Scheduler defaults pod-origin invokes to UTC instead of service TZ

[mostlydev]

Summary

Pod-origin x-claw.invoke schedules without a calendar gate are compiled as UTC even when the service/container TZ is a valid local zone such as America/New_York.

This affects both:

• .claw-runtime/schedule.json emitted by cmd/claw/schedule_manifest.go
• OpenClaw native cron stores emitted by internal/driver/openclaw/jobs.go

Impact

• claw-api / clawdash show trader schedules in UTC instead of local market time.
• OpenClaw config/cron/jobs.json gets schedule.tz = "UTC", so runner-native cron state is also wrong.
• For a trading desk, this shifts market-facing cadence away from Eastern time unless an external repair step rewrites the runtime after claw up.

Observed Environment

• Live Tiverton desk on April 9, 2026
• Host timezone: America/New_York
• Pod .env: TZ=America/New_York
• Trader containers also report TZ=America/New_York
• claw api schedule list now confirms the correct behavior only after a local post-deploy normalizer rewrites the runtime files

Reproduction

1. Set pod/service env TZ=America/New_York.
2. Add a pod-origin invoke without when.calendar, for example:

x-claw:
  invoke:
    - schedule: "0 10-15 * * 1-5"
      name: "Hourly macro pulse"
      message: "..."

3. Run claw up.
4. Inspect:
   • .claw-runtime/schedule.json
   • .claw-runtime/<agent>/config/cron/jobs.json

Actual

Both files default to UTC for those invocations.

Expected

If an invocation does not derive timezone from a calendar, it should inherit the resolved service timezone, i.e. the validated TZ from the service environment. In the example above, both files should use America/New_York.

Relevant Source

• cmd/claw/schedule_manifest.go
  • currently defaults to UTC when inv.When == nil
• internal/driver/openclaw/jobs.go
  • currently hardcodes jobSchedule.TZ = "UTC"

Local Fix That Worked

A local patch in my checkout fixed this by:

• using the resolved service TZ as the default timezone for schedule manifest entries when there is no calendar-derived timezone
• using the same resolved TZ for OpenClaw jobSchedule.TZ
• adding targeted tests around both code paths

I also had to add a desk-side runtime normalizer because the current released binary still emits UTC until the upstream fix lands.

Notes

The host and Rails API were already on Eastern time. The bug was specifically in Clawdapus schedule/runtime emission, not the machine clock.

[mostlydev]

Implementation is up in PR #145.

Scope:

• resolve one authoritative service timezone from TZ during claw up
• use that timezone for pod-origin schedule manifest entries when there is no calendar override
• use the same timezone in OpenClaw cron jobs and microclaw config
• keep calendar as the explicit override and UTC as the fallback when no valid TZ is present

Verification:

• go test ./cmd/claw ./internal/driver/openclaw ./internal/driver/microclaw
• go test ./...