Besides CC, Lobster is also a must-have harness-level agent. After reviewing CC's excellent content, we can also look at a feature of OpenClaw: the heartbeat mechanism.

What is the heartbeat mechanism

It is actually amechanism that periodically sends signals to keep the system active and monitor its status.

The role of the heartbeat mechanism

Its main roles include:

  • Ensure connection stability: OpenClaw maintains communication with the server or various Agents. If no messages are transmitted for a long time, the heartbeat signal lets the other party know it is still online.

  • Monitor status: Heartbeats can detect whether an Agent is working normally, and whether it is stuck or disconnected.

  • Trigger automatic recovery: If a heartbeat times out without a response, the system can automatically attempt to reconnect or execute error-handling logic to ensure tasks are not interrupted.

Drawbacks of the heartbeat mechanism

As mentioned earlier, the heartbeat mechanism is actuallythe Agent's active polling/periodic checking of tasks. Suppose you submit a task but do not continue operating or checking the result for a while—then disaster strikes: the Agent will, according to the heartbeat mechanism,periodically check the task status, to see whether it is complete, needs updating, or has new input. Each check triggers a message/status request, which consumestokens in the system (because each time requires model inference or status synchronization).

So, if a task is left unattended for a long time but the Agent is still heartbeating,token consumption will accumulate, possibly even more than your actual active operations.