openclaw - ✅(Solved) Fix [Bug]: cron add --at does not support HH:MM time-only strings; --tz has no effect on --at [1 pull requests, 1 participants]

Q: Expected behavior

`--at "09:00" --tz Asia/Shanghai` should schedule the job at 09:00 in the given timezone today. At minimum, the error message should clearly state what formats are accepted.

openclaw2026-04-02 05:09:23

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openclaw/openclaw#59441•Fetched 2026-04-08 02:25:08

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rrrrrredy

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openclaw cron add --at "HH:MM" --tz <IANA> fails with "Invalid --at" because time-only strings (HH:MM) are not recognized by the parser. Additionally, --tz has no effect on --at even when using supported datetime formats, making timezone-aware one-shot scheduling non-intuitive from the CLI.

Error Message

Attempt: time-only string

openclaw cron add --name "test" --at "09:00" --tz "Asia/Shanghai" --message "hello"

Error: Invalid --at; use ISO time or duration like 20m

Root Cause

Fix Action

Fixed

Fixed by PR: fix(cron): support HH:MM time-only strings in --at; apply --tz to time-only input (https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/pull/59444)

PR fix notes

PR #59444: fix(cron): support HH:MM time-only strings in --at; apply --tz to time-only input

Repository: openclaw/openclaw
Author: rrrrrredy
State: open | merged: False
Link: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/pull/59444

Description (problem / solution / changelog)

Summary

Fixes #59441

Before this change, openclaw cron add --at "09:00" --tz Asia/Shanghai threw Invalid --at because bare HH:MM strings were not recognised by parseAbsoluteTimeMs / normalizeUtcIso in src/cron/parse.ts.

Additionally, --tz had no effect on --at for time-only inputs since parseAt() only applied timezone resolution to strings matching the full offset-less ISO datetime regex (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM).

Changes

`src/cli/cron-cli/shared.ts`

Add TIME_ONLY_RE regex to match HH:MM and HH:MM:SS inputs
Add getUtcDateString() helper — returns today in UTC (YYYY-MM-DD)
Add getTodayDateInTimeZone(tz) helper — returns today in the given IANA timezone using Intl.DateTimeFormat
In parseAt(): when input matches the time-only pattern, expand to a full offset-less ISO datetime using today's date in the given timezone (or UTC if no --tz supplied), then resolve via the existing parseOffsetlessIsoDateTimeInTimeZone path

`src/cli/cron-cli/parse-at.test.ts` (new)

Unit tests covering:

HH:MM with --tz Asia/Shanghai → correct UTC conversion
HH:MM without --tz → treated as UTC
HH:MM:SS with seconds
Existing offset-less ISO datetime path still works
Existing relative duration path still works
Invalid input returns null

Why not change `src/cron/parse.ts`?

parseAbsoluteTimeMs is a lower-level utility called from multiple contexts (including list display). A bare HH:MM string is ambiguous without a date — the fix belongs in the CLI parseAt layer which has access to the --tz option and can supply today's date.

Before / After

# Before
$ openclaw cron add --name "standup" --at "09:00" --tz "Asia/Shanghai" --message "standup"
Error: Invalid --at; use ISO time or duration like 20m

# After
$ openclaw cron add --name "standup" --at "09:00" --tz "Asia/Shanghai" --message "standup"
✓ Created cron job — fires today at 09:00 Asia/Shanghai (01:00 UTC)

Changed files

src/cli/cron-cli/parse-at.test.ts (added, +84/-0)
src/cli/cron-cli/shared.ts (modified, +59/-3)

Code Example

# Attempt: time-only string
openclaw cron add --name "test" --at "09:00" --tz "Asia/Shanghai" --message "hello"
# Error: Invalid --at; use ISO time or duration like 20m

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Bug type

Behavior bug (incorrect output/state without crash)

Beta release blocker

Summary

Steps to reproduce

# Attempt: time-only string
openclaw cron add --name "test" --at "09:00" --tz "Asia/Shanghai" --message "hello"
# Error: Invalid --at; use ISO time or duration like 20m

Expected behavior

--at "09:00" --tz Asia/Shanghai should schedule the job at 09:00 in the given timezone today. At minimum, the error message should clearly state what formats are accepted.

Actual behavior

Bug 1 — HH:MM not supported at all:

src/cron/parse.ts normalizeUtcIso() only handles three patterns:

YYYY-MM-DD → appends T00:00:00Z
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM → appends Z
strings with timezone suffix (Z / +08:00) → pass through

A bare HH:MM string falls through all branches, is returned unchanged, and Date.parse("09:00") returns NaN on most platforms. Result: parseAbsoluteTimeMs returns null → parseAt returns null → CLI throws "Invalid --at".

Bug 2 — --tz silently ignored for --at:

src/cli/cron-cli/shared.ts parseAt() only applies timezone when isOffsetlessIsoDateTime(raw) is true. That regex is /^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}T\d{2}:\d{2}/ — time-only strings never reach the timezone branch. The --help text says --tz is "Timezone for cron expressions", implying it only applies to --cron. But users naturally expect --at "09:00" --tz Asia/Shanghai to work.

Relevant code

src/cron/parse.ts — normalizeUtcIso() and parseAbsoluteTimeMs()
src/cli/cron-cli/shared.ts — parseAt()
src/cli/cron-cli/schedule-options.ts — resolveDirectSchedule()

Suggested fix

Add HH:MM / HH:MM:SS pattern support: when --tz is provided and input matches HH:MM, resolve it as today's wall-clock time in that timezone
Update --help text to clarify --tz scope (applies to --cron and offset-less --at, not bare time strings)

Environment

OpenClaw: checked against main branch
Node.js: v22.12.0
OS: Linux (sandbox)
Reproduction: consistent

extent analysis

TL;DR

To fix the issue, add support for HH:MM and HH:MM:SS time formats in the normalizeUtcIso() function and update the --help text to clarify the scope of --tz.

Guidance

Modify the normalizeUtcIso() function in src/cron/parse.ts to handle HH:MM and HH:MM:SS patterns by resolving them as today's wall-clock time in the provided timezone when --tz is given.
Update the parseAt() function in src/cli/cron-cli/shared.ts to apply the timezone when --at is used with a time-only string and --tz is provided.
Clarify the --help text for --tz to indicate it applies to both --cron and offset-less --at inputs, including time-only strings when a timezone is specified.

Example

// Example modification to handle HH:MM pattern in normalizeUtcIso()
if (input.match(/^\d{2}:\d{2}$/)) {
  const timezone = // retrieve timezone from --tz option
  const today = new Date();
  today.setHours(0, 0, 0, 0); // Reset to start of day
  const [hours, minutes] = input.split(':').map(Number);
  today.setHours(hours, minutes, 0, 0); // Set time to input
  // Convert today to UTC ISO string considering the timezone
  return today.toISOString();
}

Notes

The exact implementation details may vary based on the specific requirements and constraints of the OpenClaw project.
It's essential to test the modifications thoroughly to ensure they work correctly across different timezones and input formats.

Recommendation

Apply workaround: Modify the normalizeUtcIso() function and update the --help text as suggested to support HH:MM and HH:MM:SS time formats and clarify the use of --tz. This approach directly addresses the reported issues and provides a clear path for users to schedule jobs with time-only strings and timezones.

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FAQ

Expected behavior

--at "09:00" --tz Asia/Shanghai should schedule the job at 09:00 in the given timezone today. At minimum, the error message should clearly state what formats are accepted.

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openclaw - ✅(Solved) Fix [Bug]: cron add --at does not support HH:MM time-only strings; --tz has no effect on --at [1 pull requests, 1 participants]

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Error Message

Attempt: time-only string

Error: Invalid --at; use ISO time or duration like 20m

Root Cause

Fix Action

Fixed

PR fix notes

PR #59444: fix(cron): support HH:MM time-only strings in --at; apply --tz to time-only input

Description (problem / solution / changelog)

Summary

Changes

src/cli/cron-cli/shared.ts

src/cli/cron-cli/parse-at.test.ts (new)

Why not change src/cron/parse.ts?

Before / After

Changed files

Code Example

Bug type

Beta release blocker

Summary

Steps to reproduce

Expected behavior

Actual behavior

Relevant code

Suggested fix

Environment

extent analysis

TL;DR

Guidance

Example

Notes

Recommendation

FAQ

Expected behavior

Still need to ship something?

RELATED_DISCOVERY

TRENDING

`src/cli/cron-cli/shared.ts`

`src/cli/cron-cli/parse-at.test.ts` (new)

Why not change `src/cron/parse.ts`?