Can OpenClaw run tasks on a schedule or continuously in the background

Yes. Use the Gateway scheduler:
Cron jobs for scheduled or recurring tasks (persist across restarts).
Heartbeat for “main session” periodic checks.
Isolated jobs for autonomous agents that post summaries or deliver to chats.
Docs: Cron jobs, Cron vs Heartbeat, Heartbeat.
Can I run Apple macOS only skills from Linux
Not directly. macOS skills are gated by metadata.openclaw.os plus required binaries, and skills only appear in the system prompt when they are eligible on the Gateway host. On Linux, darwin-only skills (like imsg, apple-notes, apple-reminders) will not load unless you override the gating.
You have three supported patterns:
Option A - run the Gateway on a Mac (simplest).
Run the Gateway where the macOS binaries exist, then connect from Linux in remote mode or over Tailscale. The skills load normally because the Gateway host is macOS.
Option B - use a macOS node (no SSH).
Run the Gateway on Linux, pair a macOS node (menubar app), and set Node Run Commands to “Always Ask” or “Always Allow” on the Mac. OpenClaw can treat macOS-only skills as eligible when the required binaries exist on the node. The agent runs those skills via the nodes tool. If you choose “Always Ask”, approving “Always Allow” in the prompt adds that command to the allowlist.
Option C - proxy macOS binaries over SSH (advanced).
Keep the Gateway on Linux, but make the required CLI binaries resolve to SSH wrappers that run on a Mac. Then override the skill to allow Linux so it stays eligible.
Create an SSH wrapper for the binary (example: imsg):
#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail
exec ssh -T user@mac-host /opt/homebrew/bin/imsg "$@"
Put the wrapper on PATH on the Linux host (for example ~/bin/imsg).
Override the skill metadata (workspace or ~/.openclaw/skills) to allow Linux:
---
name: imsg
description: iMessage/SMS CLI for listing chats, history, watch, and sending.
metadata: { "openclaw": { "os": ["darwin", "linux"], "requires": { "bins": ["imsg"] } } }
---
Start a new session so the skills snapshot refreshes.
For iMessage specifically, you can also point channels.imessage.cliPath at an SSH wrapper (OpenClaw only needs stdio). See iMessage.