OpenClaw Automation, Part 1: Choosing Among Six Mechanisms, and Why 'Exactly on Time' and 'Check on It' Are Different Jobs
Cron is now called Automations (openclaw cron remains an alias), and automation spans six mechanisms. The core trade-off is one line: Automations give you exact timing and isolated execution, Heartbeat gives you full main-session context on a roughly-every-30-minutes cadence.