🦞
Features

Automation

OpenClaw (formerly Moltbot) supports powerful automation features. Schedule tasks, respond to webhooks, process emails in real-time, and poll for changes.

⏰

Cron Jobs

Schedule tasks to run at specific times or intervals.

"Send me a daily summary every morning at 8am"
🔗

Webhooks

Trigger actions when external services send events.

"Alert me when a new order comes in from Shopify"
📧

Gmail PubSub

React to emails in real-time with Google PubSub.

"Summarize and categorize new emails as they arrive"
🔄

Polls

Periodically check sources for changes or updates.

"Check this webpage every hour for price changes"
⏰ Cron Jobs

Schedule tasks using standard cron syntax. OpenClaw will execute the specified action at the scheduled time.

{
  "automation": {
    "cron": [
      {
        "name": "morning-briefing",
        "schedule": "0 8 * * *",
        "action": "Send me a morning briefing with weather, calendar, and top news",
        "enabled": true
      },
      {
        "name": "weekly-report",
        "schedule": "0 17 * * 5",
        "action": "Compile a weekly summary of my tasks and achievements",
        "enabled": true
      }
    ]
  }
}

Common cron schedules:

0 8 * * *— Every day at 8:00 AM
0 9 * * 1-5— Weekdays at 9:00 AM
*/30 * * * *— Every 30 minutes
0 0 1 * *— First day of each month
🔗 Webhooks

Receive webhooks from external services and trigger AI actions. Perfect for integrating with e-commerce, CRM, and other platforms.

{
  "automation": {
    "webhooks": {
      "enabled": true,
      "port": 8080,
      "endpoints": [
        {
          "path": "/shopify/orders",
          "secret": "your-webhook-secret",
          "action": "Process new Shopify order and notify me"
        },
        {
          "path": "/github/push",
          "secret": "github-secret",
          "action": "Summarize new commits and alert on breaking changes"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Your webhook URL will be: https://your-server:8080/shopify/orders

📧 Gmail PubSub

Process emails in real-time using Google Cloud PubSub. No polling needed - get instant notifications when emails arrive.

{
  "automation": {
    "gmail": {
      "enabled": true,
      "credentials": "path/to/service-account.json",
      "topic": "projects/your-project/topics/gmail-notifications",
      "subscription": "projects/your-project/subscriptions/openclaw-sub",
      "rules": [
        {
          "filter": "from:important@client.com",
          "action": "Summarize and send to Slack #urgent"
        },
        {
          "filter": "subject:invoice",
          "action": "Extract amount and add to expenses spreadsheet"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}
  • • Requires Google Cloud project with PubSub enabled
  • • Service account with Gmail API access
  • • Real-time email processing without polling
🔄 Polls

Periodically check websites, APIs, or files for changes. Great for monitoring prices, stock availability, or content updates.

{
  "automation": {
    "polls": [
      {
        "name": "price-monitor",
        "url": "https://example.com/product",
        "interval": "1h",
        "selector": ".price",
        "condition": "value < 100",
        "action": "Alert me that the price dropped!"
      },
      {
        "name": "api-check",
        "url": "https://api.example.com/status",
        "interval": "5m",
        "jq": ".status",
        "condition": "value != 'healthy'",
        "action": "Warn me that the API is down"
      }
    ]
  }
}
  • interval — Polling frequency (e.g., 5m, 1h, 1d)
  • selector — CSS selector for web pages
  • jq — JQ expression for JSON APIs
  • condition — When to trigger the action

Automation Use Cases

Morning Briefing

Get weather, calendar, and news summary every morning.

Cron: 0 7 * * *

Order Notifications

Instant alerts when new orders come in.

Webhook: Shopify

Email Triage

Automatically categorize and summarize emails.

Gmail PubSub

Price Monitoring

Track product prices and alert on drops.

Poll: Every hour

Weekly Reports

Compile and send weekly performance reports.

Cron: 0 17 * * 5

Social Media Monitoring

Track brand mentions across platforms.

Poll: Every 15 min

Full Documentation

Read the complete automation configuration guide.

View Docs

Automate Your Workflows

Start automating with cron jobs, webhooks, and more.

Install OpenClawCron Builder Tool