Cron script · standard library · not a hosted switch

Rex's Deadman Switch

Check in with deadman ping. Miss the days you set, and the next cron run emails your handoff notes to the contacts you chose. This desk is a dry run of that script. It keeps the notes in this browser and sends nothing.

A hooded skull with a cigar, a dead man's lever, a dark terminal, and a sealed envelope on a coal desk.

Unarmed

Cron will not mail until you ping once.

never pinged

desk clock 2026-10-22

last pingmail

Going quiet only moves the clock. Cron is what sends. Ping after a firing mails a false alarm and arms it again.

Script log

$ deadman status
unarmed — ping once

Handoff notes

Contacts

What cron would send

From Rex <[email protected]>

To [email protected], [email protected]

Subject Handoff — Rex's deadman switch fired

If you are reading this, I missed my check-in.

The work runs through me. Start here:

1. Domains and DNS — the registrar login is in the sealed envelope.
2. Hosting — the backup has the vault password. This letter is not the vault.
3. Call the clients in CLIENTS.txt on the studio machine before you touch DNS.

Do not reply to this address.

Not sent. Shown so you can read it before the window lapses.

On your machine

  1. 1 deadman init writes the config. Edit days, contacts, notes, and the SMTP block. Mode 0600.
  2. 2 deadman ping arms it. deadman status tells you what’s left.
  3. 3 Cron runs deadman run daily. It prints wait, hold, or sends once.
0 8 * * * DEADMAN_HOME=$HOME/.config/deadman python3 $HOME/bin/deadman.py run
Download deadman.py

One file. No packages. deadman test sends the handoff now, marked [test]. deadman run --dry-run prints it and marks nothing.

On the floor

A hooded skull with a cigar, a dead man's lever, a dark terminal, and a sealed envelope on a coal desk.

Rex's Deadman Switch

Check in with deadman ping. Miss the days you set and it emails the handoff notes. Windows, Apple, Linux, and Android install on the release.

WindowsmacOSLinuxAndroid

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