HEARTBEAT.md is retired

OpenClaw no longer creates HEARTBEAT.md in new workspaces or reads it at runtime. Heartbeat instructions now live in the system-owned monitor scratch in the shared state database.

Manage the current monitor scratch with the monitor job id from openclaw automations list --all:

openclaw automations scratch <jobId>openclaw automations scratch <jobId> --set "..."openclaw automations scratch <jobId> --file notes.mdopenclaw automations scratch <jobId> --unset

If an older workspace still contains HEARTBEAT.md, run openclaw doctor --fix. Doctor imports its instructions into monitor scratch, converts valid legacy tasks: entries into cron jobs, archives the original under the state directory, and removes the workspace file.

Related

• Heartbeat
• Cron CLI
• Doctor
• Heartbeat config