> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://docs.nvidia.com/nemoclaw/llms.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://docs.nvidia.com/nemoclaw/_mcp/server.

# Configure OpenClaw Agent Heartbeats

> Configure or disable periodic OpenClaw main-session agent turns in a NemoClaw sandbox.

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.

```bash
export NEMOCLAW_AGENT_HEARTBEAT_EVERY=2h
nemoclaw onboard
```

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.

```bash
export NEMOCLAW_AGENT_HEARTBEAT_EVERY=0m
nemoclaw onboard
```

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.

```bash
nemoclaw onboard --fresh --name <sandbox-name> --recreate-sandbox
```