openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix Feature: Batch API support for non-urgent cron jobs (50% cost reduction) [1 participants]

Summary

Allow cron jobs with agentTurn payloads to optionally route through Anthropic's Batch API instead of the standard Messages API. The Batch API offers a 50% discount on both input and output tokens with a 24-hour completion window — perfect for scheduled, non-interactive tasks.

Use Case

I run several recurring cron jobs that are inherently non-urgent:

1. Sentinel research — generates improvement proposals 4x/day. Each run calls Opus 4.6 for ~5 minutes. These don't need real-time responses — a 1-hour delay is fine.
2. Dream Cycle — nightly memory consolidation at 3am. No user is waiting for this.
3. Blogwatcher/RSS — periodic feed monitoring and summarization.
4. Scheduled research tasks — one-shot cron jobs for deep research that return results via delivery.

All of these could use the Batch API's 50% discount without any impact on user experience.

Proposed Config

Add an optional batch flag to cron job payloads:

{
  "schedule": {"kind": "cron", "expr": "0 3 * * *"},
  "sessionTarget": "isolated",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "agentTurn",
    "message": "...",
    "batch": true
  },
  "delivery": {"mode": "announce"}
}

When batch: true:

1. Submit the agentTurn to Anthropic's Batch API (/v1/messages/batches) instead of the standard Messages endpoint
2. Poll for completion (or use webhook callback)
3. When complete, deliver the result via the normal delivery mechanism (announce, webhook, etc.)
4. If batch processing fails or times out (24hr), fall back to standard API

Pricing Impact

• Batch API pricing: 50% of standard rates. Stackable with prompt caching (cache reads at 0.1x).
• Combined savings: Up to 95% on cached portions of batch requests.
• My estimated savings: ~$30-45/month on ~$90/month of batch-eligible cron traffic.

Technical Notes

• Anthropic Batch API docs: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/build-with-claude/batch-processing
• Batch requests have a 24-hour completion window
• Results come back asynchronously — fits naturally with cron's isolated session model
• The existing delivery mechanism already handles async result delivery

Context

• OpenClaw version: 2026.3.23-2
• Running 5 cron-triggered jobs (1 recurring + ad-hoc one-shots)
• Sentinel alone runs 4 Opus research calls/day + 1 update check = ~150 calls/month
• All are non-interactive — perfect batch candidates

Impact

Any OpenClaw user with recurring cron jobs would benefit. The Batch API is GA and stable. This is essentially free money — same results, half the cost, with the only trade-off being completion time (which doesn't matter for scheduled background work).