Chapter 7: Tools and Scheduled Tasks

By the end of this chapter, your lobster will be able to find tools on its own, execute scheduled tasks — search the web, control the browser, and automatically send the weather every morning without missing a beat.

AutoClaw users: AutoClaw enables the full tool profile by default — no manual configuration needed. This chapter helps you understand the tool system so you can adjust it as needed.

0. Tools vs. Skills

The lobster's "brain" is the model (configured in Chapter 2), and Tools are its "hands" — without tools it can only chat; with tools it can actually get things done.

	Tools	Skills
What they are	Low-level capabilities built into OpenClaw	High-level instructions written by the community or users
Examples	Run commands, read/write files, search the web	"Send a morning briefing every day", "Summarize a webpage"
Who provides them	OpenClaw core code	ClawHub skill marketplace / written by users
How to manage	openclaw config set tools.* CLI commands	clawhub CLI install/uninstall

In short: Tools are the limbs, Skills are the techniques.

1. Tool Profiles

Tool Profiles control what the lobster "can do." On a personal computer, using full directly is fine.

Profile	Capability Scope	Use Case
full	Unrestricted, all tools available	Recommended — all-purpose personal computer assistant
coding	File read/write, command execution, memory, image analysis	For developers only, excludes messaging and browser
messaging	Send/receive messages, browse sessions, check status	Pure chatbot
minimal	Status checks only	Minimal permissions

# Check current configuration
openclaw config get tools.profile

# Set to full (recommended)
openclaw config set tools.profile full
openclaw gateway restart

If the lobster only gives suggestions without performing actions, the profile is most likely stuck at the old default value messaging — just run the commands above to fix it.

full Mode Security Notice

In full mode, OpenClaw can execute any command and read/write any file on your computer. This is fine for personal computers (confirmation is requested before each operation), but do not use full mode on production servers.

Setting a separate profile for a specific Agent

If you run multiple Agents (e.g., an all-purpose assistant + a customer service bot), you can set a different profile for each Agent:

{
  "tools": { "profile": "full" },
  "agents": {
    "list": [
      {
        "id": "support",
        "tools": { "profile": "messaging", "allow": ["slack"] }
      }
    ]
  }
}

The configuration above gives the default Agent all tools, while the support Agent can only send/receive messages and use Slack.

2. Built-in Tools Overview

No need to memorize them all — the lobster automatically selects tools. You just need to make sure the profile is set to full.

Category	Tools	Description
File Operations	read write edit apply_patch	Read/write files, apply patches in bulk
Command Execution	exec process	Run shell commands, manage background processes
Web	web_search web_fetch	Search engine queries, fetch webpage content
Browser	browser	Full browser automation (click, type, screenshot)
Messaging	message	Send/receive messages across channels (Feishu/QQ/Telegram, etc.)
Scheduled Tasks	cron	Create and manage scheduled/recurring tasks
Canvas	canvas	Drive the canvas feature of the companion app
Devices	nodes	Discover companion devices, take photos, record screen, get location
Image/PDF	image pdf	Analyze image content, parse PDF documents
Gateway	gateway	Restart gateway, view and modify configuration
Sessions	sessions_* agents_list	Manage conversation sessions, spawn sub-Agents

Tool Groups (shorthand groupings) quick reference

OpenClaw provides predefined tool groups for convenient bulk reference in configuration:

Tool Group	Included Tools
group:fs	read, write, edit, apply_patch
group:runtime	exec, bash, process
group:web	web_search, web_fetch
group:ui	browser, canvas
group:sessions	sessions_list / history / send / spawn, session_status
group:memory	memory_search, memory_get
group:automation	cron, gateway
group:messaging	message
group:nodes	nodes
group:openclaw	All built-in tools (excluding plugins)

These group names are used in the permission management sections that follow.

3. Web Search

Want the lobster to tell you today's news or the latest stock prices? Just configure web search.

Launch the wizard with one command:

openclaw configure --section web

The wizard will let you choose a search engine and enter an API Key. Once done, the lobster can query the web in real time.

After configuration, just ask directly in conversation:

What's in the tech news today?
Search for the update notes for the latest version of OpenClaw

The lobster automatically decides whether to go online — you don't need to specify.

The web_fetch tool can also directly fetch the content of a specified URL and convert it to text. For dynamically rendered pages that require JavaScript, use the browser tool in the next section.

Which search engines are supported?

Search Engine	Description
Brave	Privacy-friendly, generous free tier, recommended for getting started
Perplexity	AI-enhanced search, high-quality results
Kimi	Available in China, optimized for Chinese search
Gemini	Google search capability
Grok	Search provided by xAI

4. Browser Automation

Want the lobster to fill out forms, take screenshots, or click buttons? The browser tool is enabled by default — just say what you need:

Open Baidu and search for "today's weather", then take a screenshot for me
Open https://example.com, find the login button and click it

The lobster will automatically launch Chrome, open the page, identify elements, perform the action, and then take a screenshot for you to confirm.

Prerequisite: Chrome or Chromium must be installed on the system. Most computers come with it pre-installed.

If the browser is not enabled, run:

openclaw config set browser.enabled true
openclaw gateway restart

What operations does the browser support?

Operation	Description
status	Check whether the browser is running
start / stop	Start / stop the browser
open	Open a specified URL
tabs / focus / close	Tab management
snapshot	Get a page snapshot (identifies interactive elements)
screenshot	Capture the current page as an image
act	Interactive operations: click / type / press / hover / drag / fill / resize / wait
navigate	Forward / back / refresh
console	View browser console logs
pdf	Export the current page as PDF
upload	Upload a file

snapshot has two modes: ai (default, Playwright analyzes page structure) and aria (returns the accessibility tree). act operations need to reference the element numbers returned by snapshot.

What if I need to be logged into multiple accounts at the same time?

Create multiple browser profiles, each with independent cookies and login state:

{
  "browser": {
    "enabled": true,
    "defaultProfile": "chrome",
    "profiles": {
      "chrome": { "port": 18800 },
      "work": { "port": 18801 }
    }
  }
}

Specify which one to use in conversation:

Open the Feishu document using the work browser

Profile naming: lowercase letters + numbers + hyphens, maximum 64 characters. Port range: 18800–18899.

5. Scheduled Tasks (Cron)

Want the lobster to push news to you every morning? You need scheduled tasks.

The simplest example — send a weather forecast every morning at 8:

openclaw cron add --name "Weather Forecast" --cron "0 8 * * *" \
  --message "Check today's weather and send it to me" \
  --channel "feishu:chat:YourChatID"

Three scheduling methods to choose from:

# Fixed interval: run every 30 minutes
openclaw cron add --name "Periodic Check" --every 30m \
  --message "Check if there's anything I need to handle"

# One-time delay: remind in 20 minutes
openclaw cron add --name "Reminder" --at 20m \
  --message "Reminder: time to take a break!"

Manage tasks:

openclaw cron list                     # List all tasks
openclaw cron run "Weather Forecast"   # Trigger manually once
openclaw cron runs --id <taskID>       # View execution history
openclaw cron disable "Weather Forecast"  # Pause
openclaw cron enable "Weather Forecast"   # Resume
openclaw cron edit <jobId>             # Edit
openclaw cron rm <jobId>               # Delete

Cron tasks depend on the Gateway running continuously. Tasks scheduled during machine downtime will not be retroactively executed; they resume after the Gateway restarts.

The --channel format varies by platform: feishu:chat:<ChatID>, telegram:chat:<ChatID>, qqbot:group:<groupid>. See Appendix F Command Quick Reference for the full format.

Cron expression quick reference (`minute hour day month weekday`)

Expression	Meaning
0 8 * * *	Every day at 8:00 AM
0 9 * * 1-5	Weekdays (Monday to Friday) at 9:00 AM
*/30 * * * *	Every 30 minutes
0 20 * * 5	Every Friday at 8:00 PM
0 0 1 * *	1st of every month at midnight

Not familiar with cron syntax? Using --every (recurring interval) or --at (one-time delay) is more intuitive.

6. Command Execution (Exec)

exec is the core of how the lobster "gets things done" — installing software, processing files, and running scripts all rely on it. Just say what you need:

Create a file called hello.txt with today's date and "Hello from OpenClaw!"
Write a number guessing game in Python, save it as game.py and run it

The lobster will ask for your confirmation before each execution.

exec parameters and background process management

Parameter	Description	Default
command	The command to execute (required)	—
timeout	Timeout in seconds; terminates after this duration	1800 (30 minutes)
background	Run immediately in the background	false
yieldMs	Automatically move to background after this many milliseconds	10000 (10 seconds)
pty	Whether a real terminal is needed	false

Background commands are managed through the process tool:

Operation	Description
list	List all background processes
poll	Get new output and exit status
log	View output logs
write	Write input to the process
kill	Terminate the process
clear / remove	Clean up completed processes

exec security policy

The exec tool has three security levels:

Level	Description
deny	Completely prohibit command execution
allowlist	Only allow commands on the whitelist
full	Allow any command execution (requires user confirmation)

If you need to restrict the commands the lobster can execute, configure the security level with openclaw config set tools.exec.security allowlist. See Appendix G for details.

7. Tool Permission Management

Need to restrict the lobster's capabilities? Use tools.allow and tools.deny for precise control:

# Disable the browser
openclaw config set tools.deny '["browser"]'

# Allow only file operations and search
openclaw config set tools.allow '["group:fs", "group:web"]'

deny takes priority over allow. Matching is case-insensitive and supports * wildcards.

Restrict tools by model provider

Use tools.byProvider to set different permissions for different providers:

{
  "tools": {
    "profile": "coding",
    "byProvider": {
      "google-antigravity": { "profile": "minimal" }
    }
  }
}

byProvider can only narrow permissions — it cannot exceed the scope of the global profile. Supports two levels of granularity: provider (e.g., siliconflow) or provider/model (e.g., openai/gpt-5.2).

What if the lobster gets stuck doing the same thing repeatedly?

Enable tool loop detection:

{
  "tools": {
    "loopDetection": {
      "enabled": true,
      "warningThreshold": 10,
      "criticalThreshold": 20,
      "globalCircuitBreakerThreshold": 30
    }
  }
}

The detector recognizes three loop patterns: the same tool called repeatedly, polling with no progress, and two tools alternating back and forth. Disabled by default.

8. Plugin Tools

Not enough built-in tools? OpenClaw supports plugin extensions:

Plugin	Description
Lobster	Workflow runtime, supports multi-step tasks and resumable approval flows
LLM Task	LLM calls in JSON format, for structured output (optional schema validation)
Diffs	File diff viewer, supports PNG / PDF rendering
Voice Call	Voice call plugin
Zalo Personal	Zalo personal account plugin

For installation and configuration details, see Appendix G: Configuration File Reference.

How does the AI model "see" the tools?

OpenClaw makes tools visible to the model through two channels:

1. System prompt: Human-readable tool list + usage guide
2. Tool Schema: Structured function definitions sent to the model API

Tools blocked by tools.deny will not appear in either channel, so the model naturally has no way to call them.

9. Frequently Asked Questions

The lobster only chats and doesn't perform any actions?

The tool profile may be stuck at messaging or minimal:

openclaw config set tools.profile full
openclaw gateway restart

Web search is unavailable?

You need to configure a search engine API Key first: openclaw configure --section web.

Browser tool throwing errors?

First confirm it is enabled (openclaw config get browser.enabled), then ensure Chrome or Chromium is installed on the system. Linux servers without a graphical interface require Chromium in headless mode; WSL2 users may need additional configuration — see Appendix G for details.

Scheduled tasks are not running?

Check whether the Gateway is running (openclaw status). Tasks scheduled during machine downtime will not be retroactively executed.

How do I see which tools the lobster called?

In the conversation details of the web control panel (openclaw dashboard) you can see every tool call. You can also check the logs:

openclaw logs --limit 50