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A shared run log
Every monitored automation writes an entry (heartbeat) after each run, quiet or not.
Beacon is an external silence detector — it reads the shared run log for your automations and emails you when the latest entry is older than a threshold you set. It lives deliberately on a separate account, so a failure in the observed system can't also take the sensor down.
An automation that runs quietly in the background is convenient — until it stops. Without monitoring, you find out only once you notice missing data, which is usually too late.
Beacon reads a shared run log and sends an email alert when the latest entry is older than a threshold you set — silence always means a failure, so there's no signal to interpret.
A key design decision: Beacon lives on a different account than the automation it watches — if the whole environment crashed, a sensor living in that same environment would crash with it and never alert.
A simple rule with no room for ambiguity.
Every monitored automation writes an entry (heartbeat) after each run, quiet or not.
Beacon, running on a separate account, checks regularly that the latest entry isn't older than the silence threshold.
Once the threshold is crossed, an email goes out — before the missing data gets expensive.
A sensor independent of the environment it observes.
Your bāApps automations, or your own, if they already write a heartbeat.
12h by default, matched to how often a given automation should actually check in.
A simple, unambiguous notification channel — no extra app to check.
You'll know how to add another automation to the monitor.
The sensor runs continuously — that's its whole job, so it's part of the price, not an add-on.
Companies and people with at least one automation that has to run reliably — especially useful as an add-on to an already-deployed Orbit, Atlas, Scribe or Herald.
Beacon is designed and partly implemented, not fully finished like Orbit or Atlas — when you order, we agree a real delivery timeline instead of promising it "right away."
Unlike the rest of the bāApps line, the monthly fee isn't an add-on — Beacon is pointless without continuous operation, so it's part of the base price.
Because an automation that has crashed won't report that itself. Beacon deliberately lives in a separate environment (a different account) so that a failure in the observed system doesn't also take down the sensor meant to alert on it.
Any automation that writes a heartbeat to a shared run log — including Orbit, Atlas, Scribe and Herald from the bāApps line, plus your own automations if they already have that mechanism.
Depends on the silence threshold you set (12 hours by default) — Beacon checks the log on a schedule and emails when the latest entry is older than the threshold.
The mechanism is designed and partly implemented; a client rollout is delivered with a clearly communicated timeline, not "immediately" the way Orbit or Atlas are.
Yes — that's the most common scenario: bolting Beacon on as an extra monitoring layer over an already-running Orbit, Atlas, Scribe or Herald.
How many automations, and how fast you need to know about a failure — we reply within 2 business days.