What Duskwatch does
Being on call for DigitalOcean means hearing about a problem, understanding it and acting on it, often away from a laptop; DigitalOcean's own alerts arrive by email or Slack. Duskwatch is an independent iPhone app for DigitalOcean, in development; it sends push alerts when something breaks, explains what broke, and lets you take a few guarded actions.
Updated
A night on call, in four steps
- Woken: at 02:14 a push says "web-01 is off" · acme-prod · Off since 02:14. Only the events worth waking for can do that.
- Understand: the app opens on findings, what broke and since when, with DigitalOcean's status for your regions beside them.
- Act: reboot web-01 or roll back api-prod from one sheet that names the team, with a swipe and Face ID.
- Hand off: share a log excerpt, open the droplet in your SSH app, or pick it up in DigitalOcean's control panel in the morning.
Eight features, one line each
| Feature | What it is | The question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Push alerts | Pushes for a droplet off, a failed deploy, a database failover, uptime down, spend pace and incidents in your regions | Do I need to get up? |
| Triage | Findings: one plain sentence per problem, sorted by what needs attention first | What broke, and can it wait? |
| Actions | 13 guarded actions on droplets, apps and databases, never a delete | Can I fix it from here? |
| Logs | App Platform build, deploy and runtime logs, with live tail | What is the app saying? |
| Billing | Month to date, a month-end estimate and a budget with pacing | What will this month cost? |
| Widgets | Home Screen, Lock Screen, Control Center and Spotlight, from a snapshot | Is everything fine, at a glance? |
| Teams | Every team you add, with problem counts and the team named everywhere | Which of my teams has a problem? |
| Sign-in | OAuth on DigitalOcean's own page; sign-in asks only to view | What can the app reach? |
Every DigitalOcean product it covers, and which ones can send a push, is listed on the resources page.
Next to what DigitalOcean already sends
The app does not replace DigitalOcean's alerts or control panel; it fills the gap between an email at 2 a.m. and a laptop you do not have with you.
Monitoring resource alerts notify by email, Slack, or both.
DigitalOcean docs: manage alert policies (external link), verified
Spend alerts are emails based on actual usage, sent within an hour of crossing a threshold.
DigitalOcean's status page offers updates by email, SMS, Slack and RSS or Atom feeds.
DigitalOcean status page (external link), verified
What stays on the laptop
A phone is the wrong place to build or tear down infrastructure, so the app does not try. These stay in DigitalOcean's control panel, doctl or your own tools.
- Creating, resizing or deleting anything.
- DNS, Functions and the container registry.
- Browsing files in Spaces.
- Editing firewalls.
Free and paid
Basic monitoring is free; alerts, most actions and advanced features are part of Duskwatch Pro.
All features
Push alerts
A push when a droplet goes off, a deploy fails, a database fails over or spend runs ahead of budget, from a server that can only read. Join the waitlist.
Read about Push alertsTriage
Duskwatch puts what needs attention first and says why: a failed deploy's likely cause, a crash loop, a node not ready. Join the waitlist.
Read about TriageActions
Reboot, power cycle or snapshot a droplet, roll back or restart an app. One sheet names the action and team, a swipe arms it, Face ID confirms it.
Read about ActionsLogs
Read build, deploy and runtime logs for DigitalOcean App Platform on iPhone, follow them live and share an excerpt. Duskwatch is in development.
Read about LogsBilling
Month to date, a month-end estimate and a budget with pacing, and a push when spend is on pace to pass it, on iPhone and Lock Screen. Join the waitlist.
Read about BillingWidgets
See what is ok, degraded or down on the Home Screen, Lock Screen and Control Center; find droplets and apps in Spotlight. Widgets never hold your token.
Read about WidgetsTeams
Switch between client and project teams in one app, with problem counts per team and the team named on every alert and action. Join the Duskwatch waitlist.
Read about TeamsSign-in
Duskwatch signs in on DigitalOcean's own page with OAuth and PKCE. Sign-in asks only to view; actions are a separate permission you approve.
Read about Sign-in
What Duskwatch doesn't do here
- No creating, resizing or deleting resources.
- No DNS, Functions or container registry.
- No Spaces file browsing and no firewall editing.
- No SSH terminal: it hands off to your SSH app.
Questions
What does Duskwatch do?
Duskwatch is an independent iPhone app for DigitalOcean that sends push alerts when something breaks, explains what broke, and lets you take a few guarded actions. It is in development.
What does it leave for the laptop?
Creating, resizing and deleting resources, DNS, Functions, the container registry, Spaces file browsing and firewall editing. Those stay in DigitalOcean's control panel.
Is it free?
Basic monitoring is free; alerts, most actions and advanced features are part of Duskwatch Pro.
Is it a DigitalOcean product?
No. Duskwatch is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by DigitalOcean.