Background tasks track work that runs outside your main conversation session: ACP runs, subagent spawns, isolated cron job executions, and CLI-initiated operations.
Tasks do not replace sessions, cron jobs, or heartbeats - they are the activity ledger that records what detached work happened, when, and whether it succeeded.
TL;DR
- Tasks are records, not schedulers - cron and heartbeat decide when work runs, tasks track what happened.
- ACP, subagents, all cron jobs, and CLI operations create tasks. Heartbeat turns do not.
- Each task moves through
queued → running → terminal(succeeded, failed, timed_out, cancelled, or lost). - Cron tasks stay live while the cron runtime still owns the job; if the in-memory runtime state is gone, task maintenance first checks durable cron run history before marking a task lost.
- Completion is push-driven: detached work can notify directly or wake the requester session/heartbeat when it finishes, so status polling loops are usually the wrong shape.
- Isolated cron runs and subagent completions best-effort clean up tracked browser tabs/processes for their child session before final cleanup bookkeeping.
- Isolated cron delivery suppresses stale interim parent replies while descendant subagent work is still draining, and it prefers final descendant output when that arrives before delivery.
- Completion notifications are delivered directly to a channel or queued for the next heartbeat.
openclaw tasks listshows all tasks;openclaw tasks auditsurfaces issues.- Terminal records are kept for 7 days, then automatically pruned.
Quick start
# Filter by runtime or status
openclaw tasks list --runtime acp
openclaw tasks list --status running
```
# Change notification policy for a task
openclaw tasks notify <lookup> state_changes
```
# Preview or apply maintenance
openclaw tasks maintenance
openclaw tasks maintenance --apply
```
What creates a task
| Source | Runtime type | When a task record is created | Default notify policy |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACP background runs | acp | Spawning a child ACP session | done_only |
| Subagent orchestration | subagent | Spawning a subagent via sessions_spawn | done_only |
| Cron jobs (all types) | cron | Every cron execution (main-session and isolated) | silent |
| CLI operations | cli | openclaw agent commands that run through the gateway | silent |
| Agent media jobs | cli | Session-backed music_generate/video_generate runs | silent |
Session-backed `music_generate` and `video_generate` runs also use `silent` notify policy. They still create task records, but completion is handed back to the original agent session as an internal wake so the agent can write the follow-up message and attach the finished media itself. Group/channel completions follow the normal visible-reply policy, so the agent uses the message tool when source delivery requires it. If the completion agent fails to produce message-tool delivery evidence in a tool-only route, OpenClaw sends the completion fallback directly to the original channel instead of leaving the media private.
Task lifecycle
stateDiagram-v2
[*] --> queued
queued --> running : agent starts
running --> succeeded : completes ok
running --> failed : error
running --> timed_out : timeout exceeded
running --> cancelled : operator cancels
queued --> lost : session gone > 5 min
running --> lost : session gone > 5 min
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
queued | Created, waiting for the agent to start |
running | Agent turn is actively executing |
succeeded | Completed successfully |
failed | Completed with an error |
timed_out | Exceeded the configured timeout |
cancelled | Stopped by the operator via openclaw tasks cancel |
lost | The runtime lost authoritative backing state after a 5-minute grace period |
Transitions happen automatically - when the associated agent run ends, the task status updates to match.
Agent run completion is authoritative for active task records. A successful detached run finalizes as succeeded, ordinary run errors finalize as failed, and timeout or abort outcomes finalize as timed_out. If an operator already cancelled the task, or the runtime already recorded a stronger terminal state such as failed, timed_out, or lost, a later success signal does not downgrade that terminal status.
lost is runtime-aware:
- ACP tasks: backing ACP child session metadata disappeared.
- Subagent tasks: backing child session disappeared from the target agent store.
- Cron tasks: the cron runtime no longer tracks the job as active and durable cron run history does not show a terminal result for that run. Offline CLI audit does not treat its own empty in-process cron runtime state as authority.
- CLI tasks: tasks with a run id/source id use the live run context, so
lingering child-session or chat-session rows do not keep them alive after the
gateway-owned run disappears. Legacy CLI tasks without run identity still fall
back to the child session. Gateway-backed
openclaw agentruns also finalize from their run result, so completed runs do not sit active until the sweeper marks themlost.
Delivery and notifications
When a task reaches a terminal state, OpenClaw notifies you. There are two delivery paths:
Direct delivery - if the task has a channel target (the requesterOrigin), the completion message goes straight to that channel (Telegram, Discord, Slack, etc.). For subagent completions, OpenClaw also preserves bound thread/topic routing when available and can fill a missing to / account from the requester session's stored route (lastChannel / lastTo / lastAccountId) before giving up on direct delivery.
Session-queued delivery - if direct delivery fails or no origin is set, the update is queued as a system event in the requester's session and surfaces on the next heartbeat.
That means the usual workflow is push-based: start detached work once, then let the runtime wake or notify you on completion. Poll task state only when you need debugging, intervention, or an explicit audit.
Notification policies
Control how much you hear about each task:
| Policy | What is delivered |
|---|---|
done_only (default) | Only terminal state (succeeded, failed, etc.) - this is the default |
state_changes | Every state transition and progress update |
silent | Nothing at all |
Change the policy while a task is running:
openclaw tasks notify <lookup> state_changes
CLI reference
Output columns: Task ID, Kind, Status, Delivery, Run ID, Child Session, Summary.
The lookup token accepts a task ID, run ID, or session key. Shows the full record including timing, delivery state, error, and terminal summary.
For ACP and subagent tasks, this kills the child session. For CLI-tracked tasks, cancellation is recorded in the task registry (there is no separate child runtime handle). Status transitions to `cancelled` and a delivery notification is sent when applicable.
Surfaces operational issues. Findings also appear in `openclaw status` when issues are detected.
| Finding | Severity | Trigger |
| ------------------------- | ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `stale_queued` | warn | Queued for more than 10 minutes |
| `stale_running` | error | Running for more than 30 minutes |
| `lost` | warn/error | Runtime-backed task ownership disappeared; retained lost tasks warn until `cleanupAfter`, then become errors |
| `delivery_failed` | warn | Delivery failed and notify policy is not `silent` |
| `missing_cleanup` | warn | Terminal task with no cleanup timestamp |
| `inconsistent_timestamps` | warn | Timeline violation (for example ended before started) |
Use this to preview or apply reconciliation, cleanup stamping, and pruning for tasks and Task Flow state.
Reconciliation is runtime-aware:
- ACP/subagent tasks check their backing child session.
- Subagent tasks whose child session has a restart-recovery tombstone are marked lost instead of being treated as recoverable backing sessions.
- Cron tasks check whether the cron runtime still owns the job, then recover terminal status from persisted cron run logs/job state before falling back to `lost`. Only the Gateway process is authoritative for the in-memory cron active-job set; offline CLI audit uses durable history but does not mark a cron task lost solely because that local Set is empty.
- CLI tasks with run identity check the owning live run context, not just child-session or chat-session rows.
Completion cleanup is also runtime-aware:
- Subagent completion best-effort closes tracked browser tabs/processes for the child session before announce cleanup continues.
- Isolated cron completion best-effort closes tracked browser tabs/processes for the cron session before the run fully tears down.
- Isolated cron delivery waits out descendant subagent follow-up when needed and suppresses stale parent acknowledgement text instead of announcing it.
- Subagent completion delivery prefers the latest visible assistant text; if that is empty it falls back to sanitized latest tool/toolResult text, and timeout-only tool-call runs can collapse to a short partial-progress summary. Terminal failed runs announce failure status without replaying captured reply text.
- Cleanup failures do not mask the real task outcome.
Use these when the orchestrating Task Flow is the thing you care about rather than one individual background task record.
Chat task board (/tasks)
Use /tasks in any chat session to see background tasks linked to that session. The board shows active and recently completed tasks with runtime, status, timing, and progress or error detail.
When the current session has no visible linked tasks, /tasks falls back to agent-local task counts so you still get an overview without leaking other-session details.
For the full operator ledger, use the CLI: openclaw tasks list.
Status integration (task pressure)
openclaw status includes an at-a-glance task summary:
Tasks: 3 queued · 2 running · 1 issues
The summary reports:
- active - count of
queued+running - failures - count of
failed+timed_out+lost - byRuntime - breakdown by
acp,subagent,cron,cli
Both /status and the session_status tool use a cleanup-aware task snapshot: active tasks are preferred, stale completed rows are hidden, and recent failures only surface when no active work remains. This keeps the status card focused on what matters right now.
Storage and maintenance
Where tasks live
Task records persist in SQLite at:
$OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR/tasks/runs.sqlite
The registry loads into memory at gateway start and syncs writes to SQLite for durability across restarts.
The Gateway keeps the SQLite write-ahead log bounded by using SQLite's default
autocheckpoint threshold plus periodic and shutdown TRUNCATE checkpoints.
Automatic maintenance
A sweeper runs every 60 seconds and handles four things:
How tasks relate to other systems
See [Task Flow](/docs/openclaw-docs/automation/taskflow for details.
See [Cron Jobs](/docs/openclaw-docs/automation/cron-jobs.
See [Heartbeat](/docs/openclaw-docs/gateway/heartbeat.
Related
- [Automation & Tasks](/docs/openclaw-docs/automation - all automation mechanisms at a glance
- [CLI: Tasks](/docs/openclaw-docs/cli/tasks - CLI command reference
- [Heartbeat](/docs/openclaw-docs/gateway/heartbeat - periodic main-session turns
- [Scheduled Tasks](/docs/openclaw-docs/automation/cron-jobs - scheduling background work
- [Task Flow](/docs/openclaw-docs/automation/taskflow - flow orchestration above tasks