OpenClaw agent can’t create Cron Jobs
Issue: OpenClaw agent consistently fails to create cron jobs via the functions.cron tool, despite correctly reasoning about the parameters.
Symptoms:
∙ Agent calls functions.cron with job: {} (empty object) ~30+ times
∙ Always gets error: "must have required property 'name'; must have required property 'schedule'; must have required property 'sessionTarget'; must have required property 'payload'"
∙ Agent correctly understands the flat parameter format but cannot execute it
∙ Pattern persists despite explicit instructions and multiple retry attempts
What Works:
∙ CLI: openclaw cron add --name ... --cron ... works perfectly
∙ Web UI cron creation works fine
What Doesn’t Work:
∙ Tool call via functions.cron always passes empty/wrapped parameters
Evidence of Schema Mismatch:
∙ Documentation shows flat parameters: {action, name, schedule, sessionTarget, payload}
∙ Agent keeps trying to use job: {} wrapper, suggesting tool definition may expect this
∙ /docs/experiments/plans/cron-add-hardening.md mentions “normalization for wrapped payloads”
Hypothesis:
The functions.cron tool schema provided to Claude may be out of sync with the actual handler implementation, creating an impossible situation where the LLM is told to use one format but the handler expects another.
System:
∙ OpenClaw on macOS Sequoia 15.6
∙ Using Claude Opus 4.5
∙ Cron job successfully created via Web UI as workaround
Has anyone else experienced this? Is there a known issue with the cron tool definition?
Symptoms:
∙ Agent calls functions.cron with job: {} (empty object) ~30+ times
∙ Always gets error: "must have required property 'name'; must have required property 'schedule'; must have required property 'sessionTarget'; must have required property 'payload'"
∙ Agent correctly understands the flat parameter format but cannot execute it
∙ Pattern persists despite explicit instructions and multiple retry attempts
What Works:
∙ CLI: openclaw cron add --name ... --cron ... works perfectly
∙ Web UI cron creation works fine
What Doesn’t Work:
∙ Tool call via functions.cron always passes empty/wrapped parameters
Evidence of Schema Mismatch:
∙ Documentation shows flat parameters: {action, name, schedule, sessionTarget, payload}
∙ Agent keeps trying to use job: {} wrapper, suggesting tool definition may expect this
∙ /docs/experiments/plans/cron-add-hardening.md mentions “normalization for wrapped payloads”
Hypothesis:
The functions.cron tool schema provided to Claude may be out of sync with the actual handler implementation, creating an impossible situation where the LLM is told to use one format but the handler expects another.
System:
∙ OpenClaw on macOS Sequoia 15.6
∙ Using Claude Opus 4.5
∙ Cron job successfully created via Web UI as workaround
Has anyone else experienced this? Is there a known issue with the cron tool definition?
The AI that actually does things. Emails, calendar, home automation - all from your favorite chat app. New shell, ready to help. The lobster way.
83,815Members
Resources
Similar Threads
Was this page helpful?
