I configured 3 things in OpenClaw and my agent started working while I slept. Here is how: Most setups run a $200/month chatbot that sits idle 23 hours a day. OpenClaw has 3 built-in features that turn it into an always-on assistant. Hooks, Cron jobs, and Heartbeat. Here's what each one does, when to use it, and real examples. 🪝 HOOKS = "when something happens, do this" Event-driven. Fires on agent lifecycle events. Zero user input needed. If X happens → do Y. That's it. Two you should enable today: • session-memory: when you start a new session (/new), it auto-saves the previous session context to memory/. Your agent never starts blank again. • boot-md: when the gateway starts, it automatically runs your BOOTꓸmd file to initialize the environment. Your agent boots with the right context, the right configs, every single time. No manual setup. ⏱️ CRON JOBS = "at this time, do that" Your agent's calendar. Precise. Predictable. Runs whether or not anything interesting is happening. Two real setups: • Weekly newsletter digest: every Friday 6pm, compile all the articles and links you saved during the week and send a formatted digest. • Scheduled social posting: every day at noon, publish the content you've queued up. No manual trigger needed. 🫀 HEARTBEAT = your agent's background awareness This one is the most misunderstood. Heartbeat is a periodic pulse that runs in the main session at a regular interval (default: 30 min). Every pulse, the agent reads a small checklist (HEARTBEATꓸmd) and decides: does anything need handling? If yes → it acts on it. If no → it replies HEARTBEAT_OK and stays silent. Example checklist: • Scan inbox for urgent emails • Meeting in 45 min? → pull the relevant docs and brief me • Verify recent cron jobs ran successfully → THE ONE RULE: CRON VS HEARTBEAT Cron = clockwork. Fires at 7am sharp no matter what. Heartbeat = vigilance. Checks in, acts only if needed. If this was useful, bookmark this for when you set yours up 🫡