Configure OpenClaw Agent Heartbeats
OpenClaw heartbeats run periodic main-session agent turns. Configure their cadence before onboarding or recreating the sandbox.
Set the Heartbeat Cadence
Set NEMOCLAW_AGENT_HEARTBEAT_EVERY to a Go-style duration such as 5m or 2h.
OpenClaw defaults to 30 minutes, or 1 hour for Anthropic OAuth and Claude CLI reuse, when the variable is unset.
At each interval, the agent wakes to review follow-ups and read HEARTBEAT.md when that file exists in the workspace.
Disable Heartbeats
Set the interval to 0m to disable periodic turns.
Disabling heartbeats also removes HEARTBEAT.md from normal-run bootstrap context according to OpenClaw behavior.
The model no longer receives heartbeat-only instructions.
Apply the Change
NemoClaw writes the heartbeat setting into openclaw.json during onboarding.
Direct openclaw config set changes are not the supported path for this NemoClaw-managed build-time default, and a rebuild overwrites direct file edits.
Recreate an existing sandbox to apply a new cadence.