HEARTBEAT.md Workspace Template for Agent Heartbeat Checklist
This page describes the HEARTBEAT.md template used in agent workspaces to maintain a periodic heartbeat checklist. It explains when to leave the file empty and how to add a brief checklist for evaluation.
Read this when
- Bootstrapping a workspace manually
HEARTBEAT.md template
HEARTBEAT.md resides in the agent workspace and maintains the periodic heartbeat checklist. Leave it empty, or include only whitespace, Markdown comments, ATX headings, empty list stubs (- , * [ ]), or fence markers, so OpenClaw skips the heartbeat model call entirely (reason=empty-heartbeat-file).
Default content shipped:
<!-- Heartbeat template; comments-only content prevents scheduled heartbeat API calls. -->
# Keep this file empty (or with only comments) to skip heartbeat API calls.
# Add a short checklist below when the heartbeat should inspect shared context.
Add a short checklist below the comment lines only when a single heartbeat turn should evaluate the items together. Keep it brief: heartbeat reads this file every tick (default every 30 minutes), so lengthy instructions waste tokens on each wake.
For independently scheduled or due-only checks, create cron jobs. Heartbeat scratch no longer supports scheduler syntax. Run openclaw doctor --fix to convert older tasks: blocks.