OpenClaw Beginner 03 | Heartbeat System

Goal: understand heartbeat and configure your first proactive automation.

1. No heartbeat vs heartbeat

Without heartbeat:

• You must ask every time.

With heartbeat:

• Updates arrive on schedule automatically.

This is the difference between a passive tool and an active partner.

2. Practical scenarios

1. Morning brief (08:30): weather + top industry news
2. Night review (22:00/23:00): summarize key decisions into MEMORY.md
3. Alerting: notify you when monitored metrics cross thresholds

3. First heartbeat setup (template)

Ask OpenClaw to configure:

• Morning weather + one key industry headline summary
• Evening recap + memory extraction into MEMORY.md

It will create/update HEARTBEAT.md.

4. Manage heartbeat

• View tasks: ask for current heartbeat list
• Add task: ask to append new schedule in HEARTBEAT.md
• Remove task: ask to delete an existing schedule

5. Fuzzy heartbeat

Besides fixed times, you can use periodic checks such as: “every ~2 hours, alert only when important updates exist.”

Start with fixed schedules first, then add fuzzy polling.

6. Completion checklist

1. Received heartbeat setup confirmation
2. Got first proactive push on schedule
3. Can explain trigger logic for your configured tasks