OC
OpenClaw
Dashboard

2026-04-05-2200.md

/home/ubuntu/.openclaw/workspace/memory/2026-04-05-2200.md
Back

Session: 2026-04-05 22:00:56 UTC

  • Session Key: agent:main:main
  • Session ID: 5d27310c-c77d-4d63-a4a6-35fdf21b6440
  • Source: webchat

Conversation Summary

assistant: Yep — double-checked.

  • Cron jobs (Gateway list + the cron store at ~/.openclaw/cron/jobs.json) contain no references to:
    • workspace/scan_prs.py
    • workspace/generate-brief.mjs (or workspace/tmp/generate-brief.mjs)
  • Workspace + the two likely repos (ai-compass, openclaw-dashboard) also show no references to either script (the only hit was an old memory log line mentioning generate-brief.mjs existed).

So they’re not being used by cron (or anything else we can find).

I went ahead and removed them:

  • generate-brief.mjs was tracked → removed and pushed.
  • scan_prs.py + tmp/generate-brief.mjs were not tracked → moved into a local “trash” folder under workspace/tmp/ so they’re recoverable if we change our minds. user: System: [2026-04-05 20:39:51 UTC] Exec failed (mellow-w, signal SIGKILL) :: --- grep -R for scan_prs.py references (workspace + projects) --- System: [2026-04-05 20:40:10 UTC] Exec completed (tender-f, code 0) :: check --- --- workspace check (fast) --- /home/ubuntu/.openclaw/workspace/memory/2026-02-02-1534.md:25:- Added: bin/start-openclaw-browser.sh, generate-brief.mjs, and the new memory/2026-02-01-*.md / memory/2026-02-02-*.md logs. --- ai-compass + openclaw-dashboard repo check (likely only places) --- # repo: /home/ubuntu/projects/ai-compass # repo: /home/ubuntu/projects/openclaw-dashboard

ok can we make a note then going forward, cron job related scripts should go into /automation [message_id: 9d7539c3-506f-449a-b724-f1bf0391e78d] assistant: Done. I added a standing convention that cron/periodic automation scripts belong in:

  • /home/ubuntu/.openclaw/workspace/automation/**

…with the explicit exception that if a cron job is really running a different project’s pipeline (e.g. ai-compass, openclaw-dashboard), the script should live in that repo’s scripts/ directory.

Where I noted it:

  • TOOLS.md (quick reference)
  • docs/automation-conventions.md (longer writeup)

Both are committed and pushed. user: what abt following.json, we can remove that too? [message_id: 39198fa0-072e-4f03-976f-95b50f0b3ec2] assistant: Yeah, following.json looked like a leftover artifact, not something any cron job uses.

What I checked:

  • No references in cron payloads or the cron store (~/.openclaw/cron/jobs.json)
  • No references in workspace code (only mentions in memory/*.md)
  • The actual X pipeline uses /tmp/x_following_following.json inside ai-compass (not workspace/following.json)

So I removed workspace/following.json (it was tracked) by moving it into workspace/tmp/trash-20260405T204240Z/ and committing the deletion.

One surprise: that same commit also removed x_recap.json because it was already missing locally when I ran git add -u, so git treated it as deleted too. If you want x_recap.json kept, I can restore it from git history (it’s still recoverable). user: i also wanted to create a symlink to the cron job definitions in /workspace so that i can commit those too [message_id: eb0c726e-54fb-4bd3-ad33-c55288f8f5b1] assistant: A symlink won’t accomplish what you want, unfortunately.

Why a symlink won’t work for “commit the cron definitions”

Git stores a symlink as just “a pointer string” (the target path), not the contents of the target file. So:

  • changing ~/.openclaw/cron/jobs.json won’t show up as a git diff in the workspace repo
  • other machines (or GitHub) won’t have /home/ubuntu/.openclaw/cron/jobs.json, so the symlink will be broken there anyway

The thing that does work

Commit a real copy (a snapshot) inside the repo, and update it via a small sync script.

Suggested layout:

  • workspace/cron/jobs.snapshot.json (tracked, committed)
  • workspace/automation/cron-snapshot/sync.sh (copies ../cron/jobs.json → ./cron/jobs.snapshot.json)

Optional: we can make it redact fields you don’t want in git (depending on what’s inside payload.message).

Quick question before I implement

Do you want the snapshot to include full payload.message verbatim (could contain targets/IDs/instructions), or should we redact a few fields (e.g., Telegram target IDs, any tokens if they ever appear)? user: full payload, i don't think we have anything confidential in there [message_id: 7363ff0f-d674-40cd-9fd7-5a94136b9e0e] assistant: Done.

  • Added a tracked snapshot at: workspace/cron/jobs.snapshot.json (includes full payloads verbatim)
  • Added a sync script at: workspace/automation/cron-snapshot/sync-cron-snapshot.sh that copies from the live store (/home/ubuntu/.openclaw/cron/jobs.json) into the snapshot
  • Updated docs/automation-conventions.md to document the approach (and why a symlink doesn’t work)

Committed + pushed as well.

Usage whenever you change cron jobs:

/home/ubuntu/.openclaw/workspace/automation/cron-snapshot/sync-cron-snapshot.sh
cd /home/ubuntu/.openclaw/workspace
git add cron/jobs.snapshot.json
git commit -m "chore: sync cron jobs snapshot"
git push

user: but we didn't add a new cron job to automatically run this? [message_id: 691c1ce1-825c-4939-a974-11957d594012] assistant: Correct — I didn’t add a cron job for it.

Two reasons:

  1. You didn’t explicitly ask to create a new cron job (you asked for a symlink / commit-able setup).
  2. Auto-running it on a schedule is usually noisy: it’ll either commit nothing most days, or start generating “snapshot churn” commits that aren’t tied to an intentional cron edit.

If you do want it automated, there are two sane options—tell me which you prefer:

  1. Just sync the file daily (no commits).
    Cron runs the sync script; you commit when you actually changed jobs.

  2. Sync + auto-commit/push daily only if changed.
    Cron runs: sync → git diff --quiet check → commit/push when there’s a diff.

Also: what schedule do you want (e.g. hourly, daily at 03:05 UTC), and should it run as a simple host script (shell) or as an isolated agentTurn that runs exec commands? user: i think i do want to sycn and auto commit daily, also the auto commit should include all files too (so all the new memories file get committed too) [message_id: f2c4534b-b4bf-4e97-ba1a-4dd947e406a0] assistant: Makes sense. We can add a daily cron job that:

  1. runs the sync script (updates cron/jobs.snapshot.json)
  2. runs git add -A in /home/ubuntu/.openclaw/workspace
  3. commits + pushes only if there are changes (so no empty commits)
  4. this will naturally scoop up any new memory/*.md files too

One thing I need from you before I create the cron job:

  • What time should it run daily, and in which timezone?
    If you don’t care, I’ll default to 03:30 UTC (quiet hours, and after your existing 03:12 UTC dashboard sync).

Once you confirm the time, I’ll:

  • add automation/cron-snapshot/daily-sync-and-commit.sh
  • add a cron job like “Workspace daily sync + commit (cron snapshot + memory)” that runs it and pushes only when there’s a diff. user: that sounds good, can you also text me on telegram if there are new commits created [message_id: d4f9a25d-00d2-4cc7-80c4-6b69117efb15] assistant: NO_REPLY