How do I install the Pilot Heartbeat Monitor skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add teoslayer/pilot-heartbeat-monitor in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Pilot Heartbeat Monitor safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Pilot Heartbeat Monitor?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Pilot Heartbeat Monitor free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free. This skill is licensed under AGPL-3.

Who published Pilot Heartbeat Monitor?

TeoSlayer (@teoslayer) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Pilot Heartbeat Monitor by teoslayer

Name: Pilot Heartbeat Monitor
Author: TeoSlayer

Pilot Heartbeat Monitor

Detect agent failures and trigger automatic task redistribution or re-election. Use this skill when: 1. You need to detect when swarm members become unreachable 2. You want to trigger failover actions on agent failure 3. You need health monitoring for load balancing or leader election Do NOT use this skill when: - Agents can safely fail without recovery (fire-and-forget tasks) - Network partitions are rare and acceptable (use simpler ping checks)

TeoSlayer Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

pilot-heartbeat-monitor

Monitor agent health via periodic heartbeats and detect failures using timeout-based detection.

Commands

Send heartbeat to peers

pilotctl --json publish "registry-hostname" "heartbeat:$SWARM_NAME" \
  --data "{\"agent\":\"$AGENT_ID\",\"timestamp\":\"$(date -u +%s)\",\"status\":\"alive\"}"

Detect failed agents

TIMEOUT=30
CURRENT_TIME=$(date -u +%s)

FAILED_AGENTS=$(pilotctl --json inbox \
  | jq --arg now "$CURRENT_TIME" --arg timeout "$TIMEOUT" \
    '[.messages[] | select(.topic == "heartbeat:'$SWARM_NAME'") | {agent: .payload.agent, last_seen: .payload.timestamp}]
    | group_by(.agent)
    | map(select(($now | tonumber) - (map(.last_seen) | max) > ($timeout | tonumber)))
    | .[].agent')

Verify failure with direct ping

for agent in $FAILED_AGENTS; do
  AGENT_ADDR=$(pilotctl --json peers | jq -r '.[] | select(.node_id == "'$agent'") | .address')

  PING_RESULT=$(pilotctl --json ping "$AGENT_ADDR" --count 3 --timeout 2s)
  LOSS=$(echo "$PING_RESULT" | jq -r '.packet_loss_pct')

  if [ "$LOSS" = "100" ]; then
    echo "Agent $agent CONFIRMED DOWN"
  fi
done

Workflow Example

Health monitor for worker pool with automatic task redistribution:

#!/bin/bash
SWARM_NAME="worker-pool"
HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL=5
FAILURE_TIMEOUT=15
REGISTRY_HOST="registry.example.com"

# Background: Send own heartbeats
(
  while true; do
    pilotctl --json publish "$REGISTRY_HOST" "heartbeat:$SWARM_NAME" \
      --data "{\"agent\":\"$AGENT_ID\",\"timestamp\":\"$(date -u +%s)\"}"
    sleep $HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL
  done
) &

# Monitor peer heartbeats
while true; do
  CURRENT_TIME=$(date -u +%s)

  # Detect timeouts and trigger recovery
  # ...

  sleep $HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL
done

Dependencies

Requires pilot-protocol skill, jq, and bc.

---name: pilot-heartbeat-monitordescription: Detect agent failures and trigger automatic task redistribution or re-election. Use this skill when: 1. You need to detect when swarm members become unreachable 2. You want to trigger failover actions on agent failure 3. You need health monitoring for load balancing or leader election Do NOT use this skill when: - Agents can safely fail without recovery (fire-and-forget tasks) - Network partitions are rare and acceptable (use simpler ping checks)license: AGPL-3.0---# pilot-heartbeat-monitorMonitor agent health via periodic heartbeats and detect failures using timeout-based detection.## Commands### Send heartbeat to peers```bashpilotctl --json publish "registry-hostname" "heartbeat:$SWARM_NAME" \ --data "{\"agent\":\"$AGENT_ID\",\"timestamp\":\"$(date -u +%s)\",\"status\":\"alive\"}"```### Detect failed agents```bashTIMEOUT=30CURRENT_TIME=$(date -u +%s)FAILED_AGENTS=$(pilotctl --json inbox \ | jq --arg now "$CURRENT_TIME" --arg timeout "$TIMEOUT" \ '[.messages[] | select(.topic == "heartbeat:'$SWARM_NAME'") | {agent: .payload.agent, last_seen: .payload.timestamp}] | group_by(.agent) | map(select(($now | tonumber) - (map(.last_seen) | max) > ($timeout | tonumber))) | .[].agent')```### Verify failure with direct ping```bashfor agent in $FAILED_AGENTS; do AGENT_ADDR=$(pilotctl --json peers | jq -r '.[] | select(.node_id == "'$agent'") | .address') PING_RESULT=$(pilotctl --json ping "$AGENT_ADDR" --count 3 --timeout 2s) LOSS=$(echo "$PING_RESULT" | jq -r '.packet_loss_pct') if [ "$LOSS" = "100" ]; then echo "Agent $agent CONFIRMED DOWN" fidone```## Workflow ExampleHealth monitor for worker pool with automatic task redistribution:```bash#!/bin/bashSWARM_NAME="worker-pool"HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL=5FAILURE_TIMEOUT=15REGISTRY_HOST="registry.example.com"# Background: Send own heartbeats( while true; do pilotctl --json publish "$REGISTRY_HOST" "heartbeat:$SWARM_NAME" \ --data "{\"agent\":\"$AGENT_ID\",\"timestamp\":\"$(date -u +%s)\"}" sleep $HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL done) &# Monitor peer heartbeatswhile true; do CURRENT_TIME=$(date -u +%s) # Detect timeouts and trigger recovery # ... sleep $HEARTBEAT_INTERVALdone```## DependenciesRequires pilot-protocol skill, jq, and bc.

Frequently asked questions