docs: add wiki home page with overview and getting started guide

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-05-30 12:45:33 -04:00
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+# Heartbeat
+
+Heartbeat is a lightweight host monitoring system built around a simple idea: each machine you want to monitor runs a small client (`hbc`) that sends a UDP "heartbeat" packet to a central server (`hbd`) on a regular interval. If a heartbeat stops arriving, you get notified. Alongside reachability, clients can ship system metrics — CPU, memory, disk, network — and the server will alert you when any of those cross a threshold.
+
+## How it works
+
+```
+  [ monitored host ]              [ your server ]
+  ┌─────────────┐  UDP 50003     ┌────────────────────────┐
+  │     hbc     │ ────────────>  │  hbd                   │
+  │             │                │  host state tracking   │
+  │  plugins:   │  <──────────── │  threshold alerting    │
+  │  cpu, mem,  │  ACK / CMD     │  notifications         │
+  │  disk, ...  │                │  web dashboard + API   │
+  └─────────────┘                └────────────────────────┘
+```
+
+- **hbd** — the server daemon. Tracks which hosts are alive, evaluates metric thresholds, fires notifications, serves the web dashboard and REST API.
+- **hbc** — the client. Sends heartbeats and plugin data over UDP. Runs on any Linux/BSD/macOS host.
+- **hbc_mini** — a zero-dependency single-file alternative (`hbc_mini.py` or `hbc_mini.c`) for hosts where you can't install Python packages.
+
+Notifications can go to Pushover, email, Mattermost, Matrix, Signal, or VoIP.ms SMS. The dashboard shows host connectivity, RTT graphs, active alerts, and per-host plugin metrics in real time via WebSocket.
+
+---
+
+## Getting started
+
+This tutorial sets up a server on one machine and a client on a second machine. You'll end up with a working dashboard and your first host being monitored.
+
+### 1. Install the server
+
+On the machine that will run `hbd`:
+
+```bash
+git clone https://git.wrede.ca/andreas/heartbeat.git
+cd heartbeat
+python3 -m venv .venv
+source .venv/bin/activate
+pip install .
+```
+
+Verify the install:
+
+```bash
+hbd --help
+```
+
+### 2. Create a server config
+
+Create `~/.hb.yaml`:
+
+```yaml
+hb_port: 50003       # UDP port — clients send heartbeats here
+hbd_port: 50004      # HTTP port — web dashboard and API
+ws_port: 50005       # WebSocket port — live dashboard updates
+
+interval: 20         # Expected heartbeat interval (seconds)
+grace: 2             # Seconds of slack before a host is considered overdue
+
+pickfile: ~/.hb.pick
+pidfile:  ~/.hb.pid
+logfile:  ~/.hb.log
+```
+
+That's enough to get started. No hosts, no users, no notifications needed yet — the server will accept any client that connects.
+
+### 3. Start the server
+
+```bash
+hbd serve -c ~/.hb.yaml -f -v
+```
+
+`-f` keeps it in the foreground so you can watch the log. You should see:
+
+```
+Heartbeat daemon starting on UDP :50003, HTTP :50004, WS :50005
+```
+
+Open `http://your-server:50004/live` in a browser. The dashboard is empty for now.
+
+### 4. Install the client on a host to monitor
+
+On the machine you want to monitor (must be able to reach the server on UDP 50003):
+
+```bash
+pip install hbd      # or: copy scripts/hbc_mini.py if you can't install packages
+```
+
+#### Quick start — no config file
+
+```bash
+hbc your-server.example.com
+```
+
+Within a few seconds the server log will show the host checking in, and it will appear on the dashboard.
+
+#### With a config file
+
+Create `~/.hbc.yaml` on the client host:
+
+```yaml
+hb_port: 50003
+interval: 10         # Send a heartbeat every 10 seconds
+
+plugins:
+  cpu_monitor:
+    interval: 60
+  memory_monitor:
+    interval: 60
+  disk_monitor:
+    interval: 60
+```
+
+Then start the client:
+
+```bash
+hbc -c ~/.hbc.yaml your-server.example.com
+```
+
+Send a boot message at startup so the server logs when the host came up:
+
+```bash
+hbc -b -c ~/.hbc.yaml your-server.example.com
+```
+
+Run as a daemon (logs go to syslog):
+
+```bash
+hbc -d -b -c ~/.hbc.yaml your-server.example.com
+```
+
+### 5. View the dashboard
+
+Open `http://your-server:50004/live`. You'll see the monitored host, its last heartbeat time, and RTT. Click the host name to see plugin metrics.
+
+Navigate to `/plugins/<hostname>` for CPU, memory, and disk graphs.
+
+### 6. Add a notification channel (optional)
+
+Edit `~/.hb.yaml` on the server:
+
+```yaml
+notification_channels:
+  pushover_ops:
+    type: pushover
+    token: YOUR_APP_TOKEN
+    user: YOUR_USER_KEY
+
+users:
+  alice:
+    password: pbkdf2:sha256:...    # generate: hbd passwd alice
+    admin: true
+    notification_channels: [pushover_ops]
+
+default_owner: alice
+```
+
+Generate the password hash:
+
+```bash
+hbd passwd alice
+```
+
+Paste the output into the config, then reload:
+
+```bash
+hbd reload
+```
+
+Test the channel:
+
+```bash
+hbd notify
+```
+
+### 7. Set a threshold alert (optional)
+
+Add to `~/.hb.yaml`:
+
+```yaml
+thresholds:
+  cpu_monitor:
+    cpu_percent:
+      warning: 80.0
+      critical: 90.0
+  disk_monitor:
+    partitions:
+      /:
+        percent:
+          warning: 80.0
+          critical: 90.0
+```
+
+Reload: `hbd reload`. The server will now alert when a monitored host crosses these values.
+
+---
+
+## What's next
+
+| Topic | Where to look |
+|---|---|
+| Full server config reference | [README — Server](README.md#server-hbd) |
+| Client options and all plugins | [README — Client](README.md#client-hbc) |
+| Threshold alerting details | [docs/THRESHOLD_ALERTING.md](docs/THRESHOLD_ALERTING.md) |
+| Notification channels | [docs/NOTIFICATIONS.md](docs/NOTIFICATIONS.md) |
+| User accounts and roles | [docs/USERS.md](docs/USERS.md) |
+| Writing a custom plugin | [docs/PLUGIN_DEVELOPMENT.md](docs/PLUGIN_DEVELOPMENT.md) |
+| Nagios check integration | [docs/NAGIOS_INTEGRATION.md](docs/NAGIOS_INTEGRATION.md) |
+| REST API | [docs/HTTP_API.md](docs/HTTP_API.md) |
+| Zero-dependency client | [README — hbc_mini](README.md#hbc_mini--zero-dependency-client) |