • requests-in-flight → main lane busy; heartbeat deferred.
  • empty-heartbeat-file → HEARTBEAT.md exists but has no actionable content.
  • alerts-disabled → visibility settings suppress outbound heartbeat messages.

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Timezone and activeHours gotchas

openclaw config get agents.defaults.heartbeat.activeHours
openclaw config get agents.defaults.heartbeat.activeHours.timezone
openclaw config get agents.defaults.userTimezone || echo "agents.defaults.userTimezone not set"
openclaw cron list
openclaw logs --follow
Quick rules:
  • Config path not found: agents.defaults.userTimezone means the key is unset; heartbeat falls back to host timezone (or activeHours.timezone if set).
  • Cron without --tz uses gateway host timezone.
  • Heartbeat activeHours uses configured timezone resolution (user, local, or explicit IANA tz).
  • ISO timestamps without timezone are treated as UTC for cron at schedules.
Common signatures:
  • Jobs run at the wrong wall-clock time after host timezone changes.
  • Heartbeat always skipped during your daytime because activeHours.timezone is wrong.
Related: