A small cross-platform (Linux, Windows) Go CLI that sends HTTP GET requests to one or more endpoints based on mouse-movement activity — for example, a dead-man's switch that pings a URL after your machine has been idle for a few days.

It works by polling the absolute cursor position at a fixed interval. This needs no elevated privileges and installs no global input hooks, so it is safe to run as an ordinary user.

• Linux: requires an X11 session ($DISPLAY). Works with XWayland windows; native Wayland does not expose a global pointer position by design.
• Windows: uses user32!GetCursorPos via the standard library (no cgo).

# From source (Go 1.25+); installs the `mip` binary:
go install github.com/didvc/dead-mans-ping/cmd/mip@latest

Or grab a prebuilt binary for your platform from the Releases page.

make            # test + build ./bin/mip for the host
make release    # cross-compile ./bin/mip-linux-amd64 and mip-windows-amd64.exe
make test

mip --endpoint https://example.com/ping [--endpoint https://backup/ping ...] [options]

All requests are HTTP GET. At least one --endpoint is required. Endpoints must be http/https with a host; requests use a timeout, capped redirects, and a size-limited body read.

When to fire (the "flag"):

How to ping while flagged:

Lifecycle:

--heartbeat-endpoint is a separate loop from the activity pings: it GETs its URL every --heartbeat-interval (starting immediately) regardless of mouse activity, so an external monitor can tell this process is still alive. It never shares an endpoint or timing with the activity pings.

mip --endpoint https://example.com/idle \
    --heartbeat-endpoint https://hc-ping.com/alive --heartbeat-interval 5m

With --server, an HTTP control surface is started (bound to 127.0.0.1:8080 by default):

/extend postpones the moment an --inactive-ping fires — a remote "I'm still here" that works without touching the mouse. The deadline only ever moves forward; provide exactly one of seconds/until. Because this can defeat a dead-man's switch, the server binds to localhost by default — only expose it behind your own auth/proxy.

mip --endpoint https://example.com/idle --inactive-period 1h --cold-period 1h --server
# from elsewhere on the box:
curl 'http://127.0.0.1:8080/extend?seconds=3600'   # hold off for another hour

Durations accept s, m, h, plus d (days) and w (weeks), e.g. 3d, 1w, 1d12h.

Unless --no-log is given, a live status line shows the current mode, idle time, and a movement summary (total pixel distance and move count) over the last 1h / 1d / 1w:

[14:22:07] mode=inactive flag=false idle=1m3s | 1h 4821.5px/142 1d 4821.5px/142 1w 4821.5px/142

Movement metrics are aggregated into one-minute buckets held in a one-week ring buffer, so memory use stays constant no matter how long the process runs.

# Dead-man's switch: ping once after 3 days idle, then exit (all defaults).
mip --endpoint https://hc-ping.com/UUID

# Heartbeat: while idle ≥ 1h, ping every 5 minutes; keep running,
# no more than one ping per 5 minutes.
mip --inactive-period 1h --ping-continuous --ping-interval 5m \
    --cold-period 5m --endpoint https://example.com/idle

# Presence beacon: ping the instant the mouse moves, at most every 30s.
mip --active-ping --cold-period 30s --endpoint https://example.com/active

All flags (mip --help):

The tool reads only the cursor's screen coordinates, in memory, to detect movement — no keystrokes, no window titles, no screen contents. Nothing is persisted to disk and there is no telemetry. The only network traffic is the GET requests you configure via --endpoint and --heartbeat-endpoint.

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

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