Background tasks
Not every job fits in a phone call. Hand it off and keep talking.
On a private line to your own OpenClaw agent, ask for research, a draft, a report or a multi-step automation. The voice agent writes a self-contained brief, hands it to your agent in the background and carries on with the call. The finished work arrives in your chat channel.
The call gives the direction. The work happens elsewhere.
A phone call is a good way to say what you want. It is a poor way to receive a two-page answer. Longer work runs in the background and lands where long text and links are easy to read.
The call does not wait: the request is handed over in a moment and the agent confirms it in one short sentence.
Example, on a private line
Fast on the phone. Thorough off it.
No dead air
The task is submitted and the call carries on. You are not left listening to silence while a long job runs.
A complete brief
The background run does not see the call. So the voice agent writes the brief to stand on its own: the audience, length, tone and the facts the work needs.
Delivered where you read
The result goes to the chat channel set up on your OpenClaw install, such as Telegram, Discord or Slack, instead of being read aloud.
From a spoken request. To finished work.
- 1
You ask on your private line
A private line answers only your own phone number. Ask for anything that would take longer than a pause in conversation.
- 2
The agent writes the brief
It turns your request into a self-contained task and hands it to your OpenClaw agent.
- 3
Your agent does the work
It runs separately from the call, which can carry on or end. A run may take up to 10 minutes by default, and up to an hour if you allow it.
- 4
The result arrives
Your agent posts the finished output to your chat channel.
Owner-only by design. Off until you set it up.
A background task runs with your own agent's access, to whatever it can reach. So the gateway decides who can start one, in code.
- Never on a public lineThe task tool is not offered to callers on a public line at all.
- Off by defaultIt appears only after you add your agent's hooks token, the delivery channel and the destination to the gateway's settings.
- Delivery you fixedWhere the result goes comes from your settings. Nothing said on a call can send it somewhere else.
- Only the brief is sentThe task receives the brief, not the call's transcript.
- Its own tokenThe hooks token is separate from the gateway's normal OpenClaw token, and the gateway warns at startup if they are the same.
Work worth moving off the call.
Research and comparisons
Look into a question and come back with a recommendation.
Drafts
Emails longer than a few sentences, proposals and posts.
Reports and summaries
Anything too long to listen to.
Multi-step automations
Jobs that take your agent several steps and tools.
Questions.
Can any caller start a background task?
No. It is available only on a private line, which answers only the owner's number. On a public line the tool does not exist for the agent.
Does the call wait for the task?
No. The task is handed over straight away, the agent confirms it in one sentence and the conversation continues.
Does the task see the call transcript?
No. Your agent receives only the brief, so the voice agent includes everything the task needs in it.
Where does the result go?
To the chat channel and destination you set for the gateway, delivered by your OpenClaw agent.
Which agents support it?
OpenClaw agents: the gateway submits the task to your OpenClaw install's hooks endpoint. See OpenClaw voice and the guide to fast tools and background work.
What if the task cannot be submitted?
The agent tells you it could not start the task and suggests sending the request through your chat channel directly.
Ask by voice. Read it in chat.
Background tasks come with the OpenClaw voice gateway, off until you set them up. Running a different setup? Tell us what you run.