OpenClaw (Lobster) Heartbeat didn't warn me, so it's not necessarily broken. Common reasons in official troubleshooting include quiet hours, HEARTBEAT.md is empty, there are no due tasks, the reminder display is turned off, and the main lane is busy. Look at the skipped reason in the log first, and then decide how to change it.
Look at the status and logs first
openclaw statusSee if the Gateway and the channel are working properly.openclaw gateway statusConfirm the Runtime running.openclaw logs --followFind out the specific reason for heartbeat skipped.- If the task-based heartbeat is a task-based heartbeat, check that the
HEARTBEAT.mdactually has task content.
How to understand a few reasons
| log reason | meaning |
|---|---|
| quiet-hours | Currently in DND time |
| empty-heartbeat-file | HEARTBEAT.md Only empty content or headlines |
| no-tasks-due | Mission mode is on, but now there are no expiring tasks |
| alerts-disabled | showOk, showAlerts, and useIndicator are all turned off |
| requests-in-flight | The Lord's request is still running, and the heartbeat is delayed |
To make Heartbeat really useful, don't write "Greet me every once in a while". Give it clear tasks, time frames, output channels, and how to remind you when it fails, so it doesn't turn into noise.
Official open source address: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw.
