How it all works.

Quick start

1. Look around first. The demo is the whole board with labelled example data, and needs no signup.
2. Start your trial. Pick a plan on the pricing page. We'll email your setup link within 24 hours.
3. Write a status file. Your bots don't talk to the board. They report to a small hub script, and the hub publishes one JSON file to your own GitHub account, only when something changes. This is all the board needs to show two bots:

{
  "generated": "2026-11-02T09:00:00+11:00",
  "desks": [
    { "id": "writer", "state": "DONE", "last_ts": "2026-11-02T08:40:00+11:00" },
    { "id": "publisher", "state": "LIVE", "last_ts": "2026-11-02T08:55:00+11:00" }
  ]
}

4. Point the board at it. On the board, open the More menu, choose Load a status file, and paste the file's address.
5. Add what you have. Every section below is optional. Anything you leave out shows as "Not reported", never as a zero.
6. Lock it. A file in a public repo can be read by anyone. When your board is working, publish version 2, below, so only you can read it.

See what works with what on the integrations page.

Feed format

Version 2 of the feed locks everything except the date and four numbers. The full definition is at /schema/feed-v2.json. The board still reads version 1, which is the same contents with no envelopes, so you can move over whenever you're ready.

What anyone can read

{
  "v": 2,
  "generated": "2026-11-02T09:00:00+11:00",
  "public": { "desks_working": 1, "desks_total": 3, "brands": 1, "posts_7d": 1 },
  "feed_enc": { "v": 1, "salt": "…", "iv": "…", "data": "…" },
  "feed_sealed": { "v": 1, "alg": "RSA-OAEP-256+A256GCM", "kid": "0123456789abcdef", "ek": "…", "iv": "…", "data": "…" }
}

public

The two envelopes

Both hold the same JSON. You need both, so the board always has a way in.

feed_sealed

A fresh AES-256-GCM key, wrapped with RSA-OAEP-SHA256. Every value is base64 except alg and kid.

feed_enc

PBKDF2-SHA256 with 310,000 rounds gives an AES-256-GCM key. Every value is base64.

Sections that were already locked on their own, the inbox and the trading book, stay outside the envelopes.

What's inside

What's inside both envelopes. A version 1 feed is this same object, published without the envelopes. Every section is optional, and anything you leave out shows as "Not reported", never as zero.

A full example

This is what goes inside the envelopes. It's also on its own at /schema/feed-v2.example.json.

{
  "generated": "2026-11-02T09:00:00+11:00",
  "desks": [
    {
      "id": "writer",
      "state": "DONE",
      "last_ts": "2026-11-02T08:40:00+11:00",
      "has_input": false
    },
    {
      "id": "publisher",
      "state": "LIVE",
      "last_ts": "2026-11-02T08:55:00+11:00",
      "has_input": true
    },
    {
      "id": "reviewer",
      "state": "BLOCKED",
      "last_ts": "2026-11-02T07:10:00+11:00",
      "has_input": false
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "brands": [
      {
        "id": "example-brand",
        "name": "Example Brand"
      }
    ],
    "desks": [
      {
        "id": "publisher",
        "name": "Publisher",
        "last_at": "2026-11-02T08:55:00+11:00"
      }
    ]
  },
  "posts": [
    {
      "brand": "Example Brand",
      "platform": "YouTube",
      "url": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/example",
      "ts": "2026-11-02T08:30:00+11:00",
      "views": 1200,
      "title": "An example post",
      "desk": "publisher"
    }
  ],
  "schedule": [
    {
      "brand": "Example Brand",
      "platform": "TikTok",
      "title": "The next one",
      "when": "2026-11-02T18:00:00+11:00",
      "state": "scheduled"
    }
  ],
  "handoffs": [
    {
      "from": "writer",
      "to": "publisher",
      "item": "Script for the next post",
      "state": "waiting",
      "brand": "Example Brand",
      "ts": "2026-11-02T08:41:00+11:00"
    }
  ],
  "approvals": [
    {
      "desk": "publisher",
      "item": "Post the next one",
      "brand": "Example Brand",
      "ts": "2026-11-02T08:50:00+11:00"
    }
  ],
  "blockers": [
    {
      "desk": "reviewer",
      "brand": "Example Brand",
      "platform": "TikTok",
      "reason": "review",
      "who": "Owner",
      "needs": "A yes on the new thumbnail",
      "ts": "2026-11-02T07:10:00+11:00"
    }
  ],
  "blocked": [
    {
      "desk": "reviewer",
      "brand": "Example Brand",
      "platform": "TikTok",
      "state": "BLOCKED",
      "reason": "Waiting for a yes on the new thumbnail",
      "waiting_on": "owner",
      "blocked_since": "2026-11-02T07:10:00+11:00"
    }
  ],
  "brands": [
    {
      "name": "Example Brand (YouTube)",
      "platform": "YouTube",
      "views": 48000,
      "subs": 910,
      "stats_ts": "2026-11-02T06:00:00+11:00",
      "subs_change_7d": 126,
      "views_change_7d": 9400
    }
  ],
  "counts": {
    "desks_by_state": {
      "LIVE": 1,
      "DONE": 1,
      "BLOCKED": 1
    },
    "queue": 2,
    "holds": 0,
    "asks_open": 1
  },
  "usage": {
    "unit": "credits",
    "plan_limit": 10000,
    "period_used": 8240,
    "period_ends": "2026-11-30T00:00:00+11:00",
    "updated_at": "2026-11-02T09:00:00+11:00",
    "desks": [
      {
        "desk": "publisher",
        "today": 120,
        "week": 780,
        "period": 2310
      }
    ]
  },
  "runs": [
    {
      "desk": "publisher",
      "ts": "2026-11-02T08:30:00+11:00",
      "title": "Posted to YouTube",
      "ok": true,
      "duration_s": 64
    }
  ],
  "routines": [
    {
      "id": "daily-numbers",
      "name": "Pull the daily numbers",
      "desk": "publisher",
      "kind": "job",
      "days": "daily",
      "time": "07:00",
      "optional": false
    }
  ]
}

Approvals

A bot that needs a yes puts an ask in the inbox and waits. You answer on the board, and the bot gets told.

1. The ask reaches the board's Inbox, sealed so only your server can open it.
2. The Owner or a Team member taps Approve or Reject. A Viewer can't, and the server checks that on every action.
3. Your hub picks up the answer about once a minute, using hub-kit/control-sync.sh, and wakes the waiting bot with a command you choose.
4. The board shows "told" once the hub confirms the bot got the message.

The board itself never posts. Waking your bots is the one part only your hub can do, so if your command fails, the board keeps saying it hasn't been delivered.

Alerts

Alerts come from what the feed really says. Nothing fires on missing data, except a feed that's late or down.

• A run that failed in the last 24 hours.
• A bot that's been blocked for more than a day.
• Usage reaching 80% of your plan, if your hub reports a limit.
• A feed that's gone late or quiet.

Get them as a phone push through the free ntfy app, by setting a long private topic on the board's Team tab. Or get them by email, which needs an email service key in your host's settings. Several at once come as one message, and each alert goes out once. Slack, Discord and Telegram are coming.

Plans and limits

Either plan starts with a 14-day free trial. Card required. Cancel anytime before day 14 and you won't be charged. Yearly plans get 2 months free. More on the pricing page.

Security

What's stored

• Your feed stays in your own GitHub account. We never ask for your bots' or platforms' keys.
• Your copy's database holds member emails, decisions, pause switches and the audit log.
• Your browser keeps a copy of the board so it opens quickly, and signing out clears it. A board opened with a passphrase is never saved.
• Payments go through Stripe, and we never see your full card number.

Encryption

• In version 2, only generated and the four public numbers can be read. Bot names, post links and blockers are all inside the envelopes.
• feed_sealed is locked to a key made on your server, and that private key never leaves it. The browser only ever gets what a signed-in person is allowed to see.
• feed_enc is locked with a passphrase only you hold. It's opened in the browser, and the passphrase stays in that tab.

Who can see what

Owner sees everything. Team sees everything and can approve and pause, but can't manage members. Viewer reads the board, and can't see the inbox or trading. Every action is checked on the server, so hiding a button is never the only protection.

Deleting your data

• Email support@barncleuth.com to have any email address or invite deleted.
• Delete the feed repo in your GitHub account, and your feed and its history are gone.
• Sign out of the board to clear what your browser saved.

Kids brands stay link-free: name and numbers only, and they're hidden from public pages. More in our privacy policy.

Connectors

Quick starts for reporting from where your bots already run. They talk to hosted workspaces, which open with the trial: until then, the board reads the status file above.

• Python
• Claude Code
• OpenClaw
• CrewAI
• LangGraph
• n8n and webhooks
• MCP server
• Trading Floor API