Periskopos

Every app you ship, watched from one window.
A desktop app that tells you what's down, what's live and what's about to break, across every service your apps run on.

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Each app you run in production lives across a host, a database, a domain,
CI, maybe a payments account and an error tracker, each with its own
dashboard. Periskopos is a desktop app that reads them all and tells you, in
one window, what's down, whether your last push actually went live, what's
misconfigured and what's about to expire, before a user does.

You connect each account (Cloudflare, GitHub, Render, Supabase, Vercel,
Stripe…) once with a key you create, and Periskopos suggests what to watch
for each app. Nothing changes in your apps.

It runs entirely on your computer. Your keys never leave it, it only reads
unless you switch on actions for an account, and AI assistants can ask it
questions through MCP without ever seeing a key.

The name is coined from the Greek peri (around) and skopos (lookout):
the one who keeps watch all around. It was called Ground Control until
0.3.0.

Features

Supported services

Each is set up with a key you create, read-only wherever the provider allows
it. Providers lists the exact permissions for
each one. New providers are welcome: see CONTRIBUTING.md.

Install

Download the latest installer from
Releases. The
installed app keeps itself up to date.

• Windows: Periskopos-Setup-<version>-x64.exe. The installer is
  unsigned, so SmartScreen says "unknown publisher": choose More info, then
  Run anyway.
• macOS: Periskopos-macOS-<version>-arm64.dmg (Apple silicon) or
  -x64.dmg (Intel). The app is unsigned, so the first time macOS won't
  open it: choose Done, then System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open
  Anyway. Unsigned, it can't update itself; it tells you when there's a new
  version and opens the download.
• Linux: Periskopos-<version>-x86_64.AppImage. Make it executable
  (chmod +x) and run it; it updates itself.

Getting started

1. Open Periskopos and add your first app from its address. Its site,
   certificate, domain and configuration are checked at once, before any
   account is connected.
2. On Accounts, choose Connect an account and paste a key for a
   service you use. The setup lists the permissions it needs.
3. On the app's page, Get more from this app suggests what each
   connected account can add, and connects the obvious ones in one click.

Keys are saved to .env.local in your profile's Periskopos folder,
encrypted by the installed app, and never in the database, a backup or the
browser. See
Keys.

AI assistants

Switch on Settings → AI assistants → Let AI assistants use
Periskopos, then copy the command from Connect an assistant. For Claude
Code it looks like:

claude mcp add --scope user periskopos node "<install folder>/resources/app/mcp/main.ts"

Assistants get nine read-only tools (list_apps, get_app, check_app,
get_failure_log, get_configuration, get_history, get_traffic,
list_services, list_actions) and run_action, which always waits for
your approval in Periskopos. Each assistant can be limited to some apps,
to reading only, or to specific actions. See Connecting an assistant
and Limits and approvals.

How it keeps your accounts safe

• The server listens on 127.0.0.1 only, and opens only in its own window:
  each launch makes a key that exists only in memory.
• Keys never leave your PC except to the provider they belong to, and no
  tool or page ever returns one.
• Everything is read-only by default. Actions are opted into per account and
  always confirmed; dangerous ones ask you to type the app's name.
• AI assistants can read and ask, never act on their own.

The security model is the threat model: what
this protects against and what it doesn't. Its full design record is
docs/AGENT-SAFETY.md.

Running from source

Needs Node.js 24 or newer. Nothing else is installed
system-wide.

git clone https://github.com/periskopos/periskopos.git
cd periskopos
npm install
npm run dev

npm run dev opens the desktop app from your checkout with its own data
folder, beside any installed copy. npm run check type-checks, runs the
tests and builds the UI. CONTRIBUTING.md has the rest.

Documentation

The docs for using Periskopos are at periskopos.com/docs:

For working on Periskopos itself, this repository keeps:

Star-Map, Moon-Base and the other apps in the examples, tests and screenshots are made up.

Free, and what will cost money

Periskopos is free and open source (Apache-2.0), all of it: everything that
runs on your computer, for as many apps as you run, with no account. Nothing
in the app will move behind a payment.

Later, Watchtower will be an optional paid service for what needs a
server running all the time: checking your sites while your computer is off,
phone alerts whenever something breaks, and cloud AI agents reaching
Periskopos with approvals on your phone. It will never hold your provider
keys.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome, new hosts and providers especially. Read
CONTRIBUTING.md first, and the
code of conduct. Found a security problem? Please
report it privately, as SECURITY.md explains.

Licence

Apache License 2.0. Free to use, change, self-host and build on,
commercially too, as long as the copyright and licence notices (and
NOTICE) are kept. The licence doesn't cover the name or logo.
Service logos are their owners' trademarks; see
web/src/logos/README.md.