Automation

Automation Patterns

Retry with Backoff

#!/bin/bash
MAX_RETRIES=3
DELAY=5
for i in $(seq 1 $MAX_RETRIES); do
  if your_command; then break; fi
  echo "Retry $i/$MAX_RETRIES in ${DELAY}s..."
  sleep $DELAY
  DELAY=$((DELAY * 2))
done

File Watcher

inotifywait -m -e modify,create /path/to/watch | while read dir action file; do
  echo "File $file was $action"
  # trigger processing
done

Idempotent Scripts

# Use lock files to prevent concurrent runs
LOCKFILE="/tmp/mytask.lock"
if [ -f "$LOCKFILE" ]; then echo "Already running"; exit 0; fi
trap "rm -f $LOCKFILE" EXIT
touch "$LOCKFILE"
# ... your task here

Pipeline with Error Handling

set -euo pipefail
fetch_data | transform_json | upload_result \
  || { echo "Pipeline failed at stage $?"; notify_admin; exit 1; }

Cron Expression Reference

Security

• Never store secrets in crontab — use environment variables or secret files
• Log all automated actions — append to ~/.automation/logs/
• Rate limit API calls — respect service terms
• Use lock files — prevent duplicate runs
• Validate inputs — never pass unsanitized data to shell commands

Requirements

• cron or systemd (pre-installed on Linux)
• OpenClaw for agent-based automation
• Optional: inotifywait (inotify-tools), jq, curl