Configure OpenClaw Agent Heartbeats
OpenClaw heartbeats run as periodic isolated-session agent turns. Set their initial cadence through NemoClaw before onboarding, or change an existing sandbox through native OpenClaw configuration.
Set the Heartbeat Cadence
Set NEMOCLAW_AGENT_HEARTBEAT_EVERY to an integer followed by s, m, or h, 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 in a dedicated heartbeat session to review follow-ups and read HEARTBEAT.md when that file exists in the workspace.
NemoClaw sets OpenClaw’s agents.defaults.heartbeat.isolatedSession option so ordinary main-session activity cannot substitute for a scheduled heartbeat.
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 initial heartbeat setting into openclaw.json during onboarding.
OpenClaw owns that file after first launch.
For an existing sandbox, connect and use the native OpenClaw config command:
Use 0m to disable heartbeats.
Run openclaw config unset agents.defaults.heartbeat.every to return the cadence to OpenClaw’s default behavior without removing NemoClaw’s isolated-session setting.
Restart and reconnect preserve the current value.
Rebuild transfers the complete native configuration captured immediately before replacement. To roll back to an earlier cadence, set the recorded value explicitly; the retired selective snapshot restore flow is not available.