Sleep and wake
What wakes your room, what keeps it awake, and when it sleeps.
When your room sleeps, its programs pause and resume when it wakes. You pay for awake time and for storage while asleep; see Pricing and credit.
When it sleeps
| After | It sleeps |
|---|---|
| Your agent answers a Telegram message | about 20 seconds later, unless something keeps it awake |
| Any other wake | once it has been quiet for 5 minutes with nothing connected |
What keeps it awake
| Keeps it awake | Until |
|---|---|
| Your agent working on a turn | the turn ends. A DeepSeek Harness turn waiting for your answer doesn't count. An OpenClaw room stays awake until it reports idle, or if Botel can't read it |
| An open app tab, even in the background | the tab closes (see the Warning below) |
| An SSH connection | you disconnect |
| Background work Hermes started | 5 minutes at most |
| A scheduled job | about 5 minutes after each run. Frequent jobs can keep the room awake continuously. Ask your agent to run them less often |
| A failing model call your agent keeps retrying | it stops; meanwhile it doesn't answer. Check your balance and its model |
Background work
- A job Hermes started in the background holds the room awake for up to 5 minutes after the turn. Then the room sleeps, and Botel wakes it a few more times to let the job run. Each wake is awake time, and a long job may not finish in them.
- A service is a process Hermes started in the background, such as a web server, that's at least 1 hour old, including time spent asleep. It no longer keeps the room awake or gets check-in wakes. It resumes when something else wakes the room, such as a request to its port.
- Anything Hermes didn't start, such as a program you launch over SSH or anything the DeepSeek Harness starts, never holds the room awake.
What wakes it
- A Telegram message to your bot (Hermes and OpenClaw).
- Opening the app.
- Any visit to an open port, from anyone with the address if it's public.
- A job your agent scheduled.
Warning: Close the app tab when you're done. An open tab keeps your room awake or keeps waking it, even in the background, and you pay for that time.
Scheduled jobs
Scheduled jobs run only while the room is awake. Before sleeping, the room asks to be woken for the next one due. When that wake is scheduled, the sleeping room page shows "Scheduled to wake …". Check that line if you're expecting a job to run. It confirms the scheduled wake, not that the job has run or sent a reminder.
How fast it wakes
Usually in under a second; after a long sleep, about 20 seconds. If a wake from a Telegram message takes more than 5 seconds, the chat shows "Waking up — I'll answer shortly.".
Reading Activity
The room's Activity lists each wake with its reason. Two need explaining:
- "a check-in": Botel woke the room for a scheduled job or to let background work finish. No "Scheduled to wake" line? Ask your agent what it left running.
- "a message arrived" when nobody wrote: an app or port wake can be labelled this way, and can put the waking notice in your Telegram chat. Look for an open app tab or a public port.
Questions? Write to [email protected].