Setup & Installation
Or with the ClawHub CLI, for registry-managed skill folders outside a full OpenClaw workspace:
What This Skill Does
Restricts agent autonomy to defined time windows, such as 8 AM to 8 PM UTC. Outside those windows, the agent only responds with a heartbeat signal. Cron maintenance jobs run overnight when autonomy is off, keeping the two concerns separate.
Avoids conflicts between autonomous work and scheduled maintenance by giving each a dedicated time slot, while naturally bounding daily token usage.
When to use it
- Running an AI agent's task queue only during business hours
- Separating overnight cron maintenance from daytime autonomous work
- Capping daily token spend by limiting active sessions to a fixed window
- Resuming in-progress tasks automatically when the next window opens
- Overriding the schedule for urgent tasks without disabling windowed mode
Example Workflow
Here's how your AI assistant might use this skill in practice.
User asks: Work through my task queue during daytime hours and let cron jobs run overnight
- 1Check current UTC time against the configured active window (8 AM - 8 PM)
- 2If inside window, read QUEUE.md and select the highest priority ready task
- 3Work on the task for 15-30 minutes, then update its status in QUEUE.md
- 4At window close, save progress on any in-progress task and log the transition to MODE_HISTORY.md
- 5Outside the window, respond with HEARTBEAT_OK unless a task marked urgent is detected
Tasks completed and logged during the window; queue updated with current progress; cron jobs run conflict-free overnight