A time-windowed autonomous task queue that separates active daytime work from overnight maintenance cycles for predictable agent behavior.
Install & Download
1. ClawHub CLI
The fastest way to install a skill directly from the registry.
npx clawhub@latest install autonomy-windowed
2. Manual Installation
Copy the skill folder to one of these locations
~/.openclaw/skills/ <project>/skills/ Priority: Workspace > Local > Bundled
3. Prompt Installation
Copy this prompt to OpenClaw to install it automatically.
Help me install autonomy-windowed using Clawhub. If Clawhub is not installed, install it first (npm i -g clawhub).
Prefer to download?
Get the raw skill files in a ZIP archive.
What is Windowed Autonomy?
Windowed Autonomy is a specialized framework within the ecosystem of Openclaw Skills designed to transition agents from reactive responders to proactive workers within defined time constraints. By establishing specific operational windows—typically aligned with daytime hours—developers can ensure their agents focus on high-value task queues while reserving nighttime hours for system maintenance, backups, and resource-heavy cron jobs.
This skill is essential for users who require a predictable work schedule and controlled token expenditure. By utilizing Openclaw Skills to manage temporal separation, the agent maintains a clear distinction between autonomous progress and background housekeeping, preventing resource contention and ensuring that autonomous work only occurs when the environment is optimized for it.
Windowed Autonomy Use Cases
- Establishing a predictable work schedule for autonomous agents using Openclaw Skills.
- Controlling token budgets by limiting active autonomous sessions to specific hours.
- Separating heavy maintenance tasks (like backups) from autonomous development cycles.
- Managing non-urgent task queues that do not require 24/7 monitoring.
- Gradual scaling of agent autonomy through incremental window expansion.
How Windowed Autonomy Works
- The agent initiates a heartbeat check and references the Autonomy Windows defined in the task configuration.
- If the current UTC time falls within an active window, the agent identifies the highest priority task from the queue.
- The agent executes the task for a set duration (15-30 minutes) before updating the queue status and logging the progress.
- If the heartbeat occurs outside the active window, the agent defaults to a standby mode, issuing a simple heartbeat acknowledgment.
- During window transitions, the agent either initializes the autonomous mode or saves its current state to ensure work resumes seamlessly in the next window.
Windowed Autonomy Setup
To integrate this functionality into your Openclaw Skills environment, configure your queue file and history logs:
- Define your active windows in
tasks/QUEUE.md:
## Autonomy Windows
- Daytime: 08:00 - 20:00 UTC -> Autonomy ON
- Overnight: 20:00 - 08:00 UTC -> Autonomy OFF
- Create the tracking file
tasks/MODE_HISTORY.mdto monitor window transitions. - Configure your heartbeat trigger to run every 2 hours during the active window.
Windowed Autonomy Data Schema & Taxonomy
The skill organizes data across three primary files to maintain state and history:
| File | Purpose | Content Type |
|---|---|---|
tasks/QUEUE.md |
Central task management | Window definitions, Priority list (Urgent to Low), and task state. |
tasks/MODE_HISTORY.md |
Temporal logs | Audit trail of window openings, closings, and tasks completed per session. |
.learnings/ |
Knowledge persistence | Metadata and findings from completed autonomous tasks. |
Windowed Autonomy Advanced Features
- Urgent Priority Override: Allows tasks tagged as
@priority:urgentto bypass time windows and trigger immediate execution. - Stateful Shutdown: Intelligent wrapping logic that finishes tasks if >80% complete when a window closes, or saves granular progress for resumption.
- Token Budgeting: Built-in session strategies (Limited, Full Day, Extended) to manage token usage between 20K and 80K per day.
- Cron Coordination: Native compatibility with background jobs, ensuring autonomy pauses during heavy system operations like GitHub backups.
SKILL.md
Loading
Related Openclaw Skills
Type-Based Autonomy Task Queue
A sophisticated task queue system that filters autonomous agent work by type, ensuring tokens are spent on high-value activities while routine maintenance is handled by scripts.
Notion Tasks Blocks
A specialized skill for managing top-level to-do blocks in Notion pages without the overhead of databases.
Notion MVP Task Manager
A high-performance integration for managing Notion tasks, agendas, and database entries through simple CLI commands and AI workflows.
gogcli
A comprehensive command-line interface for managing Google Workspace services including Gmail, Drive, and Calendar directly from your terminal.
Weather Checker
A professional Python-based command-line utility providing global weather forecasts, precipitation data, and temperature tracking with emoji-rich formatting.
Codex CN Bridge
A protocol conversion bridge that allows the OpenAI Codex CLI to utilize high-performance domestic Chinese AI models.
Featured*
