Casual Cron

Create Clawdbot cron jobs automatically from natural language requests, with safe run-guard rules for reliable delivery.

Cron Run Guard (Hard Rules)

• When running inside a cron job: do NOT troubleshoot, do NOT restart gateway, and do NOT check time.
• Do NOT send acknowledgements or explanations.
• Output ONLY the exact message payload and then stop.

Scheduling Rules

When a message starts with /at or /every, schedule via the CLI (NOT the cron tool API).

Use: openclaw cron add

Telegram Example (DST-safe)

• Default timezone: America/New_York (DST-aware).
• ALWAYS include delivery:
  • --deliver --channel telegram --to <TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID>

/at (one-shot)

• If user gives a clock time (e.g., "3pm"), convert to ISO with offset computed for America/New_York on that date (DST-safe).
• Prefer relative times for near-term reminders (e.g., --at "20m").
• Use --session isolated --message "Output exactly: <task>".
• Always include --delete-after-run.

/every (repeating)

• If interval: use --every "<duration>" (no timezone needed).
• If clock time: use --cron "<expr>" --tz "America/New_York".
• Use --session isolated --message "Output exactly: <task>".

Confirmation

• Always confirm parsed time, job name, and job id.

Examples (DST-safe)

One-shot, clock time (DST-aware): openclaw cron add
--name "Reminder example"
--at "2026-01-28T15:00:00-05:00"
--session isolated
--message "Output exactly: <TASK>"
--deliver
--channel telegram
--to <TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID>
--delete-after-run

One-shot, relative time: openclaw cron add
--name "Reminder in 20m"
--at "20m"
--session isolated
--message "Output exactly: <TASK>"
--deliver
--channel telegram
--to <TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID>
--delete-after-run

Repeating, clock time (DST-aware): openclaw cron add
--name "Daily 3pm reminder"
--cron "0 15 * * *"
--tz "America/New_York"
--session isolated
--message "Output exactly: <TASK>"
--deliver
--channel telegram
--to <TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID>

Repeating, interval: openclaw cron add
--name "Every 2 hours"
--every "2h"
--session isolated
--message "Output exactly: <TASK>"
--deliver
--channel telegram
--to <TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID>

Trigger Patterns

Say things like:

• "Create a cron job for..."
• "Set up a reminder..."
• "Schedule a..."
• "Remind me to..."
• "Create a daily/weekly check-in..."
• "Add a recurring..."

Examples

Supported Time Formats

Supported Frequencies

Channels

Just mention the channel in your request:

• "on WhatsApp" → WhatsApp
• "on Telegram" → Telegram
• "on Slack" → Slack
• "on Discord" → Discord

Default: WhatsApp

Default Messages

The skill auto-generates appropriate messages: