A natural language cron scheduler that allows users to automate tasks using simple English commands instead of complex cron syntax.
Install & Download
1. ClawHub CLI
The fastest way to install a skill directly from the registry.
npx clawhub@latest install smart-cron
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 smart-cron 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 Smart Cron?
Smart Cron is a sophisticated automation engine designed to bridge the gap between human language and system-level scheduling. As a key utility within the ecosystem of Openclaw Skills, it allows developers to define execution patterns like "every weekday at 9am" or "first Monday of month" without ever touching a crontab file.
The tool focuses on reliability and observability, providing a full lifecycle management system for automated tasks. By integrating directly with system cron and the OpenClaw orchestration layer, it ensures that your AI agents perform their duties consistently while keeping you informed through detailed logs and real-time failure alerts via WhatsApp or Telegram.
Smart Cron Use Cases
- Creating automated morning briefings that summarize overnight emails and news.
- Setting up 5-minute interval uptime monitoring for critical APIs and services.
- Generating and logging weekly performance reports every Friday at 5pm.
- Automating monthly system maintenance tasks like log rotation and memory archiving.
- Scheduling recurring data backups or synchronization tasks across different timezones.
How Smart Cron Works
- The user inputs a task description and a natural language schedule via the CLI.
- The internal parser converts the English expression into a valid system cron string or a dynamic calculation for complex monthly rules.
- The job is registered in a local SQLite database and synchronized with the system's cron daemon.
- When the schedule triggers, the skill executes the assigned task through the OpenClaw orchestrator.
- Execution results, including successes and errors, are recorded in the local log history.
- If a failure occurs, the skill automatically sends a notification through the configured alert channel.
Smart Cron Setup
To get started with this skill, ensure you have OpenClaw 1.0+ and Python 3.8+ installed on a system with a running cron daemon.
# Add a daily task using natural language
smart-cron add "every weekday at 9am" --task "summarize my emails"
# Verify your scheduled jobs
smart-cron list
# Configure failure alerts in the config file
nano ~/.openclaw/workspace/smart-cron-data/config.json
Smart Cron Data Schema & Taxonomy
Smart Cron organizes its data locally to ensure privacy and speed. All configurations and historical data are stored within the ~/.openclaw/workspace/smart-cron-data/ directory.
| File/Folder | Purpose |
|---|---|
jobs.db |
SQLite database storing job IDs, schedules, tasks, and current status. |
config.json |
Stores global settings like default_timezone and alert_channel configurations. |
logs/ |
A directory containing the persisted history of every task execution for debugging. |
Smart Cron Advanced Features
- Multi-timezone support allowing jobs to be scheduled in specific local times while tracking UTC offsets.
- Dynamic scheduling for non-standard cron intervals like "last day of the month."
- Granular job control with the ability to pause, resume, or manually trigger jobs immediately.
- Automated log retention management to prevent disk space issues by cleaning up old execution history.
- Integrated failure alerting system compatible with WhatsApp and Telegram for real-time monitoring of Openclaw Skills.
SKILL.md
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