Summary

When a cron job fires with wakeMode: 'now' and a systemEvent payload, the agent is woken but doesn't automatically send messages to WhatsApp channels.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create a cron job with:
   • wakeMode: 'now'
   • payload: { kind: 'systemEvent', text: '🔔 Reminder: ...' }
   • sessionTarget: 'main'
2. Wait for cron to fire
3. Cron shows status: ok in runs
4. But no WhatsApp message is sent to the user

Expected Behavior

When woken by a cron systemEvent, the agent should:

1. Read HEARTBEAT.md instructions
2. Process the systemEvent text
3. Use message tool to send to the configured channel (WhatsApp)

Actual Behavior

• Cron fires successfully (status: ok)
• Agent appears to process internally
• No message is sent to WhatsApp
• Earlier runs showed error: empty-heartbeat-file when HEARTBEAT.md was empty

Environment

• Clawdbot version: 2026.1.24-3
• Channel: WhatsApp
• OS: Linux

Workaround

Currently have to manually send via message tool when noticing a reminder fired.

Suggestion

The cron system should either:

1. Support a payload.kind: 'message' that directly sends to a channel
2. Or ensure the agent reliably executes message sends when woken by systemEvent

This is critical for reminder/notification use cases.