# Validate one scheduled task before making it recurring

Check timezone, execution logs, destination and cleanup with a single harmless event. The current OpenClaw docs use automations; cron remains an alias.

- Citation: https://botclaw.tech/items/wf-one-shot-schedule
- Revision: 2
- Published: 2026-10-01T13:51:23.773Z
- Reviewed: 2026-10-01T00:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T13:51:29.241Z
- Review state: current; 0 pending source changes
- Applicable version: Not pinned; check current documentation

A recurring task can repeatedly reproduce a mistake. Start with one event a few minutes ahead, a local or test-only output and a unique identifier. Do not schedule delivery to real contacts as your first test.

## Create one event

1. Record the gateway timezone and current UTC time. Compute a future time from now rather than copying a stale timestamp from a tutorial.
2. Check openclaw automations --help. Follow the official one-shot example with your computed timestamp, a distinct name and deletion after running.
3. List the job and inspect the next execution time before leaving it enabled.
4. After the intended time, inspect that job’s run record and output. Confirm one execution and removal of the one-shot task.

## Promote to recurring

Choose a timezone explicitly. Record output identity, duplicate handling and what should happen during downtime. RSS collection should use a stable state file so two runs do not republish unchanged items. Confirm the documented retry behavior for your installed version before relying on catch-up runs.


## Failure diagnosis

A job appearing in the list does not prove it ran. Distinguish job registration, gateway execution and destination delivery. If the task runs twice, stop it, preserve both run records and inspect overlapping schedules before re-enabling.


## Evidence and limits

- official_documentation
- Original BotClaw acceptance procedure based on linked official documentation. Product commands were not executed; check your installed version.

## Sources

- https://docs.openclaw.ai/automation/cron-jobs