bug: gateway cron registration (syncWorkflowToCron) is implemented but never called — workflows only scheduled via in-process node-cron

[p11n-com]

Summary

syncWorkflowToCron in SYSTEM/dashboard/server/lib/workflows.ts implements full openclaw gateway cron registration — it builds per-agent cron jobs, resolves agent models, and calls openclaw cron add. However, it is never imported or called anywhere in the codebase. The PUT route (and all other routes that modify workflows) call syncAllWorkflows() from scheduler.ts instead, which only manages in-process node-cron jobs. Gateway cron registration is dead code.

As a result, workflow schedules only persist in-process. They do not survive a container restart. This affects every ClawMax install — it is not a degraded-state failure, it is a wiring gap that was never closed.

Applicability

Universal — affects every ClawMax install with scheduled workflows. The issue is not conditional on gateway state, auth configuration, or error paths; the gateway cron path is simply never reached.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open ClawMax, create a workflow with a cron schedule, save it.
2. Restart the container.
3. The workflow fires only if startScheduler() re-reads the markdown file and re-schedules via node-cron. The openclaw gateway has no record of the job.
4. Verify: grep -rn "syncWorkflowToCron" SYSTEM/dashboard/ returns only the definition in workflows.ts — no callers.

Root Cause

File: SYSTEM/dashboard/server/lib/workflows.ts (lines 349–420)

// Fully implemented, exported — but zero callers
export function syncWorkflowToCron(
  workflow: Workflow,
  participants: string[]
): { ok: boolean; cronJobId?: string; error?: string } {
  // builds openclaw cron add args, calls execSync(...)
}

File: SYSTEM/dashboard/server/routes/workflows.ts — PUT handler

import { syncAllWorkflows } from '../lib/scheduler'  // ← only this is imported
// syncWorkflowToCron is never imported or called
// ...
syncAllWorkflows()  // ← in-process node-cron only
res.json({ success: true, workflow: updatedWorkflow })

The gateway cron wiring was written but never plumbed into the route layer.

Proposed Fix

Import and call syncWorkflowToCron in the PUT (and POST/DELETE) handlers, surface failures as a non-blocking warning:

// routes/workflows.ts — after saving the workflow
import { syncWorkflowToCron } from '../lib/workflows'
import { syncAllWorkflows } from '../lib/scheduler'

const participantIds = resolveParticipants(updatedWorkflow)
const cronResult = syncWorkflowToCron(updatedWorkflow, participantIds)
syncAllWorkflows()  // keep in-process scheduler in sync too

res.json({
  success: true,
  workflow: updatedWorkflow,
  warnings: cronResult.ok
    ? []
    : [`Gateway cron registration failed: ${cronResult.error}. Schedule will run via in-process scheduler only.`],
})

The client can surface a yellow banner when warnings.length > 0, giving the user actionable information without blocking the save.

Affected Files

File	Change
SYSTEM/dashboard/server/routes/workflows.ts	Import syncWorkflowToCron; call it in PUT/POST/DELETE handlers; surface warnings in response
SYSTEM/dashboard/client/src/pages/Workflows.tsx (or equivalent)	Display non-blocking warning banner when response includes warnings

[maximilien]

Status update: triaged and prioritized. This is part of the scheduling stack cleanup we need for 1.4.0. We intend to fix cron registration correctness together with the broader scheduler/timezone issues rather than patching it in isolation.

[maximilien]

Fix shipped on main in commit 9f1bc81. Workflow create/update/startup/workspace-activate paths now sync gateway cron registrations instead of only resyncing the in-process scheduler, and cron job ids are persisted back onto workflows so later updates/deletes can manage them correctly.

Attestation: I ran the focused workflow/scheduler regression suite locally before pushing.

Please verify by creating or editing a scheduled workflow, then confirming the cron registration is created/updated as expected in your environment.

[p11n-com]

Verified fixed — confirmed end-to-end on 2026-05-05.

Fixed by commit 9f1bc81 (fix: honor workflow timezones in scheduler and cron sync). The syncWorkflowToCron / gateway cron path is now wired up correctly. Verified via gateway logs showing openclaw cron add is called with the correct cron expression and timezone when workflows are scheduled/updated. The gateway cron entries are live and trigger executions at the scheduled times.

[maximilien]

Fixed on main in 9f1bc81 (gateway cron registration is now synced on create/update/startup/workspace activate). Validated locally with workflow and scheduler regression coverage. Please reopen if scheduled workflows still fail to register with gateway cron.