Parallel Tasks

OpenClaw supports executing multiple sub-tasks in parallel within a single conversation, dramatically improving complex task throughput.

How It Works

When the agent receives a complex task, it breaks it into independent sub-tasks. Those without dependencies run concurrently:

User Request → Agent Analysis
                ├── Sub-task A (file read)   ─┐
                ├── Sub-task B (API call)    ─┼── Parallel
                └── Sub-task C (web scrape)  ─┘
                                              → Merge → Return

Configuration

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      tools: {
        parallel_execution: true,
        max_concurrent: 5,
      },
    },
  },
}

Best Scenarios for Parallelism

Multi-file processing: Analyze multiple files simultaneously

User: Review all Python files in src/ for code quality

Multiple API calls: Query several data sources at once

User: Check weather in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou

Batch web scraping: Open multiple pages concurrently

User: Scrape titles from these 5 competitor websites

Task Dependencies

The agent automatically detects dependencies and sequences them:

Step 1: Read config (must complete first)
Step 2: Parallel execution
  ├── Call API A with config
  ├── Call API B with config
  └── Query database with config
Step 3: Aggregate results into report (waits for Step 2)

Combining with Cron

Pair parallel tasks with scheduled execution:

openclaw cron add --schedule "0 9 * * *" \
  --message "Check all monitors in parallel, generate daily report" \
  --channel telegram --target <ChatID>