Know the second it's back.
GearBeacon is a private, self-hosted Ubiquiti and UniFi Store inventory monitor for Windows, macOS, Linux, NAS, and Docker. Watch exact products, plan purchases, and receive stock or price alerts through a responsive browser dashboard.
One installation serves one owner. Monitoring and external notification delivery run on your server, even when the browser is closed. There is no GearBeacon cloud account, subscription, hosted database, analytics, or telemetry, and monitoring requires no Ubiquiti login. Optional auto-buy uses your own Store session in a separate checkout companion.
Current version: 1.4.1 · Downloads · Release notes · Wiki
Save named views, use a compact Watchlist, receive budget-aware collection alerts, and read live Activity cards with current availability, watch and price context, delivery explanations, and automatic arrivals that preserve your reading position. GearBeacon supports per-watch and collection delivery channels, delayed-alert context and expiry, and product freshness, Settings section tabs, and branch-aware update notices. It uses schema v15 and recovery export format v10, with a validated backup before migration.
- Regional monitoring: United States, Canada, Europe, and United Kingdom Stores, with separate watches, prices, activity, and health.
- Precise watches: Any variant or an exact SKU, color, length, or pack size; import Store links and TXT/CSV/JSON lists with a review before saving.
- Purchase planning: Collections with product previews, quantities, recorded spending, budgets, archive/undo, and optional grouping without duplicate item cards.
- Optional auto-buy: Authorize one exact-variant order with a final-total cap and expiry. A separate browser companion verifies checkout, pauses for attention, and records outcomes. See setup, supported checkout requirements, and recovery.
- Flexible alerts: Restocks, price drops, available-at-target conditions, and collection readiness; per-item rules, pauses, quiet hours, digests, and collection-only overrides. Includes delivery routes, optional expiry, and freshness indicators.
- Multiple channels: ntfy, Discord, Gotify, SMTP email, and signed webhooks, with durable delivery and bounded retries. Browser popups are also available while the page is running.
- Useful evidence: Observed stock timelines, 7/30/90-day price insights, and searchable, paginated Activity with delivery outcomes and exports.
- Recovery and oversight: Validated SQLite backups, encrypted exports, secondary recovery copies, restore tests, diagnostics, and owner-controlled updates. Includes automatic update notices for the installed branch.
Complete valid restocks are recorded immediately; sellouts, ordinary price/status changes, and catalog disappearance require two matching complete observations. Failed or partial checks preserve the last-known-good state. GearBeacon observes catalog data; it does not predict stock, reserve items, or automate checkout.
| Option | Requirements | Start here |
|---|---|---|
| Windows standalone | Windows x64; runtime included | Windows guide |
| macOS standalone | Intel or Apple Silicon; runtime included | macOS guide |
| Linux standalone | x64 or ARM64; runtime included | Linux guide |
| Docker / NAS | Docker with Compose; amd64/arm64 images | Docker guide |
| Source checkout | Node.js 22.13 or newer | Source guide |
Easiest start: download and extract your standalone package from Releases, run GearBeacon.exe on Windows or ./gearbeacon on macOS/Linux, and open http://localhost:8787. Included installers provide automatic startup with a low-privilege identity. Packages include checksum/SBOM/provenance metadata; native signing and macOS notarization are not yet provided.
From a checkout or a directory containing the supplied Compose file:
docker compose up -d
docker compose logs gearbeaconCompose uses the published image, publishes only 127.0.0.1:8787 on the host, and persists /data in a named volume. Use the token in the logs to complete owner setup. The Docker guide covers NAS storage, private access, local builds, and version pinning.
No npm install is needed just to run the committed application. From the current checkout root:
Windows: launchers/run-windows.bat
macOS/Linux: ./launchers/run-mac-linux.sh
Open http://localhost:8787. Private-server and offline-demo launchers are also in launchers/; see START_HERE. The published v1.2.0 source archive has its launchers at the root, so omit launchers/ for that download.
The browser wizard walks through owner setup, Store regions, access mode, notification channels, and backup settings. Authenticated installations first require the one-time setup token from the process/service/container log. Region, bind-address, and access-mode changes require a restart; other operational settings apply immediately.
| Mode | Initial bind | Owner authentication | Intended use |
|---|---|---|---|
local |
127.0.0.1 |
Optional | One computer |
private |
0.0.0.0 |
Required | Trusted LAN/VPN, service, or container |
proxy |
127.0.0.1 |
Required | Same-host HTTPS reverse proxy |
Local mode cannot expose an unauthenticated server beyond loopback. Keep remote access private or behind a restricted HTTPS proxy. Read Security and access and Reverse proxy before changing exposure.
Live data stays in the operating system's application-data directory or Docker /data, outside application files. SQLite backups are listed only after validation, and a failed portable restore leaves the existing database state intact. SQLite backups and the separate secrets.key preserve saved state and encrypted integration credentials. Windows protects this key for the original account using DPAPI; use encrypted exports for transfers to another machine or account. See owner security and recovery for authenticator setup, session locking, backups, and verified updates. Portable encrypted exports exclude owner credentials, sessions, and local integration secrets. Auto-buy instructions restore paused. Checkout sessions and their encryption key stay on the companion host and are excluded from GearBeacon backups.
Use Settings > Data to configure backups and test primary/secondary recovery. Before updating, choose Prepare safe update and verify its backup. GearBeacon never installs updates automatically. Data paths, migration, encryption, and rollback procedures are in Backups and recovery and Updates and rollback.
The wiki contains the complete guides and technical reference:
| Task | Guide |
|---|---|
| Find products, import watches, and choose variants | Watchlist and Browse |
| Group items, plan quantities, and track spending | Collections and purchase planning |
| Connect and verify an optional experimental checkout profile | Auto-buy setup and verification |
| Configure item/project rules and delivery | Alerts · Email and webhooks |
| Understand prices, stock evidence, and monitoring gaps | Stock insights |
| Investigate activity, failures, and health | Activity and Operations · Troubleshooting |
| Automate or customize an installation | Configuration reference · API reference |
npm ci
npm run build
npm run checkContributions target dev; main is reserved for reviewed stable work. See CONTRIBUTING and the development guide for architecture, tests, packaging, and release validation. Release history lives in the changelog.
For help, include the version, installation type, reproduction steps, and a reviewed redacted support bundle from Settings > Operations. Report vulnerabilities privately using SECURITY.
Copyright 2026 alexphillips-dev. Licensed under the Apache License 2.0; see NOTICE.
GearBeacon is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Ubiquiti Inc. Ubiquiti and UniFi are trademarks of their respective owner. The license does not grant permission to use GearBeacon or third-party trademarks beyond applicable law.