Automation
Anything scheduled, hooked, or sandbox-wrapped. The decision tree for “where does this go” lives in cron-patterns.md - start there.
Recipes in this chapter
Cron Job Patterns
How to schedule automated tasks in OpenClaw, assign the right model to each job, batch checks into heartbeats, and avoid the pitfalls that waste tokens and break silently.
Updated 2026-04-19Cron Patterns
The three-layer cron stack I actually run: systemd timers for OS plumbing, OpenClaw cron for single-shot agent tasks, n8n schedule triggers for multi-step workflows. Pick the wrong layer and you'll…
Hooks
Hooks enforce policy at boundaries and shape behavior at seams. Pick the wrong layer and you'll scrub private DMs, fight your orchestrator's hook contract, or watch async work disappear into a…
Multi-Channel Setup
How OpenClaw handles multiple messaging platforms simultaneously, session isolation between channels, and practical patterns for Discord, Telegram, and Signal.
Updated 2026-04-19n8n Failure Classifier
One Error Trigger workflow, wired as errorWorkflow on everything active, that turns raw stack traces into buckets and routes each bucket to the action it actually deserves. Without it a…
Updated 2026-06-04n8n Patterns
The interface surfaces, sandbox traps, and failure-routing patterns that actually matter for running n8n as the multi-step workflow layer underneath an agent stack. Pick the wrong API surface and…
Sandbox Shims
Put cheap wrappers in front of risky commands so worker lanes fail closed before they touch the network, git remote, or host secrets.
Updated 2026-05-11