HEARTBEAT.md Retired: Migration and Cleanup Guide

Learn why HEARTBEAT.md is retired and how to migrate legacy workspaces. Use openclaw doctor --fix to move heartbeat instructions and convert tasks into cron jobs.

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Migrating an older workspace that still has HEARTBEAT.md

HEARTBEAT.md is retired

New workspaces no longer receive HEARTBEAT.md from OpenClaw, and the runtime does not read it either. Heartbeat instructions have been relocated to the cron scratch area of the system-owned monitor, which lives inside the shared state database.

To manage the current scratch, use the monitor job id found in openclaw cron list --all:

openclaw cron scratch <jobId>
openclaw cron scratch <jobId> --set "..."
openclaw cron scratch <jobId> --file notes.md
openclaw cron scratch <jobId> --unset

For older workspaces that still include HEARTBEAT.md, execute openclaw doctor --fix. The doctor pulls its instructions into monitor scratch, turns valid legacy tasks: entries into cron jobs, stores the original under the state directory, and deletes the workspace file.