openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix Feature: heartbeat should skip/defer when agent is actively processing [1 comments, 2 participants]

Problem

When the heartbeat fires while the agent is mid-turn (e.g., reading files, running tools, writing output), it interrupts the current work by injecting a new message into the queue. The agent must process the heartbeat turn before resuming, causing:

1. Context switch overhead — agent reads HEARTBEAT.md, evaluates "am I busy?", responds, then resumes prior work
2. Wasted turn — the heartbeat result is effectively HEARTBEAT_OK since there is active work
3. Token cost — each interrupted turn consumes tokens for context restoration

Current behavior

Heartbeat fires on a fixed interval (e.g., every 30m) regardless of whether the agent session is actively processing a message. The heartbeat message enters the same queue as user messages.

Expected behavior

Heartbeat should skip or defer when the agent is actively processing:

• If the agent is mid-turn (tool calls in progress, generating response), defer the heartbeat to after the current turn completes
• Or skip the heartbeat entirely and wait for the next interval

Prior art

Claude Code's proactive mode has a similar mechanism: the CronScheduler checks isLoading() before firing scheduled tasks. From their source:

// cronScheduler.ts
function check() {
  if (isLoading()) return  // Skip if agent is busy
  // ... fire scheduled tasks
}

This ensures scheduled prompts only fire when the REPL is idle between turns.

Proposed solution

Add an isProcessing check before injecting the heartbeat message:

heartbeat interval fires
  → is agent session currently processing? (mid-turn, tool calls active)
    → yes: skip this heartbeat, wait for next interval
    → no: inject heartbeat message as usual

This could be a gateway-level check (session has pending tool calls or is generating) rather than agent-level.

My setup

• Single agent, heartbeat every 30 minutes
• Agent frequently does multi-step work (source code research, file writing) that spans several minutes
• Heartbeat interruptions are most noticeable during long tool-call chains