Field Notes/Automation & Daily Briefs
💡 Solution

Heartbeats for Proactive Behavior

2 min read

Your agent thinks about you even when you're not talking to it.

A chatbot waits for you to type. An OpenClaw agent with heartbeats is always on — checking your inbox, catching calendar conflicts, acting before you ask. That's the difference between a reactive tool and a proactive partner.

What Heartbeats Are

Periodic check-ins. Every 30 minutes (configurable), OpenClaw asks your agent: "Anything you should be doing right now?"

  • Nothing happening? Agent replies HEARTBEAT_OK and goes quiet
  • Something needs attention? Agent acts on it — emails, reminders, calendar alerts

The key: this happens whether you message or not. You could be asleep. Your agent is still working.

Under the Hood

OpenClaw's scheduler periodically sends your agent this prompt:

Read HEARTBEAT.md if it exists. Follow it strictly.
Do not infer or repeat old tasks from prior chats.
If nothing needs attention, reply HEARTBEAT_OK.

Your agent has full tool access — email, calendar, files, web search. It can do real work, not just think about it.

HEARTBEAT.md: Your Custom Checklist

This file tells your agent exactly what to check:

## Every heartbeat
- Check for urgent unread emails
- Look at calendar for next 2 hours

## 2-4 times per day
- Scan Twitter mentions
- Check weather if going out seems likely

## Once daily (morning)
- Prepare daily brief
- Review yesterday's memory log

You write it. You control what gets attention. The heartbeat is the trigger — HEARTBEAT.md is the brain.

What Becomes Possible

  • Morning brief — agent compiles calendar, emails, and weather at 8am before you ask
  • Urgent email alerts — boss emails while you're in a meeting; agent pings you on Slack
  • Calendar conflicts — meeting invite overlaps your deep work block; agent flags it
  • Follow-up reminders — "remind me to follow up with Alex on Friday" just works

None of this requires you to remember to ask.

The Proactive Shift

The first time your agent messages you — "Hey, you have a conflict tomorrow at 2pm, want me to reschedule?" — you realize you're not using a tool anymore. You're working with something that genuinely has your back.

Set up heartbeats. Write your HEARTBEAT.md. Let your agent start thinking about you.

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