AgentSkillsCN

heartbeat

搭建或运行基于Cron的定时心跳任务，定期调用Claude Code，以检测并处理待办事项。当用户希望实现自动化的周期性任务处理，或询问如何按计划运行Claude时，此技能便派上用场。但切勿将其用于一次性任务或交互式工作。

SKILL.md
--- frontmatter
name: heartbeat
description: >
  Set up or run a cron-based heartbeat that periodically invokes Claude Code
  to check for and process pending tasks. Use when the user wants autonomous
  periodic task processing or asks about running Claude on a schedule.
  Do NOT use for one-time tasks or interactive work.
allowed-tools: Bash(*)

Set up or manage a heartbeat for autonomous Claude Code task processing.

Also apply hierarchical_memory and obsidian for reading context and persisting results.

Setup

Recommended: make install-heartbeat handles steps 1-3 automatically.

1. Create the task file

Tasks live in the obsidian vault at $CLAUDE_OBSIDIAN_DIR/heartbeat/tasks.md:

bash
mkdir -p $CLAUDE_OBSIDIAN_DIR/heartbeat
cat > $CLAUDE_OBSIDIAN_DIR/heartbeat/tasks.md << 'EOF'
# Heartbeat Tasks

Tasks for Claude to process on each heartbeat cycle. Before processing, read today's memory notes and decide the highest-value activity.

## Pending

- [ ] Example: Check for new GitHub issues in myrepo

## Completed

EOF

2. Set up auth for cron

Cron doesn't source ~/.zshrc, so API keys aren't available. Create a dedicated env file:

bash
echo 'export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...' > ~/.claude/heartbeat.env
chmod 600 ~/.claude/heartbeat.env

The heartbeat script sources this file automatically on startup.

3. Add a cron entry

bash
# Install (idempotent — removes old entry first, then adds)
(crontab -l 2>/dev/null || true) | sed '/CLAUDE_HEARTBEAT/d' | { cat; echo "0 */4 * * * SKILL_DIR/scripts/heartbeat.sh >> $HOME/claude/obsidian/heartbeat/heartbeat.log 2>&1 # CLAUDE_HEARTBEAT"; } | crontab -

The # CLAUDE_HEARTBEAT marker is a shell comment (harmless at runtime) that lets pause/stop/resume target only this entry.

Verify with crontab -l.

Heartbeat Behavior

On each cycle, the heartbeat agent should:

  1. •Read hierarchical memory (read-current) and obsidian vault for full context
  2. •Read the task queue for pending items
  3. •Decide: is there a high-value task, or should it save its powder and wait?
  4. •If it has a question for the user, write it to $CLAUDE_OBSIDIAN_DIR/heartbeat/questions.md
  5. •Process at most ONE task per cycle
  6. •Update hierarchical memory with what was done
  7. •Commit to the obsidian repo

Task Queue

Edit $CLAUDE_OBSIDIAN_DIR/heartbeat/tasks.md — add tasks as - [ ] description under Pending, completed tasks get marked - [x] timestamp: description and moved to Completed.

Managing

All commands use sed (not grep -v) to avoid exit code 1 on empty output breaking pipelines.

  • •Check log: tail -20 $CLAUDE_OBSIDIAN_DIR/heartbeat/heartbeat.log
  • •Pause: (crontab -l 2>/dev/null || true) | sed '/CLAUDE_HEARTBEAT/ { /^[[:space:]]*#/! s/^/# / }' | crontab -
  • •Resume: (crontab -l 2>/dev/null || true) | sed '/CLAUDE_HEARTBEAT/ s/^[[:space:]]*# *//' | crontab -
  • •Stop: (crontab -l 2>/dev/null || true) | sed '/CLAUDE_HEARTBEAT/d' | crontab -