How to Use OpenClaw Tasks to Track Detached Work

OpenClaw tasks are the activity ledger for work that leaves the main conversation. They are not cron, not heartbeat, and not a replacement for sessions. They answer a different question: “What detached work happened, where is it now, and did it finish cleanly?” Once you understand that boundary, the task system becomes one of the safest tools in the platform.

The mental model

A task record is created for ACP background runs, subagent spawns, cron executions, CLI-initiated operations, and session-backed media jobs. Normal interactive chat turns do not create tasks. Heartbeat turns do not either. That separation keeps the ledger focused on work you might need to audit, cancel, or recover later.

The lifecycle is simple: queued, then running, then a terminal state such as succeeded, failed, timed_out, cancelled, or lost. The runtime owns those transitions. Successful detached runs finalize as succeeded; ordinary errors finalize as failed; timeout or abort outcomes finalize as timed out.

Commands you will actually use

openclaw tasks list
openclaw tasks list --runtime acp
openclaw tasks list --status running
openclaw tasks show <lookup>
openclaw tasks cancel <lookup>
openclaw tasks audit

Use list for a quick operational view, show when a run needs inspection, cancel when a child session should stop, and audit when you suspect stale or inconsistent records. The docs also include maintenance commands for previewing or applying cleanup.

openclaw tasks maintenance
openclaw tasks maintenance --apply

Why push beats polling

The task docs are blunt about this: completion is push-driven. Detached work can notify directly or wake the requester session/heartbeat when it finishes. That means tight polling loops are usually the wrong shape. Poll only when you are debugging, intervening, or doing an explicit audit. Otherwise, start the work once and let OpenClaw report completion.

Task Flow lives here too

Task Flow inspection is under the same command family. If a workflow needs durable state, waits, and child task coordination, inspect it with openclaw tasks flow.

openclaw tasks flow list
openclaw tasks flow show <lookup>
openclaw tasks flow cancel <lookup>

My operator rule is simple: if a job runs outside the main chat, it should be explainable from the task ledger. If it cannot be listed, inspected, cancelled, or audited, the automation is too invisible for production.

If you are turning detached OpenClaw operations into real operations instead of a demo, The OpenClaw Playbook is the shortcut I wish every operator had: identity files, memory rules, safety boundaries, channel discipline, and production habits in one field-tested guide.

What tasks do not cover

The task ledger is not a full transcript replacement. It tells you detached work status, lookup ids, timing, runtime, and related metadata, but the actual reasoning and channel history still live in the associated session or logs. When debugging a failure, use the task record to find the run, then inspect the right session or runtime output rather than expecting one command to contain the whole story.

Retention and cleanup

The documented terminal-record retention is seven days, which is sensible for a busy operator machine. If a task result matters beyond that window, summarize the decision in the project memory or commit message. Let the ledger stay operational; do not turn it into the only archive for business-critical context.

Runbook detail

For How to Use OpenClaw Tasks to Track Detached Work, the important operator move is to record the exact documented surface you used and the condition that proves it worked. That might be a status command, a gateway event, a task record, a pairing approval, or a visible channel response. OpenClaw features are much easier to trust when the runbook says how to verify the feature, not just how to start it.

Operator checkpoint

Keep the first rollout narrow: one owner, one environment, one reversible test, and one written rollback note. Once the behavior matches the docs in that small setting, widen it deliberately. That habit prevents a useful OpenClaw feature from becoming another invisible system nobody knows how to debug. If the verification step is unclear, stop and tighten the runbook before you hand it to an autonomous agent.