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Quick answer
Ask Kepler, in plain words, to keep an eye on something: a rollout, a fix you are not sure took, an error rate, a filling disk. Kepler turns it into a watcher, a read-only check on a schedule. When it fires, Kepler wakes the session, looks into it and comes back with what changed and what you might do, on your phone if you are away.
Some things need watching, not doing. The rollout that should be fine. The fix that should have held. The disk that fills on Fridays. Watching them by hand means staying up. A watcher stays up for you.
How it works
- Ask in plain words. "Watch the error rate on the payments dashboard for the next hour. Wake me if it goes above 1%."
- Kepler sets the check. It tells you what it will watch and how often, and starts it.
- It fires, Kepler investigates. The session that set it wakes, posts a card, looks into what changed and suggests what to do.
- You hear about it anywhere. Alerts can reach your phone through WhatsApp, Slack, Telegram or Discord.
Things to watch
- "Keep an eye on the checkout rollout and tell me if any pods restart."
- "Watch the error rate on the payments dashboard for the next hour. Wake me if it goes above 1%."
- "Watch disk usage on the Prometheus volume and wake me at 85%."
Watchers only read
A watcher can only run commands that read, in every posture, including Yolo. A command Kepler does not know asks you to Trust as read-only first. Anything Kepler suggests after a watcher fires waits for you.
Watchers cost nothing while nothing changes: output that has not changed is not judged again. See and stop them under This thread > Watching, or in Settings > Watchers.
Keep Kepler running
Kepler has to be running for its watchers to run. Turn off Kepler stops when you close the window under Settings > General > While you are away, and on macOS allow it in Login Items.
For the whole team: Automations
Watchers belong to one engineer's Kepler. For checks the whole team relies on, RubixKube's Automations (Business and Enterprise) run on a schedule in the platform: a daily status to Slack and email, a weekly RCA digest, a second opinion on critical incidents.
See Kepler, or read Watchers and Automations.
Frequently asked questions
Can a watcher change anything?
No. Watchers only run commands that read, in every posture. Suggestions after a watcher fires wait for you.
Does a watcher use tokens all the time?
No. Output that has not changed is not judged again, so a quiet watcher costs almost nothing.
What if my laptop is closed?
Keep Kepler running in the background: turn off Kepler stops when you close the window, in Settings > General.