OpenClaw Daily Ops#

Two tasks in one nightly cron: know what you spent, kill what's dead.

• Parses all OpenClaw session JSONL files → computes today's API cost per session
• Posts a clean cost report to Discord with 7-day trend
• Wipes sessions older than 24h with >1MB context (zombie killer)
• Logs everything to state/cost-log.json and state/session-reset-log.json

Zero AI credits spent — pure Python + one Discord message.

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Setup#

1. Configure#

Copy config.example.json to config.json and fill in your values:

bash

cp config.example.json config.json

Edit config.json:

json

{
  "sessions_dir": "~/.openclaw/agents/main/sessions",
  "workspace_dir": "~/.openclaw/workspace",
  "discord_webhook": "https://discord.com/api/webhooks/YOUR/WEBHOOK",
  "discord_user_id": "YOUR_DISCORD_USER_ID",
  "channel_names": {
    "channel:YOUR_CHANNEL_ID": "#your-channel-name"
  },
  "zombie_min_age_hours": 24,
  "zombie_min_size_mb": 1,
  "alert_high_cost": 50,
  "alert_low_cost": 10,
  "timezone_offset_hours": -6
}

How to get a Discord webhook:

1. Go to your Discord channel → Edit Channel → Integrations → Webhooks → New Webhook
2. Copy the webhook URL

How to get your Discord user ID:

1. Enable Developer Mode in Discord (Settings → Advanced → Developer Mode)
2. Right-click your username → Copy User ID

Channel names (optional): Map your OpenClaw channel session keys to human-readable names for the report. Find session keys in ~/.openclaw/agents/main/sessions/sessions.json.

2. Test it#

bash

python3 scripts/cost_report.py --config config.json --dry-run

This prints the report without posting to Discord or writing logs.

3. Set up the cron#

Add a nightly OpenClaw cron job. In your OpenClaw config or via CLI:

text

Schedule: 0 21 * * * (9 PM daily — adjust to your timezone)
Model: haiku (cost report is simple, no need for a heavy model)
Payload: Read /path/to/openclaw-daily-ops/SKILL.md and follow it exactly.

Or run it as a system cron:

bash

# Add to crontab -e
0 21 * * * python3 /path/to/openclaw-daily-ops/scripts/cost_report.py --config /path/to/config.json >> /path/to/cost_report.log 2>&1

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What the Report Looks Like#

text

📊 Daily Cost Report — Mar 9, 2026

💰 Total: $4.21 · 8.3M tokens

By Session:
🔴 #general — $2.45 · 4.1M tok
🟡 #posting — $1.32 · 2.8M tok
🟢 heartbeat — $0.44 · 1.4M tok

7-day trend: $12 → $8 → $6 → $5 → $4 → $4 → $4

✅ UNDER BUDGET
🔄 Reset 2 stale sessions (3.2MB freed)

Color coding:

• 🔴 session cost > $5
• 🟡 session cost $1–$5
• 🟢 session cost < $1

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Skill Steps (for OpenClaw cron payload)#

When running as an OpenClaw cron agentTurn, the agent should:

Step 1 — Run cost parser#

Execute scripts/cost_report.py --config /path/to/config.json and capture output.

Step 2 — Run zombie killer#

Execute scripts/zombie_killer.py --config /path/to/config.json and capture output.

Step 3 — Format and post#

Combine both outputs into the report format above and post to your Discord webhook.

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Configuration Reference#

KeyTypeDescriptionsessions_dirstringPath to OpenClaw sessions directoryworkspace_dirstringPath to OpenClaw workspace (for state logs)discord_webhookstringDiscord webhook URL to post the reportdiscord_user_idstringYour Discord ID — tagged on urgent alertschannel_namesobjectMap session keys → display names (optional)zombie_min_age_hoursnumberSessions older than this get reset (default: 24)zombie_min_size_mbnumberMinimum file size to reset (default: 1MB)alert_high_costnumberDaily cost threshold for 🚨 URGENT flag (default: $50)alert_low_costnumberDaily cost threshold for ✅ UNDER BUDGET flag (default: $10)timezone_offset_hoursnumberYour UTC offset for date filtering (default: -6 for CST)

---

Files#

text

openclaw-daily-ops/
├── SKILL.md                 ← this file
├── config.example.json      ← template config (copy to config.json)
├── scripts/
│   ├── cost_report.py       ← parses sessions, computes costs, posts to Discord
│   └── zombie_killer.py     ← wipes stale sessions, logs what was cleared
└── state/                   ← created automatically
    ├── cost-log.json        ← rolling 90-day cost history
    └── session-reset-log.json ← log of all zombie kills

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FAQ#

Q: Will this break my active sessions? No. The zombie killer only resets sessions older than 24h AND larger than 1MB. Active sessions are never touched.

Q: What does "reset" mean? It truncates the session JSONL file to empty. OpenClaw recreates it fresh on next use. All logs are saved to session-reset-log.json before wiping.

Q: Can I adjust the thresholds? Yes — zombie_min_age_hours and zombie_min_size_mb in config.json.

Q: Does this work on Andre/multi-machine setups? Yes. Run the setup on each machine with its own config.json. Both can post to the same Discord webhook.