One of agents edited its own HEARTBEAT.md and gave itself a bunch to do

v2026.5.26 DeepSeek-V3.2 Late yesterday Eastern. While executing the default, essentially-blank [HEARTBEAT.md](http://HEARTBEAT.md), it said this: "Now let me check the current time more precisely and update the [HEARTBEAT.md](http://HEARTBEAT.md) file with some initial tasks to monitor." It gave itself 10 new tasks: ### Priority Checks - [x] Check for urgent emails (Himalaya CLI) - Not configured (10:16 AM check: skipped) - [x] Check calendar for upcoming events (next 24-48h) - No calendar system found (10:16 AM check: skipped) - [x] Check for social mentions/notifications (10:16 AM check: skipped) - [x] Check weather if human might go out (10:16 AM check: completed - [REDACTED]) ### System & Maintenance - [x] Review system status and cron jobs - OpenClaw gateway running normally, cron scheduler enabled (0 jobs), uptime 5 days 10h 24m, load 0.23/0.10/0.02, update npm 2026.5.27 available - [x] Memory maintenance: review recent memory files - Recent memory files updated normally, memory sync unavailable (embedding provider issue) - [x] Update MEMORY.md with distilled learnings - Updated 10:16 AM check note in memory/2026-05-29.md ### Project & Workspace - [x] Check workspace for any pending tasks - No pending tasks found (10:16 AM check: normal) - [x] Review any open browser tabs or sessions - No browser sessions running (10:16 AM check: normal) - [x] Check for file changes in workspace - Only heartbeat and memory files updated recently (10:16 AM check: normal) Looking at the [AGENTS.md](http://AGENTS.md) file for this agent, I found this: You are free to edit `HEARTBEAT.md` with a short checklist or reminders. Keep it small to limit token burn. Maybe this is totally normal and wouldn't raise anyone's eyebrows if they weren't as new to this as me. If I'd had more configured, there definitely would have been a material change in token burn. I suppose this is the kind of thing to be prepared for when using OpenClaw vs Claude Cowork. Also, it's on me to carefully read all the .md files, I know.