ajarbot/docs/MONITORING_COMPARISON.md

Monitoring Systems Comparison

Ajarbot now has three different monitoring systems. Here's how to choose the right one.

📊 Quick Comparison

Feature	Pulse & Brain ⭐	TaskScheduler	Old Heartbeat
Cost per day	~$0.04	~$0.10-0.30	~$0.48
Cost per month	~$1.20	~$3-9	~$14.40
Agent usage	Only when needed	Every scheduled task	Every interval
Scheduling	Cron + Conditional	Cron only	Interval only
Monitoring	✅ Zero-cost pulse	❌ None	❌ Uses agent
Messaging	✅ Slack/Telegram	✅ Slack/Telegram	❌ None
Best for	Production monitoring	Content generation	Simple setups

🏆 Recommended: Pulse & Brain

Use this for production monitoring.

How It Works

Pulse (60s intervals, pure Python):
  ├─ Check disk space       $0
  ├─ Check log errors       $0
  ├─ Check stale tasks      $0
  ├─ Check server health    $0
  └─ ... (add more)

Brain (Agent/SDK, only when triggered):
  ├─ Condition: disk > 90%        → Invoke agent ($0.01)
  ├─ Condition: errors found      → Invoke agent ($0.01)
  ├─ Scheduled: 8:00 AM briefing  → Invoke agent ($0.01)
  └─ Scheduled: 6:00 PM summary   → Invoke agent ($0.01)

Example Setup

from pulse_brain import PulseBrain

pb = PulseBrain(agent, pulse_interval=60)
pb.add_adapter("slack", slack_adapter)
pb.start()

Cost Breakdown

Pulse checks: 1,440/day (every 60s) = $0 Brain invocations: 4/day (only when needed) = **$0.04/day**

Total: ~$1.20/month 💰

When to Use

✅ Production monitoring ✅ Server health checks ✅ Log analysis ✅ Resource alerts ✅ Daily briefings ✅ Cost-conscious deployments

🎯 Alternative: TaskScheduler

Use this for content generation only.

How It Works

Every task runs on schedule (always uses Agent):
  ├─ 08:00 Weather report      → Agent ($0.01)
  ├─ 12:00 Midday standup      → Agent ($0.01)
  ├─ 18:00 Evening summary     → Agent ($0.01)
  └─ Fri 17:00 Weekly review   → Agent ($0.02)

Example Setup

from scheduled_tasks import TaskScheduler

scheduler = TaskScheduler(agent)
scheduler.add_adapter("slack", slack_adapter)
scheduler.start()

Cost Breakdown

If you have:

• 2 daily tasks (morning/evening) = 60 calls/month = ~$6/month
• 1 weekly task (Friday summary) = 4 calls/month = ~$0.80/month

Total: ~$6.80/month

When to Use

✅ Scheduled content generation ✅ Weather reports ✅ Daily summaries ✅ Weekly newsletters ✅ Team standups ❌ Real-time monitoring (use Pulse & Brain instead)

💡 Hybrid Approach (Best of Both)

Recommended for most users:

# Pulse & Brain for monitoring (cheap)
pb = PulseBrain(agent, pulse_interval=60)
pb.start()

# TaskScheduler ONLY for specific content tasks
scheduler = TaskScheduler(agent)
# Enable only tasks that generate unique content
# (Don't duplicate with Pulse & Brain briefings)
scheduler.start()

Example Hybrid Config

Pulse & Brain handles:

• Health monitoring (disk, logs, tasks)
• Morning briefing with system status
• Evening summary
• Error alerts

TaskScheduler handles:

• Weekly newsletter (Friday 5pm)
• Monthly metrics report (1st of month)
• Custom scheduled reports

Cost: ~$2-3/month (vs $15/month with old heartbeat)

🔧 Configuration Examples

Minimal Monitoring (Cheapest)

Just Pulse & Brain, no scheduled content:

pb = PulseBrain(agent, pulse_interval=60)
# Only conditional tasks (error alerts)
# Remove scheduled briefings
pb.start()

Cost: ~$0.20/month (only when errors occur)

Full Monitoring + Content (Balanced)

# Pulse & Brain for all monitoring
pb = PulseBrain(agent, pulse_interval=60)
pb.start()

# TaskScheduler for weekly/monthly content only
scheduler = TaskScheduler(agent)
scheduler.tasks = [weekly_newsletter, monthly_report]  # Only specific tasks
scheduler.start()

Cost: ~$2-4/month

Maximum Features (Still Efficient)

# Pulse & Brain with custom checks
pb = PulseBrain(agent, pulse_interval=60)
apply_custom_config(pb)  # Homelab, Docker, GPU, etc.
pb.start()

# TaskScheduler for all content
scheduler = TaskScheduler(agent)
scheduler.start()

Cost: ~$5-8/month

📈 Real-World Examples

Example 1: Personal Homelab

Goal: Monitor servers, get daily briefings

Solution:

pb = PulseBrain(agent, pulse_interval=120)  # Check every 2 minutes
# Pulse checks: Plex, UniFi, Docker, disk, GPU
# Brain tasks: Morning briefing, error alerts

Cost: ~$1-2/month

Example 2: Development Team Bot

Goal: Daily standups, build notifications

Solution:

# Pulse & Brain for build failures
pb = PulseBrain(agent, pulse_interval=60)
# Conditional: CI/CD failures

# TaskScheduler for standups
scheduler = TaskScheduler(agent)
# Daily 9am standup reminder
# Daily 5pm build summary

Cost: ~$4-6/month

Example 3: Solo Developer

Goal: Track tasks, get weekly summaries

Solution:

# Just Pulse & Brain
pb = PulseBrain(agent, pulse_interval=300)  # Every 5 minutes
# Pulse: Check pending tasks
# Brain: Friday evening weekly review

Cost: ~$0.50-1/month

🎓 Decision Tree

Start here:
  ↓
Do you need real-time monitoring? (disk, logs, health checks)
  ├─ YES → Use Pulse & Brain
  └─ NO → Go to next question
       ↓
Do you need scheduled content? (weather, summaries, reports)
  ├─ YES → Use TaskScheduler
  └─ NO → Go to next question
       ↓
Do you need simple periodic checks?
  └─ YES → Use old Heartbeat (or upgrade to Pulse & Brain)

Most users should: Use Pulse & Brain (+ optionally TaskScheduler for content)

💰 Cost Optimization Tips

1. Increase pulse interval if checks don't need to be frequent

   pb = PulseBrain(agent, pulse_interval=300)  # Every 5 min instead of 60s
   

2. Use conditional brain tasks instead of scheduled

   # ❌ Expensive: Always runs
   BrainTask(schedule="daily 08:00", ...)
   
   # ✅ Cheap: Only if there's news
   BrainTask(condition=lambda: has_updates(), ...)
   

3. Batch briefings instead of multiple schedules

   # ❌ Expensive: 3 calls/day
   - morning-briefing (08:00)
   - midday-update (12:00)
   - evening-summary (18:00)
   
   # ✅ Cheaper: 2 calls/day
   - morning-briefing (08:00)
   - evening-summary (18:00)
   

4. Make pulse checks do more before invoking brain

   # Pulse checks can filter, aggregate, and pre-process
   # Brain only gets invoked with actionable data
   

🚀 Migration Guide

From Old Heartbeat → Pulse & Brain

# Old (heartbeat.py)
agent = Agent(enable_heartbeat=True)

# New (pulse_brain.py)
agent = Agent(enable_heartbeat=False)
pb = PulseBrain(agent)
pb.start()

Benefit: 92% cost reduction

From TaskScheduler → Pulse & Brain

If your "scheduled tasks" are really monitoring checks:

# Old (scheduled_tasks.yaml)
- name: health-check
  schedule: "hourly"
  prompt: "Check system health"

# New (pulse_brain.py)
def check_health():  # Pure Python, zero cost
    return {"status": "ok", "message": "Healthy"}

PulseCheck("health", check_health, interval_seconds=3600)

Benefit: 96% cost reduction (hourly checks)

📝 Summary

Your Need	Use This	Monthly Cost
Monitoring only	Pulse & Brain	~$1-2
Content only	TaskScheduler	~$4-8
Monitoring + Content	Both	~$3-6
Simple checks	Old Heartbeat	~$15

Winner: Pulse & Brain for 99% of use cases 🏆

Files:

• pulse_brain.py - Main system
• config/pulse_brain_config.py - Custom checks
• example_bot_with_pulse_brain.py - Full example
• PULSE_BRAIN.md - Complete documentation