clawdbot/docs/gateway/heartbeat.md

summary, read_when

summary	read_when
Heartbeat polling messages and notification rules	Adjusting heartbeat cadence or messaging

Heartbeat (Gateway)

Heartbeat runs periodic agent turns in the main session so the model can surface anything that needs attention without spamming you.

Defaults

• Interval: 30m (set agents.defaults.heartbeat.every; use 0m to disable).
• Prompt body (configurable via agents.defaults.heartbeat.prompt): Read HEARTBEAT.md if exists. Consider outstanding tasks. Checkup sometimes on your human during (user local) day time.
• The heartbeat prompt is sent verbatim as the user message. The system prompt includes a “Heartbeat” section and the run is flagged internally.

Response contract

• If nothing needs attention, reply with HEARTBEAT_OK.
• During heartbeat runs, Clawdbot treats HEARTBEAT_OK as an ack when it appears at the start or end of the reply. The token is stripped and the reply is dropped if the remaining content is ≤ ackMaxChars (default: 30).
• If HEARTBEAT_OK appears in the middle of a reply, it is not treated specially.
• For alerts, do not include HEARTBEAT_OK; return only the alert text.

Outside heartbeats, stray HEARTBEAT_OK at the start/end of a message is stripped and logged; a message that is only HEARTBEAT_OK is dropped.

Config

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      heartbeat: {
        every: "30m",           // default: 30m (0m disables)
        model: "anthropic/claude-opus-4-5",
        target: "last",         // last | whatsapp | telegram | discord | slack | signal | imessage | none
        to: "+15551234567",     // optional provider-specific override
        prompt: "Read HEARTBEAT.md if exists. Consider outstanding tasks. Checkup sometimes on your human during (user local) day time.",
        ackMaxChars: 30          // max chars allowed after HEARTBEAT_OK
      }
    }
  }
}

Field notes

• every: heartbeat interval (duration string; default unit = minutes).
• model: optional model override for heartbeat runs (provider/model).
• target:
  • last (default): deliver to the last used external provider.
  • explicit provider: whatsapp / telegram / discord / slack / signal / imessage.
  • none: run the heartbeat but do not deliver externally.
• to: optional recipient override (E.164 for WhatsApp, chat id for Telegram, etc.).
• prompt: overrides the default prompt body (not merged).
• ackMaxChars: max chars allowed after HEARTBEAT_OK before delivery.

Delivery behavior

• Heartbeats run in the main session (main, or global when scope is global).
• If the main queue is busy, the heartbeat is skipped and retried later.
• If target resolves to no external destination, the run still happens but no outbound message is sent.
• Heartbeat-only replies do not keep the session alive; the last updatedAt is restored so idle expiry behaves normally.

HEARTBEAT.md (optional)

If a HEARTBEAT.md file exists in the workspace, the default prompt tells the agent to read it. Keep it tiny (short checklist or reminders) to avoid prompt bloat.

Manual wake (on-demand)

You can enqueue a system event and trigger an immediate heartbeat with:

clawdbot wake --text "Check for urgent follow-ups" --mode now

Use --mode next-heartbeat to wait for the next scheduled tick.

Cost awareness

Heartbeats run full agent turns. Shorter intervals burn more tokens. Keep HEARTBEAT.md small and consider a cheaper model or target: "none" if you only want internal state updates.